Search icon

Football

12th Aug 2016

Four must-haves to kick your Fantasy Football season off right

Keep it simple, stupid

SportsJOE

Lads, just treat it like any other gameweek.

That’s the best advice we could give you because plenty of Fantasy Football players tend to get carried away with the spectacle that is opening day.

New signings are shoehorned into sides, players from the previous season’s champions always get far too much credit and lads from the promoted sides always get ignored.

Paul-Pogba-official

We’re here to say that you should just treat this like any other gameweek.

Oh, and do not pick a Hull player.

Here are the four must-haves you should bring into your team for the season opener.

In goal

Celtic v Leicester City - Pre-Season Friendly

It’s not rocket science.

Only Petr Cech kept more clean sheets last season than Kasper Schmeichel and Leicester’s only real loss, as significant as it is, is N’Golo Kante.

The defence that was so often overlooked while the likes of Riyad Mahrez and Jamie Vardy received their deserved plaudits remains unchanged.

Not to mention that they’re up against a Hull side devoid of drive, direction and any plan for how they intend to tackle the forthcoming season.

Leicester aren’t going to retain their title but they’re sure as hell capable of beating a Hull side to nil.

In defence

Crystal Palace v A.F.C. Bournemouth - Premier League

West Brom scored 34 goals last season, with the only side to have scored less being Aston Villa.

What has Tony Pulis done in the summer to fix that goalscoring problem? He’s brought in Matty “30 guaranteed goals a season” Phillips from QPR.

To be quite frank, West Brom are in trouble this season unless they address the lack of goals in their team and they come up against a Palace team who are pretty solid at the back.

Scott Dann is the cornerstone of that defence and he’s not too shabby from attacking set-pieces either, having scored five of his own last season.

In midfield

Swansea City v Norwich City - Premier League

Since the turn of the year, Gylfi Sigurdsson has been in blistering form and his Icelandic adventure in France will have him more confident than ever.

Swansea have a fairly reasonable start to the Premier League season with their first two games coming against promoted teams and while we know Sigurdsson may not start the season opener, he should feature and be ready for a starting place come next week.

With Fernando Llorente to link up with now, Sigurdsson should enjoy even more quality interplay and we wouldn’t be surprised to see him get his campaign off in style.

Up front

Manchester City v Stoke City - Premier League

Is there anything that needs to be said about Sergio Aguero?

If he stays fit, he’s going to tear defences apart and David Moyes’ appointment may not quite do enough to paper over the cracks at the Stadium of Light.

Last season City likely had the best squad in the Premier League and Pep Guardiola has only strengthened since arriving.

Defenders won’t have the ability to double up on the likes of Aguero as now there are too many superstars for opposition players to worry about.

We’re not exactly breaking any news here, Aguero will score 20 goal at least in the 2016/17 season. So why wouldn’t you pick him?

Exclusive interview with Paraic Duffy on the latest GAA Hour. Subscribe here on iTunes. 

WATCH: Liverpool BOTTLED the title race 🤬 | Who will win the Premier League?