FPL FINAL THOUGHTS | GAMEWEEK 1 | Fantasy Premier League Tips 2025/26

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In this video I go through my final thoughts to help you lock your FPL Team Selections ahead of Gameweek 1.
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00:00 Intro
00:22 Team News
04:53 Team Rating
05:42 Spurs and the Super Cup recap
09:01 Who to drop – Bruno, Wirtz, or Watkins
12:36 Strand Larsen vs £6.0m forwards
15:55 Ranking the £5.0m – £5.5m midfielders
19:13 Thoughts on Minteh
20:26 Should we worry about fixture clashes
21:26 How stupid is it to Bench Boost Gameweek 1
23:26 Thoughts on the 4-5-1 formation
25:06 Villa attacking double up
26:24 Thoughts on Evanilson
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Intro and Outro music – https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SrY7LBvrY4g
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#FPL #FantasyPremierLeague #PremierLeague

[Music] What is going on everyone? My name is Andy. Welcome back to another FPL video. In this one, it’s some of my final thoughts ahead of the gameweek one deadline. So, this is another video that I’ll be doing every single game week covering the latest team news, general news, hot topics, and answering a bunch of your questions just ahead of the deadline. So, if you enjoy it, make sure to give it a like, hit that subscribe button if you want more. Let’s get into it. So, let’s start with the team news. I watched the whole Liverpool press conference and Anna Slot was not asked about Connor Bradley’s injury at all. So, we don’t have an update there. I did see on the Liverpool website that Brady’s listed as being injured, but it mentioned the community shield when I checked it. So, I don’t know if that’s been updated either. So, we just don’t know. Fing will almost certainly start gameweek one because he’s ahead of Bradley in terms of fitness. And because of that, you’d probably think he’d start two and three as well. But, as soon as Bradley’s back, I do think there’s a serious threat to Fing Pong’s minutes and they will share more game time than some people think. That’s just my opinion on it at least. Ring Pong is the flare, an aggressive pick. Van Dijk’s where you go for the safety, but I think you know that by now. Grain Bur suspended for gameweek one. Not ideal for clean sheet potential, but a Liverpool defender longterm, especially Van Dijk is still a good pick. Mallister is back fit. Whether he’s fit enough to go straight into the team, I don’t know. I would assume he won’t be in the 11, but when he is, I wonder if he might take some set pieces off of Verts. We’ll have to wait and see on that. Morgan Rogers has been pictured in training. Now, at the time recording, Unai Emory has not held his press conference. You will see that later today, but the fact he’s in training is obviously a good sign. So, if you’re keen to go for Rogers in gameweek one, that’s promising, but wait and see what Una says. If he puts any doubts on it, just don’t risk it. Orthlet’s back in training and could feature in gameweek one. So, the idea of Semenor Nielson taking penalties doesn’t look like it’s going to last very long. Clover is definitely in a void for FPL because there’s no guarantee he will feature in gameweek one. Their new center back, Diaite, maybe I pronounce it something like that. I’ll look it up for future videos. 4.5 million is physically ready. So, he might go straight into the team. But if you want a Bournemouth defender, just get Sessi for the same price. And Christy, 5 million midfielder back in training, but not ready for gameweek one. So, he’s a definite nogo for gameweek one squads. West Ham. It looks like pretty much anyone you would consider is fit. Somerville and Earth are out. No one’s looking at them for FPL. There was no mention of Callum Wilson, so I don’t know if that means he’s available or not, but he didn’t feature in preseason. Full cri is definitely going to start the season as first choice number nine. And if the partnership between him and Bowen works out well and West Ham get some wins, I’m sure he’ll stay in the team. And Callum Wilson just can’t get and stay fit anyway. And Graham Potter was asked if new signing Hermanson will start in goal and he didn’t tell him. Basically, he’s not going to give away any team news. So for me, Hermanson and Areola are just clearer boys because you don’t know who’s going to start gameweek one. My guess would be Hermanson and he will be first choice soon, but it’s not a guarantee for gameweek one. For Brenford, Keller and Shardai are back on the grass. A decision will be made on them after seeing them over the next day and a half. With Sharda, I’m not sure if he’s going to start. They could just play Lewis Potter left wing. And if Shard’s on the bench, bring him on later on. I think he will be first choice with the current squad they have, but obviously there’s risk going into gameweek one and for seven million in FPL, I just wouldn’t