FPL news to keep you ahead – Gameweek 1

The 22/23 FPL season is about to commence! Here are some points to consider for final updates to your FPL team.

Who is Hot in Pre-season?

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Early indicators of form can be found in the pre-season player stats of new arrivals and old favourites for those with enough time to trawl the web for nuggets of information.

For each team, I have chosen one player who has stood out for me during pre-season and who I would consider in my team for GW1.

The standout players/performances who are carrying great form into GW1 are in bold.

TeamName (Position, Price)Minutes PlayedGoals (G) Assists (A)
ArsenalJesus (FWD, 8.0)270G: 7 A: 1
Aston VillaBailey (MID, 5.0)250G: 3 A: 1
BournemouthStanislas (MID, 5.0)55G: 1 A: 0
BrentfordMbeumo (FWD, 6.0)390G: 4 A: 0
BrightonDunk (DEF, 4.5)265G: 1 A: 1
ChelseaMount (MID, 8.0)245G: 2 A: 0
Crystal PalaceZaha (MID, 7.0)390G: 5 A: 4
EvertonPatterson (DEF, 4.0)250G: 0 A: 2
Nottingham ForestTaylor (FWD, 4.5)270G: 2 A: 0
FulhamMitrovic (FWD, 6.5)240G: 4 A: 1
LeedsRodrigo (MID, 6.0)285G: 5 A: 0
LeicesterMaddison (MID, 8.0)280G: 1 A: 3
LiverpoolTAA (DEF, 7.5)235G: 1 A: 2
Man UtdSancho (MID, 7.5)220G: 3 A: 0
Man CityHaaland (FWD, 11.5)135G: 1 A: 0
NewcastleTrippier (DEF, 5.0)240G: 0 A: 2
SouthamptonWard-Prowse (MID, 6.5)175G: 1 A: 0
TottenhamSon (MID, 12.0)250G: 2 A: 3
West HamVlasic (MID, 5.0)165G: 1 A: 0
WolvesNeto (MID, 5.5)215G: 2 A: 0

Zaha is a player for Crystal Palace that I have yet to have any long-term success from. However, I think this season he has a point to prove and 9 goal involvements in 390 minutes is impressive. Jesus’s 7 goals in preseason further underline why he is in so many FPL teams and is, in my opinion, essential.

A few budget options worth considering:

  • Lyle Taylor £4.5m for a forward who has scored 2 goals in 3 games. He is the best of the budget forwards to enable Kane or Haaland to join Jesus in your team.
  • Patterson £4.0m (see below for Neco Williams who is also in my team) is a player I think is going to have plenty of game time with Seamus Coleman coming to the end of his career. He is very cheap and can pop up with an assist or two!
  • Bailey £5.0m is my pick of the budget midfielders. He has 3 goals and 1 assist, with one of the goals scored when coming off the bench at halftime against Manchester Utd. 

Son and Trent Alexander-Arnold are both worth a mention. Whilst Son may be overshadowed by Kane in the goalscoring tally during preseason (Kane FWD £11.5m – 5 goals), Son is classed as a midfielder and is worth the extra £0.5m in my opinion for the extra points returns.

TAA will be a must in all FPL teams. Those who have read my previous article will know how much of a fan I am of TAA as an FPL asset. He may have gone under the radar in pre-season due to Nunez scoring 5 goals but a goal in the Charity Shield against Man City is very impressive for TAA.

Consider pre-season form when selecting your GW1 team; it will get your season and mini-leagues off to a good start!

Source: https://www.reddit.com/r/FantasyPL/comments/wciswp/all_teams_preseason_stats/

Snippets

Neco Williams scored 2 goals and got 2 assists in 14 appearances for Fulham last season in the Championship. Nottingham Forest have signed him for £17m, surely for that fee he will start and there will be plenty of improvement for the 21-year-old as he steps up into the Premier League.

When Conte has been manager of Spurs their defence has conceded 35 goals in 36 matches (0.97 GPG) and only 3 in their last 8 Premier League games. Conte is known for his attacking full-backs, if one of Sessegnon (£4.5m) or Doherty (£5m) can nail down a starting spot they could be the bargain of the season.

Jesus (£8m) is currently in over 74% in FPL teams and is on track to becoming the most owned player in FPL ever (beating Salah’s 73.6% in GW20 during the 21/22 season)! With Arsenal’s early fixtures I think he is essential.

Darwin scored a goal every 76 minutes on average in the Primeira Liga in 2021-22, the best ratio of any player to score 5+ goals in any of Europe’s six highest ranked leagues last season. (Source: https://twitter.com/OptaJoe=)

FPL Captain Gameweek 1

PlayerGoal probabilityOddsTeamPosition
Erling Haaland65%1.55MciFwd
Harry Kane61%1.65TotFwd
Heung-Min Son61%1.65TotMid
Mohamed Salah57%1.75LivMid
Darwin Nunez56%1.8LivFwd

We have looked at the bookie’s odds for gameweek 1. The bookmakers apparently disagree with those who planned to start with Harry Kane (61%) at home to Southampton before switching over to Erling Haaland (65%) in Gameweek 2 for his plum home fixture against Bournemouth. 

The odds favour the big Norwegian even against a West Ham side ever improving under David Moyes. With the injury to their new centre-back, the Hammers will have a tough job keeping the City striker out. So, given incredible odds, Haaland gets the captain’s armband from us this week. 

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Jack Howcroft is from Leeds, England and has played FPL for 10 years. He has 3 top 100k rank finishes in that time. His highest finish coming in 20/21 where he finished 11,359 in the world​. 

Away from FPL Jack is a Hull City fan and tries to get to as many games as he can, having previously been a season ticket holder for 10 years as they moved up through the leagues to the Premier League.