Back page One of the highlights to the Premier League season is carefully selecting your Fantasy Premier League team.
With the Official Premier League game only allowing a budget of just £100m to select 15 players one cannot get overly excited though.
In this article, we will be displaying some very shrewd business you can complete in the Fantasy Premier League, as well as some players you should steer clear of.
By following these tips you should be able to amass plenty of points and save your millions for other star players.
First up, in defence is Marcos Alonso of Chelsea. The left-back will set you back a hefty £6.5m – only Liverpool full-backs, Andy Robertson and Trent Alexander Arnold are more expensive.
Last season in the league, Alonso kept 13 clean sheets in the 31 games he played, a respectable total.
Although, under new manager Frank Lampard, Chelsea may not maintain such a solid back-line.
Furthermore, it is not certain that the manager will pick him.
The Spaniard’s final tally of four assists is mediocre, especially when you consider the price of the player.
It may be more wise to spend £0.5m and get either Alexander-Arnold or Robertson, who got 12 and 11 assists respectively.
Whilst, Liverpool will be expected to keep more clean sheets than Alonso’s Chelsea, making the signing of Alonso nonsensical.
If you do not have the funds to fork out on the industrious Liverpool full-backs, then look no further then Max Aarons of Norwich City.
Although, this player is something of a ‘wildcard’ considering he has never played in the Premier League, he has been tipped to shine this season. No doubt Aarons will be a lynchpin of the Norwich defence.
He accumulated six assists and two goals in the Championship last season – a useful total.
A concern may be that Aarons’ Norwich only managed 13 clean sheets in the Championship last year, so you can expect that number to be halved in this campaign.
However the greatest pull factor over Aarons though is his cheap price. At just £4.5m he offers an affordable defensive option, that is guaranteed minutes. Definitely worth a try.
By claiming that Kevin de Bruyne is over-priced is meant to take nothing away from the Belgian’s super qualities on the ball.
However, at an eye-watering £9.5m, there are definitely better options available.
Of course, De Bruyne had injury problems last season. However, the main concern is over his actual involvement in goals.
In 2018/19 he managed just two goals and two assists. De Bruyne will often play in a midfield three and dictate the tempo of the match.
However, this means that he is often not in the opposition’s box, but in a deeper position. This means that De Bruyne is far less likely to get goals and assists, harming his points total.
Whilst, the playmaker is still likely to pick up a handful of man-of-the-match awards, you cannot be certain that his points total warrants the £9.5m you will have to spend on him.
Newcastle’s new £20m signing, Allan Saint-Maximin is nearly half the price of De Bruyne at just £5.5m. As one of the major summer signings, Saint-Maximin is guaranteed a starting spot on Newcastle’s right-wing.
Furthermore, his six goals and five assists in 34 games last season for OGC Nice represent healthy numbers.
It may be that Saint-Maximin takes a while to get used to the Premier League, but he certainly looks to be worth a gamble, especially considering his more forward position compared to a lot of the other midfielders valued around £5.5m, such as Jordan Henderson, who play in a much more defensive position.
Saint-Maximin’s countryman, Olivier Giroud is guaranteed goals in the Premier League, he has now scored 78 goals in the competition.
Despite this, his last season tally was just two goals, which provides much of the reasoning behind his low price of £7m. However, it is likely his fortunes will change for the 2019/20 season.
Firstly, Chelsea have a new boss in Frank Lampard, who will probably be looking to the experience of Giroud to lead the front-line amongst a relatively youthful squad.
Secondly, both Eden Hazard and Gonzalo Higuain have left the club – two of the main reasons that Giroud’s game time and goal numbers were low last season.
Finally, and most importantly, the transfer embargo that Chelsea find themselves in has presented the Chelsea striker with no incoming transfers to push him down the pecking order.
The return of Tammy Abraham and Michy Batshuayi from their respective loans do offer competition.
Still, Giroud’s experience and proven track-record in the Premier League should persuade both you and Frank Lampard to include Giroud in your starting XIs.
Gabriel Jesus scored five more Premier League goals than Giroud, so it may seem a surprise that I have included the Manchester City star as over-priced, whilst deeming Giroud as under-priced.
The Brazilian will cost you £9.5m, but this seems like an awful lot of money considering that Jesus only started eight games for Manchester City last season.
It is probable that Sergio Aguero will lead the Manchester City line once more this season, depriving Jesus of much time on the pitch to bag some goals.
He may well surpass last season’s total of seven goals, but for such a high price, you need to be sure that you are getting a starting striker that will score on a regular basis.
Jesus does not guarantee that.