risk it. Keller, I’m like 99.99% sure that he will start. But the fact that Keith Andrews hasn’t said for certain that he’s fit makes me think, why would you risk it? Like a 4.5 million goalkeeper, he’s good, but is he that good? I would just go for Braggen or Petravic instead, I think. So, Keller probably will start. I probably wouldn’t risk it. Vissa won’t feature at all. There’s been lots of speculation about his future at the club. Looks quite likely to leave. He won’t play in gameweek one. Presumably Thiago will be up front. Burnley, no real injury concerns that are going to impact FPL squads. Dravka, not specifically mentioned that I could see. So, we don’t know if he’s definitely first choice. We don’t know if he’s fit, but as it stands, if you’re going for a formidian goalkeeper on the bench, it might as well be Dravka because there’s no one else that’s going to play as it stands. Sunderland. No major FPL information, no mention of Mark G, which is a bit frustrating. Sometimes you get embargoed press quotes that come out later on. So, I’m recording this Thursday afternoon. The video is going to go live quite early Friday. It might be that we’ve had some information in between. Anything that’s missed out in this video, I will cover on the deadline stream on Friday afternoon. And then for Fulham, Manz is in contention. So Raal Gimenez has got a little bit of threat there to his minutes. But there’s so much speculation about Minnez leaving. I’m pretty sure Raal Gimenez will start. I would just avoid both for FPL. And then Robinson, if any of you are looking for him, he’s back soon. He’s not available for gameweek one. If you want a full defender, just go for Yoki Manderson. There’s less than 12 hours to go until the gameweek one deadline. Whatever team you’re sat on right now, make sure to get it rated absolutely free over on Fantasy Football Hub. You can use the website or the app like I am. And if you’ve got any screenshots on your phone, you can simply upload them to the tool and it will automatically populate. So this team that I’ve been playing around with comes out with a 98% team rating, the highest I’ve had in preseason so far, which indicates it’s a pretty strong squad. But if you’ve got different teams that you’re playing around with, you can upload them all and see how the ratings change for each one. Just click that link in the description below or scan the QR code on screen. Additionally, if you want to make use of all of the features of this tool and all the other tools that Fantasy Football Hub have to offer, this is a great time to join. The season is just about to start and there’s 50% off and if you join up and don’t win your mini league, you will get your money back. Terms and conditions apply. All the links you need description below. Let’s talk about the Super Cup. It was the first proper game for Spurs under Thomas Frank. And interestingly, he rolled out a back three formation. Was pretty much a 352. The two wing backs were Jed Spence and Pedro Parro. Don’t go putting either of those in your team thinking you’re getting a permanent wing back. We saw this at Brenford. Thomas Frank likes to roll out a back three in more difficult games, which is exactly what PSG is. So, if you look at the first eight game weeks, we might see the back three against Man City away in gameweek two. Otherwise, it’s mostly going to be a back four. Also, with Jed Spence, I don’t think doggies out for that long. So, we see he feels like a bit too much of a short-term punt. So, I would ignore him. If you want to go 4.5 defender, it’s probably got to be Van. I do have slight concerns with him. I think he will be first choice alongside Romero, but his fitness is something to be slightly cautious about. In the odd game, could Dano play instead? Possibly. The fixtures are so good to start the season. I don’t mind punting on Vanderven. And he did score against PSG as well. But just letting you know about the slight risk. If you want a guaranteed starter, it’s Romero or Porro who will cost you a little bit more. So Porr is not always going to play as a wing back, but he will be attacking in a back four. And we saw with no Madison on the pitch, he took a lot of set pieces. That looks set to continue. So I really like parro at 5.5. If you get stuck with him, the fixtures are good. And if you got a spare transfer later, you can always move to Manos if you’re not starting with him. Sar was part of the midfield three and he has played a lot of minutes at number 10 in preseason. He only cost 5 million. I think he got 16 defensive contributions in this game. So he would have hit the plus two points. The thing is he is not guaranteed to keep starting number 10. There’s lots of links with Spurs moving for EZ. He’ll go straight into that role. And it could be that Sar plays a lot of minutes slightly deeper in the pivot, but that’s not guaranteed either. So I think for me, I would probably ignore S. He looks good shortterm. Longterm, I’m