FINALLY! Fantasy football is BACK! Yes, we had the Euro’s, but let’s be honest, it doesn’t quite compare with the action that the Premier League brings. It’s now time for business to pick up and for us to plan our fantasy teams for the first gameweek of the Fantasy Premier League season. This series will bring you the best selections from each team in the Premier League and what better place to start than with Arsenal!
Arsenal are a tough team to pick from, mainly because they’re so damn unpredictable! We can’t promise these players will still be fit, alive or wearing an Arsenal badge by gameweek 1, but one thing we can promise is that Arsenal will undoubtedly be aiming for the title, then after Christmas be happy with top four, then (Sorry Arsenal fans) by May be happy to finish above Spurs!
STAR MAN- Mesut Ozil (9.5m)
Mesut Ozil is world class and a chance creating machine. From the start of last season up to Boxing Day, Ozil created 67 chances and picked up 15 assists. Between then and the end of the season he created 63 chances and assisted 3 times. Did Ozil drop off or did his teammates?
These statistics show Ozil is creating a high amount of chances consistently throughout the season and if Arsenal can find the ruthlessness they lacked last season, Ozil will pick up points for fun. For the last three seasons we’ve had Ozil in the Premier League, he’s averaged exactly 5 goals per season and although we are putting him in our sides for the assist and bonus points, it’s nice to know he’s got a few goals in him.
HIDDEN GEM – Aaron Ramsey (8.0m)
The hidden gem is always a tough one with such a well known club like Arsenal, with their players always being in the public eye. In this case the hidden gem is a player that scores a good amount of points, with a fairly low “teams selected by” percentage.
The majority of Fantasy Premier League players will opt for Ozil or Sanchez from Arsenal’s midfield leaving a certain Aaron Ramsey with a low ownership. This is why the Welshman is our hidden gem, as he’s just come off a fantastic Euros campaign and momentum is swinging his way. We learnt from Wales’ semi-final defeat to Portugal that Bale is their star man, but Ramsey is their key man and this may be the case in Arsenal’s season. Ramsey has yet to rediscover the goal scoring form he had in the 2013/14 season when he scored 10 goals but if there was a time for him to do that, it’s likely to be now.
BARGAIN OPTION – Alex Iwobi (6.0m)
Last season we saw a glimpse of what Alex Iwobi is capable of and the talent he holds already at the age of 20. With a price of just 6.0m, the Nigerian will be a great cheap option. We all can accept he won’t play every minute of every game, but we can accept that when he is on the pitch, he’s dangerous. We don’t have to start these bargain options in our teams, but we can have them as a cheaper option on the bench allowing us to improve our starting XI’s and one thing that is almost certain is that Arsenal are going to suffer from injury problems AGAIN, meaning there’s a good chance we can see Iwobi running at defenders in no time. Iwobi won’t have a high ownership so if he does get the chance and takes that chance, you could be seeing green arrows thanks to this man and my wonderful tip to you… You’re welcome!
Written by Tom Mellor (@MellorFootball)
