Our Fantasy Premier League tips Gameweek 1 defenders and goalkeepers round-up is here to help you get off to a flyer!
Although we base our tips on FPL player prices, the principles should apply more or less across the board – so if you’re playing one of the other popular fantasy football games such as those at Sky Sports, the Telegraph or the Mirror, you’re still welcome here.
As educated guesses go, rest assured that our Fantasy Premier League tips remain every bit as educated as they are guessed. If you’d like some outright score predictions, consult Mystic Megson.
MORE FANTASY FOOTBALL TIPS:
- Fantasy Premier League tips Gameweek 1: Midfielders
- Fantasy Premier League tips Gameweek 1: Forwards
Okay, let’s get cracking with this here 2014-15 season…
Mathieu Debuchy, Arsenal – £5.5m
Opening day fixtures are notoriously difficult to predict, throwing up shock results pretty much routinely. Remember how Arsenal lost 1-3 at home to Aston Villa at the start of last season, then won their next five on the spin?
The new campaign sees the Gunners begin at home to Crystal Palace, a match in which we’d fancy them to keep a clean sheet in pretty much any other Gameweek.
They may very well still do so, but in any case you’ll be wanting players for the mid-to-long-term haul so you’re not forced into playing your wildcard too early – as such, get on £5.5m right-back Debuchy.
That’s assuming that Arsenal manage to keep as many clean sheets with him in the side as they did with Bacary Sagna last season. With the rest of their defence still intact, there’s no reason to believe they won’t.
Ben Davies, Tottenham Hotspur – £5m
Spurs travel to a West Ham United side that beat them three times in all competitions last season, but for some reason we fancy them to prevail 0-2 here in Mauricio Pochettino’s first game in charge
If you share our inkling then new boy Davies looks a bit of a bargain at £5m, a fantasy fee that will almost certainly rise if, as expected, he cements a regular first team place.
Steven Caulker, Queens Park Rangers – £5m
With QPR starting at home to Hull City, you might be tempted by either of their brand new centre-backs Rio Ferdinand (£4.5m) and Caulker.
We’re tempted to go with the slightly-more-expensive latter on account of his impressive return of five league goals for relegated Cardiff City last season – at 6 points per strike, goal-scoring defenders are a valuable commodity in Fantasy Premier League.
A word of caution, though – QPR lost heavily on each of their previous two opening day matches in the Premier League, albeit neither came under Harry Redknapp. We reckon they’ll fare better this time.
John Terry and/or Gary Cahill, Chelsea – £6.5m
Another London club, Chelsea, start at newly promoted Burnley – you can get Terry and Gary Cahill for £6.5m apiece, which ain’t cheap but should be rewarded with plenty of clean sheets and even the occasional goal over the course of the season.
Asmir Begović, Stoke City goalkeeper – £5m
Stoke City play host to a side that we fully expect to struggle in Aston Villa, so Potters goalkeeper Asmir Begović looks good value at £5m.
It helps for each of your squad’s goalkeepers to be first choice for their club – that way you can rotate them according to what the fixture list throws up, so having a couple of medium-priced ‘keepers is an ideal way to give yourself options while freeing up valuable funds for elsewhere.
Have a look at the next few weeks’ fixtures to see how best to attack them from a goalies perspective. We like the look of Newcastle United’s Tim Krul at just £4.5m, but we wouldn’t start him for the opening day visit of champions Manchester City.
Mind you, shock results and all that…
Steer clear of…
It might be best to avoid Manchester United defenders for the time being, at least while they adapt to Louis van Gaal’s favoured 3-5-2 formation. Keep an eye on their progress, but we can see Swansea City scoring at least once at Old Trafford.
Good luck and happy selecting!
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