not sure you can guarantee the minutes. Then up front was Richson and Cudis. Salanki was on the bench. He only got about 10 15 minutes on the pitch. He’s got to be an ignore for gameweek one. I think I’m not sure he starts against Burnley, then you got City away. As much as I’d love to be there, I think you’ve got to let it go. Richardson’s too short-term of an option, although he did play well. That’s why I’m even less confident about Salanki starting gameweek one cuz why risk it when you’ve got Richardson playing okay in that number nine role. And then Cudas alongside him, that just looks like in Burma, right? in Burma mostly played right wing and in games where they played a back three he played as part of the front two exactly how he used Cudas the thing with Cudas is that match went pretty much as I expected he looked good did a lot of good work didn’t get any FPL returns that’s my worry what will his output be if they keep getting linked to players like Cinho what will Cudis’ minutes be long term so he is first choice right wing and if they play this back three we could see Salanki and Cuda’s front two so his minutes should be good. I’m still not completely convinced by the output, but if you want to go there because of the fixtures, not a bad punt at all. And like I said, defensively, Romero at five absolutely nailed. Vanderven’s the budget option. And Pedro Par is great for 5.5 as well. So, one dilemma I’m seeing a lot of people have is which player to drop out of Bruno Fernandez, Florian Verz, and Ollle Watkins. This is a decision for me that’s going to go right down to the deadline, I think. Let me give you a quick overview. If you’re basing it on fixtures, Bruno Fernandez is the one to miss out. In the first five game weeks, Man United got Arsenal at home, City away, Chelsea at home. Yes, Liverpool have got Newcastle away in two and Arsenal at home in three, but their first five to six weeks just look better overall. And Villa’s fixtures are very good. Their hardest game in the first seven game weeks is Newcastle at home gameweek one. It’s really not that bad. So, Watkins is the best for fixtures, then Berts, then Bruno. If you look at penalties, Bruno is clear first choice penalty taker for Man United. I think there is zero doubts around that. Could he give up a penalty to Cheshko in Burmo or Kuna if they’re struggling to get off the mark this season? Possibly. Bruno definitely first choice. Vert definitely not getting penalties. And then with Watkins, he may or may not take them ahead of Tielemans. If they sign Asencio, he might become first choice penalty taker. There’s a bit of doubt there. So, Bruno wins from a penalty point of view. From an attacking point of view, Bruno is very likely to play in central midfield. That could impact the amount of goals and assists he’s going to get. Vert’s definitely going to play number 10. Watkins definitely going to play number nine. So, that is a bit of a disadvantage for Fernandez. We’ll have to see how much it does impact him though. He’s still going to get forward. And when you look at his numbers from last year, bearing in mind a lot of these were in the number 10 role. 0.22 expected goals per 90, 0.24 expected assist. Quite similar to Vertz. 0.23 expected goals per 90, 0.27 expected assists in the Bundesliga. Can he replicate those numbers in the Premier League? Probably. He’s a quality player. He’s going into a great team as well and you probably would give the advantage to him. But if Bruno’s numbers don’t get impacted in a huge way, he still has penalties as an advantage over Vertz. We know his minutes are absolutely secure. For what it’s worth, Vertz is going to start every game he’s fit and available for. I’m pretty sure about that. How early will he be subbed? We’ll have to wait and see. I think he came off around the 70 75th minute in the Community Shield. In the Premier League game, he probably gets longer. With Bruno, you know, he’s going to play 90 minutes in nearly every single match, and he’s got defensive contributions as well. Now, he’s not going to necessarily get them in a major way like Tarovski or Merillo, but he will get the odd few over the season. Vert’s very unlikely to do that. So, what Bruno loses from a central midfield role in terms of attacking threat, maybe he gains in penalties and defensive contributions, making him and Verts quite close, but Vert is.5 million cheaper, and that money might be useful for you. Watkins advantage is that he’s a forward. If you’re in that position where you don’t like many of the forwards, just putting him in for the good fixtures and then dealing with him later going down to a 7.5 definitely works as well. I hate to sit on the fence. There’s no right or wrong here. I will say though from experience of having lots of comments from FPL managers, Bruno Fernandez is the one that people are going to get frustrated by the most. As soon as he starts blanking, people will want him out of their team. And because