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FPL General – who has three top 500 finishes to his name – is fully committed to going without Mohamed Salah (£14.5m) and Erling Haaland (£14.0m) this season. He shares his latest team thoughts here…
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Here’s where I’m at with just over a week to go until another FPL season kicks off…
I’m fully committed to a campaign without Mohamed Salah (£14.5m) and Erling Haaland (£14.0m), including Free Hit weeks! Not spending £28.5m on those two makes squad building a lot more fun. The Salah blank next Friday night is going to be beautiful (wishful thinking). I’ve ordered two extra-large sofas from DFS: one for Liverpool games, the other for when Man City play.
Nothing is set in stone yet, but there are a few players in this draft that have been in almost every tinker. Mats Sels (£5.0m), Virgil van Dijk (£6.0m), Daniel Munoz (£5.5m), Bruno Fernandes (£9.0m), Cole Palmer (£10.5m) and Ollie Watkins (£9.0m) make up the core group I’m building around.
FOREST TRIPLE-UP
FPL notes: Forest top for clean sheets + positive for Wolves
For the first seven Gameweeks, which brings us up to the second international break, Nottingham Forest rank fourth on the Scout fixture ticker, which makes Sels attractive. I like him a lot more than the £4.5m goalkeeper alternatives.
Pairing him with Neco Williams (£5.0m), who performed better than Ola Aina (£5.0m) last season for defensive contributions, feels good.
I’ve even considered a defensive triple-up but I want to keep the door open for Chris Wood (£7.5m). If I do end up tripling on the defence, Murillo (£5.5m) would be the other. I’m surprised his ownership is just 5.5%.
MUNOZ + VAN DIJK: NOT GOING ANYWHERE
FPL Gameweek 26 round-up: Saturday’s goals, assists, bonus points + stats 7
Liverpool’s van Dijk and Crystal Palace defender (attacker) Munoz are two I don’t want to overthink.
The Dutchman is as secure as it comes for minutes and he’s got more routes to points now. There’s also no Trent Alexander-Arnold to compete with for bonus points. The full-back rotation at Liverpool scares me off owning Jeremie Frimpong (£6.0m) and/or Milos Kerkez (£6.0m) until we see a few games.
Munoz is fantasy gold. I don’t fancy sitting down to watch any Palace match without him.
UNITED OPTIMISM
FPL pre-season: Malen + Watkins again, Xhaka debut, secretive Man City 2