Rules of FPL:
The rules of the game can be found at https://fantasy.premierleague.com/help/rules. Here is a summarised version of the rules.
1) You are given $100m to create your team. (Frankly speaking, in reality this would probably only get you 1 world-class player). You have to use this initial sum to select a team with 2 goalkeepers, 5 defenders, 5 midfielders and 3 forwards.
2) After selecting your players, you have to choose a formation and pick the 11 players that would earn the points for the Gameweek. The remaining players will be put alongside Alexis Sanchez and their points are not counted towards your points.
3) After each Gameweek, you will be able to make strategic transfers in your squad. You are given one Free Transfer per week but if you want to make more transfers, you will have to pay for 4 valuable points per extra transfers.
4) You will then choose your Captain and Vice Captain from your starting 11. Captains will earn double points. Vice-Captains will earn double points only when the Captain does not play for the Gameweek.
5) There are also 4 Chips that you can use to obtain further advantages for your team. Chips are Power Cards, something like how Man City has a load of extra cash to spend over their rivals. They are Free Hit, Wild Card, Triple Captain and Bench Boost.
- Free Hit allows you to make unlimited transfers for one Gameweek, afterwhich your team will be reverted back to what it was before
- Wild Card allows you to make unlimited transfers for one Gameweek, afterwhich your team will not revert back to what it was before
- Triple Captains gives captains triple points (compared to double)
- Bench Boost allows your bench's points to be included in the tallying of points for that Gameweek
6) Scoring: The full list of points each player can earn is in the website. Basically, if your team players are scoring, assisting and keeping cleansheets, you are the goat.
SuperFrankie FPL Gameweek 1
To keep things interesting, I will first look at my forward line. In FPL, forwards are usually players who are known to play exclusively up front, i.e strikers. I say this because players who are traditionally known to be wingers or midfielders would be classified under Midfielders despite blatantly playing in a Striker role for the entire season. (Mo Salah is a prime example.) Strikers can score a lot, but they earn 4 points per goal compared to 5 for a Midfielder and 6 for a Defender and with the set-up and pace of the Premier League, the midfielders usually have almost an equal opportunity to score as a striker. Hence, my strategy is to go light on the Forwards department and invest in the Midfielders department because they can potentially earn a lot more than a low-scoring Forward. For Gameweek 1 I went with Jota and King with Wickham in reserve.
King is almost a no-brainer to pick, not because of his prowess or anything but mainly because Bournemouth will be playing against newly-promoted side Sheffield United. It is almost tradition that newly-promoted sides do not fare as well in the Premier League as their more established counterparts in the top-flight mainly because the level of football in the Premier League is leaps and bounds higher than in the Championship. The rare occasion that they do well, such as Wolves the last season, is because of shrewd signings (I still can't believe that Patricio and Moutinho signed for the club) and a genuinely incredible coach. Looking at Sheiffield's team, with a lack of top-level players, it would be an upset if Bournemouth do not run riot against this side. Hence, King is my first-choice striker.
I am abit skeptical about Jota because my choice of him is on the back of last season's performances. Jota and Jimenez strike up an incredible partnership last season in an incredible Wolverhampton squad under Nuno Espiranto Santo. It is true that Jimenez gets the plaudits for actually scoring, but Jota is the other goal threat who is just as likely to contribute in attack in this formidable team. I wanted to go for Jimenez, but for lack of funds, Jota is an able replacement.
Wickham comes in as one of my reserves which I would most likely never use because I need to use funds for my star-studded first team squad. At only $4.5m, he is one of the cheapest strikers out there.
Midfielder
Last season, a confirmed starter for me was Salah and Mane unless one of them was rested or injured. They brought great dividends for me as they are the two incredibly high scoring midfielders out there. If one did not score, it is almost certain the other would and Liverpool raked in the number of goals and assists scored which is primarily shared between the two. Although Mane did not play in Liverpool's preseason, hence the risk involved in having him in the squad, if he does, the reward is many times fold. From Klopp's recent interview, a Mane start seems to be very well on the plate.
Salah on the other hand is almost certain to start and score. The match in in the Community Shield shows that he is still in top form and still go about creating chances with his terrifying pace and confidence in front of goal.
Pulisic is a wild card that I have. I watched all of Chelsea's preseason and he is a player that I think will do extremely well in the league. Slightly underrated due to his age and relative obscurity in the PL, he is known for his pace and ability to run at the defenders. He was a great outlet for Chelsea in their preseason and would certainly rake in the assists, if not the goals.
Lucas Moura is another player I chose because of the opposition Spurs are playing against; Aston Villa. Lucas Moura and Son is perhaps the two most promising attacking talent in the Spurs squad, capable of making the difference in the team with their speed and attacking play. Unfortunately, Son is out of my budget, hence Lucas Moura is a decent replacement.
Finally, Fraser. Fraser is the number one player you should have in a player due to the value he would give your team. He is low priced, yet high scoring. A decent player with incredible pace, he is perhaps the main attacking threat in the Bournemouth team, hence his high assist and scoring rate for a Midfielder. He is a good player to have for the long run.
Defender
Zinchenko had a pretty great preseason, starting the matches under Guardiola and seems to be a confirmed starter until Mendy is fit enough for a start. It is either him or the other Fullback that likes to go forward, Kyle Walker but Zinchenko is slightly cheaper at $5.5m.
Digne is a player that I overlooked last season. I have seen Everton play and I did not really fancy them much and Digne did not impress in the matches that I watch him play. However, he seems to always come up with the cleansheets and assists. I am putting him in solely because he could potentially continue with his form. But I am not very positive about my decision as my decisions are usually based on watching the players play. When LaPorte eventually recovers form his injury, I will be definitely replacing him for LaPorte. It never hurts to have a Man City confirmed starter defender in your squad.
Robertson is another player that should be in most FPL teams. Robertson and Alexander Arnold are the two fullbacks for Liverpool that provides the assists. Although it is Van Dijk that really does the most of the defending, but since all Defenders gets the same points for a Cleansheet, might as well have a Defender that could also score the occasional assist.
The other two Defenders, Prodl and Reid are only there to allow more funds for the first team squad. To be fair, I have heard of these players through FIFA as they have decent gold ratings but am not really sure they actually start for their respective teams.
Goalkeeper
To be honest, I tried rotating a few players last season, including Patricio and Steele, and they did not fare well compared to Ederson. Heaton however, despite playing for lowly Burnley, was earning lots of points due to the number of saves that he had. I expect him to do that again with Aston Villa, and from his last preseason match, he seems to be in his goat-like possessed form that would prevent Aston Villa from being raped.
Patricio is another great keeper who can dish out the saves. I highly rated him before he came to Wolves, as I saw him play for Portugal and he is outstanding. He could get the many saves to earn the extra point, but he could also get the cleansheet from an improving Wolves squad.
Final Squad
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