the fixtures are a little bit rough for Man United, it just makes it harder to sit there and be patient with him. So I think for most people from a sanity point of view, you should drop Bruno. I’m going to drop Vertz or Watkins if I don’t go for all three. And I’m finding it difficult which one to go for. It will probably come down to which forward you prefer instead of Watkins or whether you prefer a midfielder instead of Vert. As simple as that. So the combination. So for me it might be something like Watkins and Rogers or Watkins and Sar versus Vertz and Mateta. And I really like Mateta following the Community Shield. So I think right now the one I’m most likely to drop is Watkins, but honestly I can just see a panic happening on the deadline stream. So someone asked me to do a comparison of Strand Lson versus the 6 million pound forwards. Basically, is it worth paying the extra.5 million for Strand Len? If you’re looking at Mateta, Xiao, Pedro Watkins, etc. Great. They are better picks, but obviously they’re more expensive. This is for someone that wants to go a bit cheaper. Danny Wellbeck, by the way, at 6.5. I think he will start gameweek one, but the fact that Routter has played so many minutes at number nine does worry me a little bit about him. For me, it’s really Strand Larson versus Fulgrug here. I think with Thiago, he will start gameweek one as the number nine. I got no doubts about that. How many minutes will he get? That’s probably up for discussion because he did have a big injury problem last year. Will he be able to come straight in and play 80 to 90 every single week? That’s unknown. And they probably will sign another forward. Now that forward might be a backup but it might be a good enough player that can come in and compete straight away. So it does worry me a little bit but it is Forest away Villa at home Sunderland away first three he probably starts all those games so he might be worth the risk if he does well he’ll keep his place but obviously there is some risk there and then with Barry it’s a similar situation in La Liga last year he put up 0.45 expected goals per 90. I think at some point this season a lot of us will own him. I think he’ll do really well and I think he will start gameweek one and Everton’s opening four fixtures are pretty good. I just don’t know how Betto is going to affect him. There is some competition there. David Moyes has said that Betto hasn’t done that well in preseason. That might have been just to, you know, make him play better, right? Give him something to think about. I just don’t know how early Barry’s going to get subbed off. Is he going to play 80 to 90 or is he going to be like a 70 75 minute player? I’m not sure. and can Betto, you know, win his place back potentially. The guy did score eight goals in like 15 starts last year. So, I think Thiago and Barry could be great value. Little bit risky to start gameweek one. Whereas with full cricket at 6 million, you know, he’s going to start. He’s had lots of minutes during preseason. Callum Wilson’s the only backup number nine. He cannot stay fit. He’s not featured in any preseason games. Will Fkrug be on penalties? Probably not. His record is very good, but I think Pacquat will be ahead of him. If Pakatar is not on the pitch or someone else has to take penalties, Fulkr could be ahead of Bowen. But there’s a little bit of doubt there. It’s just whether Fulkr can stay fit as well because actually when you look at the fixtures first five, you could argue West Hams are better than Wolves, but he’s probably not going to have penalties and how is he going to cope with playing so many more minutes this season. For what it’s worth, I looked at his previous injury record for Gri. It’s not that bad. He just had quite a few problems last year. Is that going to affect him this year? Maybe. If you’re going to take the punt on a six million, I think Frier is probably my favorite. Although if Thiago and Barry get the minutes, they could be good. Is it worth paying the.5 Strand Lson? The thing I really like about him is he’s also got pretty much no competition right now for that number nine spot. He put up 80 minutes per start last year. For comparison, Mateta was 78 and Watkins was 78. So Strand Larsson’s minutes are excellent. The fixtures after City Bournemouth way are not bad at all and he’s got a chance of getting penalties. So I think just because of the injury stuff last year, Strand Larson is probably worth paying that 0.5. But if you’ve got the perfect squad, apart from the 0.5 million you need, then Strand Lson to Fulkr in my opinion is not a bad downgrade. But if it’s a choice between the two, I’m probably going to go for Strand Larson just about. So let’s rank the five to 5.5 million midfielders. At the top, no surprise. It’s Elliot Anderson. Not going to get you a huge amount of attacking returns, but he’ll get you some. He’ll take the odds set piece and he’s great for defensive contributions. Last season per