It’s been a week since our first Fantasy Premier League draft of the FPL Updates XI and because it’s completely pointless and fun we have bought into the pre-season hype and made a few alterations. There’s no fun in picking a 15 man squad in July and then actually keeping that for week 1!
So let’s have a little look at our updated FPL Updates XI line up!
Jack Butland remains in goal. In other news, the sky is blue, water is wet and Arsene Wenger hasn’t signed a new striker. Eldin Jakupovic remains back up. Not that I could even pick him out in a line up, but he’s like a Tesco meal deal. Fills a gap and is friendly on the wallet.
Our defence is where we see most change. Since the last draft article we have said goodbye to John Terry, Leighton Baines and Pape Souaré. Not because I think they are bad picks, but because we we have made some wholesale changes throughout and saving a million at the back was required. With the injuries to Chelsea’s defence their appeal has dwindled, so Terry can happily drop. Baines will be missed if we decide to run without him, but Souare out barely even matters. In comes Man City target John Stones, Gabriel and Erik Pieters. Stones is in because Pep is interested. If he goes he is an absolute must have at 5.0m. If Pep can’t get the best out of him then he has no hope! Gabriel is a risk given the fact Arsenal fans are talking about Rob Holding as if he’s the next Tony Adams, but with Per Mertesacker out for a while I’m confident Gabriel is a good route into the Arsenal back line. Pieters is only in because he’s 4.5m and seems less of a risk than many of the others at that price. Friend and Shaw remain in the back 5.
The midfield sees just the 1 switch and it’s a little bit of a painful one. Kevin De Bruyne is dropped for Gerard Deulofeu. We needed to free up funds and unfortunately this is the move. With Sergio Aguero nailed in our squad, we were happy enough to run with just him as our sole attacking cover from Manchester City. His replacement is someone who has really impressed this pre-season and has been heavily talked up by new Everton boss Ronald Koeman. Deployed in a central attacking role at times this summer, Koeman has even mentioned that he sees Deulofeu playing there when Romelu Lukaku is ‘unavailable’. Given the transfer talk surrounding Lukaku, it makes Deulofeu a very tantilising FPL prospect. Anthony Martial, Andros Townsend, Cesc Fabregas and Sofiane Feghouli remain.
So to the reason for much of this change. We only went and got ourselves a heavy dose of Ibrahimovic Fever. I’ve been weighing up his FPL appeal ever since the game went live but at 11.5m he seemed very pricey. That was until he decided to score a bicycle kick 4 minutes into his United debut. This was followed by a quick confirmation check that he does in fact play Bournemouth and Hull in the first 3 weeks. He joins Sergio Aguero and Andre Gray in a very exciting looking front 3. A front 3 that I’m sure we wont be alone in having.
So with just over a week until the season starts, nows the time to get a fairly solid template in place. As guilty a pleasure as it is, try not to buy too heavily into these pre-season games. If you suddenly feel yourself compelled to run with Antonio Valencia, Wayne Rooney and Ahmed Musa just remind yourself that Yaya Sanogo scored 4 in an Emirates Cup game against Benfica in 2014!
Good luck with your drafts and feel free to let us know your views on Twitter and on the FPL Updates forum!
Written by FPL Guru (@FPL_Guru_)
