When it comes to Fantasy Premier League, there are several schools about how best to start the season.
One of the school is to buy BIG as soon as possible and make the most of your 100 million budget by splashing on the big names of the league (Pogba, Aguero, Sanchez, Costa, Kane...) and keep fingers cross that the big teams will immediately start a great season... And of course since you don't have enough money to build a whole team with the best players, you end selecting the cheapest ones to fill the gaps. Which would give something like this:
Another school is to be as thrifty as possible in the first round: buy only the players who you are sure are going to play, the cheapest ones as possible, and then... after a couple of fixtures, BLOW YOUR JOKER in order to reshape your team and buy the players who are proving to be the surest bets of the beginning of the season, like this team (with a cushion of 19.5m!):
However, there is a third school to which I'm leaning more and more: analyzing carefully the fixtures of each team and try to combine the most players of the teams with the best chance of success.
And in that respect, here are four teams whose players deserve the utmost attention:
Arsenal
In spite of its recurrent efficiency issues, Arsenal is always a contender in the FPL and its players are always a great value. Even more so when they have an amazing opening fixtures. Leicester is not the threat it used to be, Stoke is not particularly threatening, and apart from Liverpool and Chelsea, they are going to face at least 4 teams which are going to fight againt relegation this year. That's why Arsenal players are – in my opinion - a good bet.
Southampton
Southampton is even more blessed than Arsenal. It will face only one team from the Top 5 during their 10 first matches! And this team is none other than Manchester United which they beat twice last year. Last season was a bit dull for Southampton, but they have proven to be strong at the back and Forster got 14 cleansheets! A good reason to invest in their defenders.
Huddersfield
Now, THIS is the real challenge which will put my theory to the test. Huddersfield has just been promoted, and with a budget a fraction of anyone else in the FPL, it is the favourite of all bookmakers to go back to the Championship at the end of the season. However, in my opinion, they have had a fairly manageable first rounds of fixtures: Crystal Palace, Southampt
Newcastle
Last but not least, Newcastle is back in the elite after a one year stint in the Championship. In spite of facing the uphill struggle to topple Spurs during the first fixture, they have after that quite a few teams of their own level, which should come in handy to readapt themselves into the FPL. However, the lack of new signings during the summer might be their undoing. Still worth the shot though.
So, here is my team so far. Feel free to comment or copy or whatever :)
Fantasy Premier League is not a science! Just an insane amount of entertainment!