The best FPL assets in pre-season
Stay to discover the player finding new depths of bad
Ah, pre-season. Lifter of hopes. Destroyer of FPL plans. There we were thinking that the debate would be over Kane or Haaland, then Darwin Nunez scores 4 goals - the theory of evolution in action. We’ve already had a bit of comic relief, too, as Everton managed to lose 4-0 to Minnesota Utd. Exactly who’s flying in pre-season is one of this week’s issues.
Elsewhere, we look at the cheap guys filling out the midfield spots, a look at Arsenal and Liverpool, a ghastly attempt to make the word “Threemium” a thing, drafts for different formations… and Haaland consumes some British culture.
Suggestions? Reflections? Pleas to make it stop? Email me: fplislife@substack.com
These players are crushing pre-season
A great graphic here. Nketiah’s form makes me worry about Jesus’s minutes, though his returns largely came in one game before Jesus arrived - Jesus is *insanely popular* so far. Also, I know I said Man Utd were a watch and wait team, but Martial only costs £7m…
Arsenal are having a great summer
At the start of last season, Arteta was battling to hold on to his job. His team are flying this summer, beating Chelsea (who look ragged) 4-0. Arsenal also have pretty good early fixtures - Palace, Leicester, Bournemouth and Fulham. Here’s the enthusiastic assessment of big FPL Tweeter @BigManBakar:
Cheap mids - 3 players are emerging…
We’re going to need some cheap lads. Three obvious MID options have emerged:
Neto - He has become the darling of FPL Twitter. Injured most of last season, so a low £5.5m price. but he’s a great player, Wolves have GREAT fixtures (Leeds, Fulham first up) and he’s playing well. But he does play for Wolves.
Bailey - His Villa career never got going last season because of injury, but he’s been playing and impressing in pre-season, and super cheap at £5m.
Andreas - Signed from Man Utd and seems to be starting for Fulham. At £4.5m, seems the early playing bench option of choice.
Wildcard option - Lingard. He’ll surely play every minute for Forest due to that colossal contract and is cheap at £6m. But we have no info about how Forest will play, so a major gamble.
A good 4-4-2 and a 5-3-2 draft…
Choosing a formation this year is really tricky because 1. Forwards were so poor last year and that’s hard to forget and 2. There are so many good cheap defenders who score points. Here’s a 4-4-2 draft and a 5-3-2… but hey, by next week we’ll probably be playing 3-4-3 again.
5-3-2: Love this from the guys at allaboutfpl.com - you even get Mendy in goal.
4-4-2: This is an early draft from Az, from the FPL BlackBox show. Love Sterling...
Haaland is digesting British culture
He was in Marks & Spencer. It was Percy Pigs.
Picking your Liverpool three is a big decision
Salah and Trent will be the most popular two, but who will be the third? Liverpool, like the other top sides, have decent fixtures to start with, so going for triple Liverpool is the way to go. The options are:
Diaz - at £8m, he’s underpriced (remember Mane cost £11.5m and has left, freeing up a forward spot)
Robertson - at £7.5m, it’s a steal and offers clean sheet potential, too. Unstoppable at the ned of last season.
Virgil van Dijk - £6.5m. Good fixtures for clean sheets and aerial threat from set plays.
Nunez - £9m. Not many are seriously considering Nunez, in much the way Firmino - he wasn’t “nailed” to play enough minutes and was a rotation risk. His early season form suggests we could be sleeping on a decent option here, but probably safest as a Watch and Wait.
FPL Twitter is getting worried about Haaland
Why? Well, we know about his dodgy injury record - but the thing that has really got people worried are these quotes from Pep about easing him in:
Meanwhile, Kane has a great first fixture - Southampton at home. The thing that makes Haaland so tempting is just how hard it is to pick City players who’ll play and get the FPL points - traditionally, they share around the points too much (*Have you heard they didn’t play with a recognised striker last season..?*) So, the Community Shield game this weekend will be good for those on Haaland Watch.
People are looking at a “Threemium” (urgh)
Two weeks ago, I said that having two “premium” players (the expensive, best players int he game) was looking like the obvious play, but with people split over going Haaland or Kane, some are trying to get both - as well as keeping Salah. So, Threemium. You can see from the below draft that it is possible, but sacrifices have to be made - most obviously in defence, where there is great value among the top picks.
Dele Alli keeps getting worse
In Dele Alli’s attic, there’s a picture of him getting better and better at football. Meanwhile, on the pitch:
Please get in touch with any FPL dilemmas or general football internet gold. Remember the DEADLINES and see you next week! I’m on Twitter here. Please help me grow FPL Is Life by sharing… thanks!