Ederson:
I haven't seen too many people with Ederson in their team, but he seemed like an easy pick for me. The Manchester City fixtures look great, he's nailed on to play, and 5.5m isn't too bad. Obviously, it's a little easier saying this on Saturday morning, after City got a clean sheet last night, but still, it feels like a sensible choice.
At the start of the season it's always difficult to judge what teams will be like. Which defences will be good, which will be bad, etc. City are the team you can be most confident with, and they have good fixtures, so I don't think there's a player in the league you could be more optimistic about when it comes to clean sheets, given the other City players get rotated.
Ederson's ceiling is low - I won't be getting many save points - but if I get 4 or 5 clean sheets out of him in these first 7 fixtures I'll be very happy.
Stones:
This follows on neatly from the last one. I was in work for the deadline, so I missed any team news, if there was any. It was only when I snuck out for my break that I realised I was a man down. It was always possible. Of course, I'd have preferred to have picked up the 6 points, but I don't mind too much. The drop down from expensive defender to cheaper bench defender isn't too steep. If it's a more expensive midfielder with a higher ceiling, and you're then reduced to a bench option that's quite a drop in potential. Here though I'm dropping from a hopeful clean sheet, to a much less likely clean sheet. So not too bad. The fact that it's an injury though, and not just random Pep rotation, could mean I'll have a transfer headache going forward.
For this week all hopes are on Tarkowski now.
Chilwell:
This one's fairly self-explanatory. Lots of attacking potential. Exciting to own.
Wan-Bissaka:
This one really is a differential. I'm not even confident he'll start, so it's a big gamble too.
I really rate Wan-Bissaka as a defender. I think he's got everything apart from the attacking output. Last season he got into good positions, but never had the confidence or composure. It's foolish expecting that to change, but he is still fairly young, so at some point it could just click. He's a cheap price (4.5m) and the United fixtures offer some potential for clean sheets, so I feel this is a nice opportunity to go against the grain.
In fact, the very last decision I made was whether to go with Estupinan and another 4.0m option, or with Wan-Bissaka and Tarkowski. The worry about Stones missing out was probably the deciding factor. It could backfire quite badly if Estupinan does well. My other line of thinking was again predicting how well the teams themselves will do. Brighton were great last season, but there are no guarantees. We saw last season how West Ham failed to deliver after looking excellent the season before (though they did win a trophy 🏆 ).
I'd be surprised if Man United finish in the bottom half, but would I be that surprised if Brighton finish there? - not really. It's similar with Brentford. The difference between top half and relegation fight is very small in the Premier League.
I'm playing with fire though going against the template, so we'll see where we are at the end of the weekend.
Rashford, Fernandes, Martinelli, Saka, Odegaard:
These ones are fairly self-explanatory too. All well-owned to varying degrees. The reason I've went heavy is mainly the fixtures. There are other midfielders that look interesting. Son and Maddison in particular were tempting. Salah too of course. So I plan on losing two of these five at some point to make way for whatever becomes apparent.
Haaland:
Two goals already. What else can be said.
Joao Pedro:
This is one where I'm definitely following the crowd. I don't have a strong gut feeling either way, but the price is useful and the potential is there.
The price bracket isn't great, but I always enjoy having a cheaper striker for some reason. So if I have to take him out it'll be fun throwing another cheapy in there.
Subs:
Tarkowski:
Not a sub anymore. This is a gut feeling one. I quite like this pick, though he was an injury doubt, so perhaps I'm being reckless with these defender picks.
Baldock:
Mainly going with Baldock as the 4.0m as he doesn't blank in GW2. I really like the potential all these 4.0m players offer. For instance, I could happily downgrade Stones to another to bring in Alvarez. Were it not for the GW2 blank I'd have even been tempted to have three and just rotate one into my side each week.
Mubama:
This is another exercise in crowd-following. Know very little about him. Hopefully he gets some minutes. Being a Middlesbrough fan my instinctive pick was Cameron Archer, but I'm not sure what's happening with him.
(Incidentally, I'm also playing EFL fantasy this year.
It's quite fun. It's also handy for learning about the other teams in the league. Half the time I turn up at the Riverside with no idea who the opposition eleven are 😅 This might change that ..slightly.)
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