Thread by @FplStrategy

GW1 and Strategy thread

Current thoughts with regards to my FPL team, I will cover:

- My Wildcard Strategy
- Fixtures to target (fixture ease)
- Players to consider (my shortlist)
- Current draft and formation

Data taken from drafthound.link/3t2w4ap6
@drafthound

Wildcard Strategy

Since I can remember, I have always wildcarded early, I have several reasons for this, to name a few:
- Gives me a few weeks to analyse teams/players
- Have players from teams that have an easier fixture schedule to start with.....

- Allows me to start strong
- Gains momentum
- Can take short term punts where necessary
- Can jump on new signings if they start well namely (Sancho, Kane, Lukaku)

Team Structure

I have three team structures that I tend to go with, either a 3-4-3, 3-5-2.or 4-4-2

Usually, I try to have a playing bench, but due to budget constraints, I will most likely go with a budget goalkeeper and a non-playing goalkeeper.

Generally, I set up my team with:
- 1 premium defender
- 1/2 mid-priced players
- 2/3 budget defenders that rotate
- 2 premium midfielders
- 2/3 mid-priced midfielders (can rotate well with my defenders and/or striker)
- 0/1 budget midfielder
- 2 mid-priced strikers minimum

Teams to target

I will target these teams as their initial fixtures are decent (% chance of winning for the first 6 GWs in image)

- Man United
- Liverpool
- Man City
- Everton
- Leicester
- Leeds
- Aston Villa
- West Ham
- Newcastle
- Tottenham
- Watford
- Brighton

Of these fixtures, I will try getting in as many Man Utd and Liverpool players as I can. In my opinion, they have the best fixtures and explosive players.

Man Utd Fixtures:
- LEE, sou, wol, NEW, whu, AVL

Liverpool Fixtures:
- nor, BUR, CHE, lee, CRY, bre

Players to consider

As most people, I have approximately 20 players, this is my current shortlist:

GKs
- Sanchez (4.5m); solid first 6 fixtures, can play in all games, set and forget

Defenders
Premium
- TAA (7.5m); good fixtures, double digit assists likely this season, a no brainer

Mid-priced
- Shaw (5.5m); on set pieces, fixtures are good, another no brainer for me

- Maguire (5.5m); think he has looked dangerous at set pieces and as mentioned with Shaw, the games are kind first up

- Digne (5.5m); an attack minded left back, on some set pieces, a very strong early set of fixtures.

Budget
- Ayling (4.5m)
- White (4.5m)
- Lowton (4.5m)
- Dier (4.5m)
- Veltman (4.5m)
- Tsimikas (4m)
- Amartey (4m)

Midfielders

Premium
- Salah (12.5m); first player on my team sheet, no doubt to be my captain too, no need to over think this one

- Bruno (12m); his record in FPL has been elite, never considered to go without, he is 100% in my team

- Son (10m); ideally would love to have him in my team, but currently struggling to fit him in with Bruno and Salah my main choices

Mid-priced
- Greenwood (7.5m); think he plays the first three, he is young and will get better season by season

- Jota (7.5m); underlying numbers are great, rotation risk, but again his upside is huge, so very close to my XI

- Gundogan (7.5m); same price as Jota and greenwood, he is likely to be on pens whilst KDB is out, a very under rated player

- Grealish (8m); could end up being one of the bargains of the season, rotation will be an issue though as man city have a plethora of attacking players and Pep will rotate them throughout the season

- Benrahma (6m); one of the best players in preseason, I think this is his season, extremely talented & is showing that now for West Ham

- Buendia (6.5m); excellent value & will provide the creativity for Villa. Monitoring his fitness for now

Cheap
-Any 4.5M playing midfielder

Attackers
- Antonio (7.5m); when he is fit, he starts for me, becoming an excellent and reliable option, West Ham have a good run of fixtures too

- DCL (8m); think he will be fit for GW1 and has always been in my thoughts to start

- Ings (8m); Villas main man now!

- Watkins (7.5m); he was in my initial draft, however he will only come in my team if budget is an issue, otherwise its Ings

- Wilson (7.5m); he is clinical (when fit), a very decent option to start the season considering his fixtures too.

Current Draft and Formation
Currently my draft looks like this, a 3-4-3 formation, Salah will be my captain also.

Thanks for reading this thread, i hope you will find this useful.

Anything else you want me to discuss in next weeks thread, then let me know in the comments below

Good Luck 🙌