Getting close to my starting 11

I’m struggling. With so many players catching my eye and so many new signings my team is in a constant state of flux with only Hazard and Aguero ever present. Nevertheless I have a draft that I’m beginning to like, so I thought I would share – feel free to give feedback and share your team.

£0.2 banked.

Goalie

Courtois – The extra 2 points for a clean sheet has tempted me away from the cheaper options and I see Chelsea racking up the clean sheets under Conte. Cech is the other pricier option but Arsenal’s defence seems a bit of a mess at present and they have difficult opening fixtures. All that said Courtois is far from nailed down in my team and I may yet go for a cheaper alternative.

Missed the cut (for now!): Butland, Foster, Forster

Defence

Fuchs – Nailed on in the champions team with a great chance of racking up bonus points – looks under priced at 7.8.

Williams – was great for swans, regular MOTM awards and occasional bonus. At 7.3 he looked under priced before he went to a more resolute looking Koeman defence with good fixtures. Baines also priced at 7.3 is another strong option – in fact I may actually go Baines as I don’t think Williams will start at the weekend.

Friend – Nsue at 5.2 was in my team but I’m leaning towards the more guaranteed Friend at 6.3. Quite a difference in price but Nsue looks like a transfer waiting to happen. That said, he may yet squeeze into my team as his price is so tempting.

Missed the cut (for now!): Nsue, Pieters, Dawson, Dann, Stones, Baines

Midfield

Hazard – Part of my captain strategy – he’s nailed in my team.

Tadic – on pens and set pieces and looks to be playing no.10 under Claude Puel, he’s 95% in my team. Redmond another option here but slight worry over game time and, from what I have seen, he’s not very good at shooting.

Noble – Decent chance of bonus, on pens and seemed to be getting forward towards the end of last season. He also forms part of my captain strategy. Ayew is another option, as is Payet. Alternatively, I’m tempted to without a West Ham player until next week when we will have more info. Either way Noble’s place in my team is under threat.

Xhaka – This spot is also up for grabs. I think Xhaka will rival Fabregas for churning out bonus this year and will be in most peoples team come January. My worry is that Wenger might ease him in and he does appear to be a card magnet.

Gueye – Another bonus magnet. He should rack up the tackling bonus and possibly chip in with passing bonus as well. At 7.5 he looks to be a steady cheap enabler.

Missed the cut (for now!): Payet, Ayew, Oscar, Barkley, Fabregas, Deulofeu, Mahrez, Surman

Forwards

Aguero – enough said.

Ibra – I need a united option for captaincy and he seems the most secure route. Pogba and Mkhitaryan are both decent options but have a slight risk of game time. Rooney could be a great shout, only wish he was classed as a midfielder.

Missed the cut (for now!): Gray

General thoughts

Looking at it now, I feel like my midfield needs another big hitter (Payet/ Mahrez). Its important to have players at lots of different price points to give your team flexibility. If one of those big mids comes to life it won’t be that easy for me to bring them in. An option here would be to bring in Gray and go 343 – he’s had a great pre season and would act as a good placeholder for a big hitting mid.

My defence seems a little pricier than I would usually go for and I can see myself downgrading Courtois pretty early on in order to free up funds for a big hitter so I may save myself the bother and start with a cheaper goalie.

I’m seriously considering going 442 as there are so many good defensive options which seem great value, but I’ll probably end up sticking with 352.

Poll results are in 

Some interesting results! View them here 

Upcoming posts

In all honesty, I probably won’t get round to making another post before the season starts as I’m pretty busy tomorrow.

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