With only hours left before kick off, I think Im settled on my team. Although I have thought that at least 5 times before, I really do think this is the one…probably… maybe… Anyway, here it is:
Defense
I have kept with the tried and trusted fantasy formula of cheap with good fixtures here. At one stage it was dirt cheap, but doubts over Coutinho has allowed me to ‘upgrade’ my defence. Along with Kane and Lukaku, Stephens has been the only player not to leave my side. His value and fixtures see him complete a Southampton double act as I opt for Forster between the sticks.
Many have written Huddersfield off as relegation fodder and they are certainly likely to go down. But with burgeoning enthusiasm I have a hunch their kind opening fixtures might allow them to sneak a result or two. That coupled with their bargain basement prices has seen me have Mooy, Ince, Lowe and Lossl all in my team at one stage or another. In the end, though, I ended up plumping for skipper Smith as my only representative. The bombing full back picked up 4 goals and 11 assists as he made the championship team of the year last time out. Granted he tends to rack up the yellows, but I think he is well worth the punt for the opening 3. Hegazi rounds off my budget defence as he looks set to start the heart of the West Brom backline who have a decent set of opening 3 fixtures.
Midfield
Fabregas is undervalued for me and his all action game see’s him oust Willian in my team – a close call and one I may well live to regret. Zaha is probably the most at risk of a last minute change, but I do like him and comments by De Boer saying that he plans to build the squad around Zaha, have tipped the balance in his favour… for now at least.
Xhaka looked slow and sluggish in early pre-season matches but, having looked sharp in the community shield, he’s gone straight into my team as I hope to see him rack up the bonus and more. With a great pre-season behind him and looking undervalued at 9.4, Liverpool new boy Salah rounds off my midfield quartet.
Forwards
Kane and Lukaku have been stalwarts in my team. Lacazette is in for now, but will make way for Jesus on Saturday. That said, if he performs well, I may choose to keep him another week, which will give me time to assess Man City and decide if I want Jesus, Aguero or De Bruyne in as captain for their Monday night clash against Everton next week.
Captaincy Polls
My Captains
At the moment I’m planning Lacazette > Jesus > Lukaku. But Zaha, Fabregas and Salah could be on for Saturday and I may end up plumping for Kane come Sunday. I could also change my mind on Lacazette transfer and opt to save it and go with Xhaka
The stakes are high
Im in over £500 for each team making a total of £1100 +. Seems a little bonkers if I think about it too much. I’m trying to frame it as ‘reinvestment’ from previous winnings but still, its a stupid amount of money to put on a fantasy game!
Site developments
Unfortunately a lack of time and other pursuits mean I’m unlikely to be investing as heavily as intended in the site, but I’ll still try and get a weekly post out. Those after a brilliant Prediction tool should check out Carls fantastic spreadsheet here – at the time of writing I still need to update the description but you’ll find the prediction tool on the first page and hopefully its fairly self explanatory. Leave a comment if anything is unclear.
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How’s your team shaping up?
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