start, he put up 11.85. You only need to hit 12 to get the additional two points as a midfielder. So, he’s going to do that fairly consistently. Not an exciting pick. No flare about it, but he’s a set and forget. You can just concentrate your transfers elsewhere. And I think he’ll be pretty consistent with kind of four plus points. Then I put Aras in second place and Rinders in third. Those two might be the wrong way round. Rinders basically depends on what you think he’ll get minutes wise and where you think he will play now with no Rodri right now not fit until at least after the first international break. Rinder’s minutes will probably be pretty good but does that mean he’ll play in a deeper role and if he does will he still have that attacking threat we saw in the preseason game and will he be good for defensive contributions? It’s all a little bit of an unknown and we can’t be 100% sure his minutes are going to be great. I think they will be first four to six game weeks, but it’s not a guarantee, which is why I put him further down the list. If you think Rinders is nailed on to play 80 to 90 every single week, get him. He’s probably the best 5.5 in that situation. Arias not going to be great for defensive contributions, but I find it hard to see a world where he’s not starting regularly and his minutes should be pretty good as well. So, I think he’s going to play in kind of that number 10 role. So, I quite like him, but I just think from a safety point of view and to get those consistent boring points, Elliot Anderson’s probably slightly better. Riners though, honestly, he could be such a good value player this year. If you want to go for a different 5.5 like Maron, I just think there’s too many risks. Adingra should start regularly for Sunderland. I just don’t like backing newly promoted teams unless I absolutely have to. I actually put in fourth place Jubury Hall at 5 million. Now I cannot be 100% sure about his minutes. But I find it hard to believe that he’s not going to start regularly. It’s just whether he plays in that number 10 role. Greish is coming in. So we could see Greish left, Jubury Hall central, and then Injai on the right. We could see Injai or Greish on the left and then one of whichever one doesn’t play on the left centrally and Jubury Hall plays a bit deeper in which case his attacking threat would go down, but maybe his defensive contributions go up. There is some risk there, but he’s only five million. My main issue with him right now and why I’m struggling to lock him into my team is where do you go if he’s an issue, right? Because most of us are not going to have money in the bank to upgrade him. So, we got to make a second transfer or you’ve got to move to another five. You could go for someone like Jaca and he’s probably right up there in terms of best options. He’s going to be nailed. He’s going to take some set pieces. He may even get penalties although there’s not a high chance of that, but it could happen. The fixtures are very good as well. I just don’t know in that Sunderland team how many attacking returns he’s going to get and how good he’s going to be for defensive contributions, but that probably is your safer bet for minutes. Sar at Spurs, he’s not going to continue playing number 10 for much longer. And when he doesn’t play number 10, I don’t think he’s absolutely guaranteed to always be in the team. You got players like Bel at Brighton, but there’s not much attacking threat there. Jewsbury Hall at 5 million is the punt. Jacers if you want to play it safe, otherwise you spend the 0.5. Rinders if you’re confident in the minutes. Otherwise, Elliot Anderson is a great set and forget. So, let’s get into some of your questions. What are your thoughts on Ma at Brighton? Is he a viable option? Is he viable? I would say is it probably depends on what you want from an FPL pick. At the end of the day, he’s only six million. If you want to take one punt in your team, absolutely. You could look at Ma. I think he will be first choice rightwing for Brighton this season, so that’s a plus. Does that guarantee starts every single week? No. I think there’s a difference between being first choice and being nailed. Like Salah is nailed, Mter is first choice. So, his minutes aren’t quite as secure. Last year when he did start, he got 78 minutes per start. So, not bad. There is competition for places in that Brighton team though. Actually, for 6 million, I would consider Georgino routter instead because his minutes aren’t necessarily any more secure, but they’re definitely not any less secure. And he can play in multiple positions. when he’s not playing number 10, he could even play number nine ahead of Wellbeck or potentially if Wellbeck gets subbed off in some games, Rout could go and play there. And I think for the same price, I would prefer to get the guy that might play number nine. So, Ma is definitely a fun pick. His underlying numbers are good. If those minutes can go up, I think he will be first