Fantasy Premier League Review GW1

 Seriously, How good was it to have the Premier League back?? My boys had a hard fought win against newly promoted Leeds. Leeds showed promise and will beat top teams at some stage this season and should definitely stay up. Arsenal went about their business as per usual. Chelsea notched up their first win eventually downing Brighton at the Amex. It looks all doom and gloom for West Ham to start the season, losing 2-0 to Newcastle, with both of the new Newcastle boys Hendrick and Wilson getting on the score sheet. Everton surprised a few including me, by defeating Tottenham. I do reckon Leon Osman is well ahead of himself by saying “Everton can win the league”. Toffees don’t get too far ahead of yourself, come up one of the big boys and you’ll probably come crashing back down to earth. Routine win for Leicester over West Brom, Palace might of surprised a few with a win over Southampton thanks to a Zaha volley at the back post, while Wolves went about their business securing a 2-0 win against Sheffield. 

In regards to FPL, if you’re a Mo Salah owner then you would of been very happy with his hat trick  and 20 point return, unfortunately I went for Mane instead and lost out by 18 points. Only four teams kept clean sheets. Everton, Wolves, Newcastle, Crystal Palace. Those who chose Reece a James he returned his owners 14 points and they will be hoping he can hold his spot over Cesar Azpilicueta for the game at Stamford Bridge against Liverpool on Monday night. Even though James Rodriguez only returned his owners 3 points, boy did he look good, make sure he is on your radar as he will start getting you plenty of points soon. Gabriel surprised many by making his debut against Fulham and even getting himself a premier league goal. I’ll be honest I thought Willian would start on the Bench and Pepe would be in the starting XI but nope Arteta went the other way. Willian finished with 3 assists and 12 points. Aubameyang got his goal and that would of pleased 49% of the competition but even I would of liked some more from him. Unfortunately it was Alexander-Arnold’s full back mate that got the extra points this week, TAA finished on 1 point which would not of pleased 56.3% of the competition. If you doubled up on TAA with either Robbo scoring you 4 points or Van Dijk scored you 7 points. This week they come up against Chelsea which will be a tough game but TAA should bounce back and he loves a goal against Chelsea scoring in both games last season. 

As mentioned before Newcastle, Everton and Crystal Palace were the surprises of the weekend. I did not expect DCL to win the match for Everton. Who would of actually thought that Southampton would lose to Palace after the way both teams finished last season. Lots of coaches had Ings and Adams along with Kyle Walker-Peters. I’m going to be honest I was stressing so much when I saw the red card given to him in the second half. I do believe the red was justifiable as the referee had a split decision to make as it was high and was quite late. He was very lucky to remain on the pitch. Newcastle went about their business and kept a clean sheet which surprised me but West Ham have a huge mountain to climb early on. I wouldn’t be taking any West Ham players going forward till at least game week 10 like I mentioned in my season preview. Newcastle on the other hand, don’t be to reactionary with bringing in defenders or midfielders unless the midfielder you bring in is Ryan Fraser, they won’t be playing West Ham every week, they will have games where they concede plenty of goals. If you bring in anyone, I would be choosing Callum Wilson. 

Oh and lastly, I was absolutely FUMING at Scott Parker!!!! First game of the season and MITROVIC is on the BENCH......... ARE YOU SERIOUS. Okay, I’m being dramatic, but still, he should of started, Kamara had a golden opportunity to put Fulham ahead and if that was Mitrovic I reckon it would of been 1-0 to Fulham and Arsenal would of been playing catch up, but apparently there was a slight niggle in the Hamstring that kept him on the bench, but still, the Championship Golden Boot winner on the bench. Scott Parker better start him this week!!! 

The dream team for this week was in formation 5-4-1

GK: Guaita (CRY) - 10 pts

DEF: Saiss (WOL) - 15 pts

DEF: Gabriel (ARS) - 15 pts

DEF: R. James (CHE) - 14 pts

DEF: Castagne (LEI) - 14 pts

DEF: Digne (EVE) - 13 pts

MID: Salah (LIV) - 20 pts

MID: Hendrick (NEW) - 14 pts

MID: Willian (ARS) - 12 pts

MID: Jorginho (CHE) - 12 pts

FWD: Jamie Vardy (LEI) - 13 pts

From the dream team which scored 153 points I wouldn’t be looking to be too reactionary, you chose your team at the start of the season for a reason. They will perform. There will be lots of early wildcards, but if you can save a transfer this week and then next week you have two free transfers to help you change up a bit. The highest scoring team was a coach from Norway scoring 142 points, using his triple captain on Salah giving him 60 points. His team isn’t all too bad and some gambles actually paid off for example, Guaita and Willian. Like I mentioned I thought Willian would be used off the bench and after the way Palace finished last season I didn’t expect them to get a result. Other than that his team wasn’t too bad and some very nice choices and lots of Player of Differences.

My preview and suggested transfers will be out soon and just some tips in what to do In the coming gameweeks. Hope you all had a good game week, I definitely didn’t and now I’m playing catch up this season already.