choice. I can’t guarantee he’s going to start every game. If you want someone like that at 6 million, you’re looking at Pakatar or Tielemans instead. So, should we worry about fixture clashes? For example, Mateta versus Sanchez in gameweek one. Short answer is no, not really. It’s nice when your players don’t play against each other because it gives you the best chance of maximizing your points for that given gameweek. The only thing that really matters is long-term points. So, if you think Sanchez is by far and away the best goalkeeper at 5 million and you want to go for him, it shouldn’t really matter who else is in your team. And then for Meta, if say you’re comparing him to Xiao Pedro and you think it’s quite a close call, then maybe you go Xiao Pedro just because you don’t have a Palace defender. But if you think Mateta is clearly the best, I would just go for him because long-term hopefully that will work out better even if in gameweek one it’s not completely ideal. But remember there’s worlds where they can both do well. Sanchez gets a bunch of save points, maybe the odd bonus or two. Matta scores one goal. So Sanchez has lost the clean sheet, but got your points and Sanchez has got some saves, etc. So if you can avoid it, it’s nice, but it’s not something that really plays on my mind in a big way when I’m making my squads. So, how stupid or wise is it to bench boost in gameweek one? I’m giving it some thoughts as I didn’t triple captain Harland early last season and regret it. So, I might as well try this time when you triple captain last season should have no effect on when you bench boost this season. That being said, if you’ve looked at it a lot and you like it and you’re worried you’ll regret it, if you don’t do it, then absolutely activate the chip. It’s completely viable. The reason I’m not looking at it is because every time I make a team for gameweek one I’m happy with, it’s not good for bench boost gameweek one. And then if I alter the team to be good for bench boost one, I don’t like the squad overall and I just don’t think the chip is worth enough points to worry about it that much. Plus with Dravka hopefully being number one at Burnley, EsteeV obviously on my bench, it doesn’t need much for me to go right to have a good enough bench boost later on. And also I keep coming back to the point and you’ve heard me and others say this lots of times in a double game week, a bench boost. We’ve always said if we get 16 points or more, we’re happy with that. The reason that we say 16 in a double gameweek is because appearance points are two points, doubled for two games is four, four players is 16 points. So, does that mean in a single game week we’re hoping for eight plus? Like, how many points is this chip really worth? If I get appearance points from three players and one attack and return and hit like 10 plus, I’m probably okay with that. And I feel like I can probably get that in any game week later on as long as the Bravka plays. I can wait and see what Mark Gu does at Sunderland. if he doesn’t get minutes, I can upgrade that position later on. In a few weeks, I’ll know which players I want to downgrade, etc. Whereas in game week one, I’ve got to get a third forward that’s definitely going to play. So, it’s 5.5 million minimum in Peru. I’m already scraping cash from places to try and fit in the players I want. I don’t have another million to go and get Peru. So, the bench boost is just not worth enough for me to mess around with my team, but it is viable. And if you want to go aggressive where you bench boost and then you wild card early, that could work as well. Right, we’ve got these chips. They have to be used in the first 19 weeks. Why not get it done straight away? So, what are your thoughts on starting with a 451 formation? Have forwards become a weaker option this season with defensive contributions for midfielders and defenders? So, yes, forwards will probably be a little bit weaker because of that. Also, penalties have been nerfed in the bonus point system. So, you used to get 24 bps for a forward if you scored a penalty. I think it was 18 for a midfielder. Now for both those positions, it’s 12. So that’s going to hurt forwards. And also tackles are now worth more in the bonus point system as well. So you might see more defenders and midfielders picking up bonus versus what they did before. I don’t think it completely writes forwards off though where I would go 451. The problem with that is most people would do that formation with two 4.5 million forwards and we cannot guarantee that any of them are going to get any minutes. Mark Gu at Sunderland is probably our best bet, but he’s probably not going to be first choice number nine for quite a while. And the issue is if you go like Watkins and two 4.5s and Watkins misses out and your two 4.5s don’t come off the bench. All of a sudden you’re down to 10 players. You can’t play a 550 formation. So I don’t think forwards are that bad. I would go 451. The alternative is to go 451 and have like a bench option that’s a forward that will get minutes. The problem is you’ve probably got to play or to pay sorry 5.5 million plus for that and all of a sudden that weakens the rest of your squad. I wouldn’t want like a Peru or a6 million pound fullcr on the bench that often. So I think at best I would go 442 or 352. 451 I get the idea of it. It could work really well as long as your main forward always plays, but I’m not sure I would risk it. I don’t think the 4.5s are that good. So, is it worth going for a Villa attacking double up with Watkins and Rogers or save.5 million and go for a 6.5 million midfielder instead? Generally, with these decisions, I would try and not worry about the second player in the scenario. So, just because you’ve got Watkins, it shouldn’t really have any impact on whether you pick Rogers individually. They’re both good players. I think Rogers because of the fixtures, if he’s fit enough to start in gameweek one, is better than all the 6.5s. So S in Jai Cudis etc. It’s whether or not that 0.5 million really helps you out. So for example I’ve spoken about Strand Lson versus the 6 million forwards. If you think that Strand Lson is miles better than those six options, I’d rather go down to a 6.5 million midfielder and have Strand Lson rather than have Rogers and a six if that makes sense. So money no object. I’m picking Rogers. He’s absolutely nailed for Villa when he’s fit. He often plays 80 to 90 minutes and the fixtures are great. Rogers is one of those players you can just put in and leave for seven game weeks. So for that reason, I really do like him, but if you need to save the money, then Sar is right there and Jay is right there as well. So the fact you got Rogers would not Oh, sorry. The fact you’re going for Watkins would not put me off Rogers. I think he’s a great option. Let’s just see what Una Emery says. So what your thoughts on Evan Nielson apart from gameweek one, the fixtures look good and he’s lowowned. halfway between Stran Lson and the 7.5s. In general, I really like him as an FPL pick and I suspect he will be in my teams at multiple times this season. For gameweek one, I’m struggling though because it’s Liverpool away. It’s just such a tough fixture. If you’re setting up in a way where you could bench him gameweek one, then great. But I don’t think most people are doing that. Just to play devil’s advocate with my own point there though, I might start with Mateta. He’s got Chelsea away. I might start with Stran Lson. He’s got Man City at home. They’re not great fixtures either. All that really matters is points in the long term. So if you think Evan Nielson is so good, it doesn’t matter if you have to play them against Liverpool. I don’t hate it because gameweek two onwards, the fixtures are good and he could match the 7.5s, potentially do even better and you save your money or save some money to spend it elsewhere. We now know that Clive might be back for gameweek one. If he’s not, he’s probably going to make an appearance in two or three. So he will likely be first choice penalty taker. But even without penalties, Evan Nielson put up 0.45 expected goals per 90 last year and 81 minutes per start. In comparison, Mateta was 78 and Watkins was 78 as well. So his stats are good and he’s on the pitch a lot. He doesn’t really have a lot of competition either. He’s definitely going to be starting for Bournemouth and I don’t see them signing someone that’s going to be major competition for him. So really like him. I just wish he didn’t have Liverpool away. If I was wild carding in gameweek two, he’d probably be in. But like I said, if that money from not going Mateta or Jean Pedro really helps you out, then go for Evan Nilson. I just think on the other side of that, if you’re looking for ways to shave off.5 million, then Evan Nelson to Strand Len is also probably fine. Evan Nilson is not so good. I’d feel like he had to be in my squad. So, good option. Wish he had a better fixture gameweek one. Will be solid from gameweek two onwards. Hopefully you enjoyed that one and found it useful. If you did, please do help me out by hitting that subscribe button and giving the video a like. That is it pretty much for preseason now. So, thank you for joining me throughout. I do have one more thing though, and that is my deadline stream later today, starting at 4:30 p.m. UK time, answering all of your questions in the run-up to the deadline, getting my team locked in and all that good stuff. And of course, if you want to get your team rated for free before tonight’s deadline, make sure you use the link in the description below to check out Fantasy Football Hub. And if you want to sign up and use all their tools, 50% off right now. And if you sign up and don’t win your mini league, you will get your money back. Terms and conditions apply. All the links you need in the description below. Good luck with locking in your teams. I catch you for the deadline stream