We are back! We here at Sportskeeda will help you pick the best possible team for this season's fantasy premier league. Our in-depth study and comprehensive analysis will ensure that you have the bragging rights at the end of the season. If you don't believe me, ask any of our users who followed my fantasy tips for Euro 2016.
Rules
The rules of FPL is well known for all the recurring users. For the new ones, let me go through the same in brief. You are expected to pick a squad of 15 players with 2 goalkeepers, 5 defenders, 5 midfielders and 3 strikers. All users are given a budget of £100 to pick these 15 players.
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Only 11 of these players will represent your team during a game week and one of those players will be your captain. The captain's points for that week will be doubled. If he doesn't play, then your vice captain's points will be doubled. If any player in your starting 11 doesn't play during a particular game week, then one of the substitutes will replace him automatically.
All players must have at least 3 defenders, 3 midfielders and 1 forward on the pitch on any game week unless they play the all-out attack card.
Players are allowed to make one free substitution before any game week. However, players are also given two wildcards which they can use to make infinite substitutions before the next game week starts.
For the first game week, users can toy around with their team as they like. You can find the rules in detail here. The official Premier League website has introduced a new feature called ICT index. This is calculated using the player's Influence, Creativity and Threat.
Whom to pick?
Picking players for your FPL team is a very difficult task considering the vast list of players to choose from. Fear not, we are here to make it easier for you. Here are some guidelines that will be useful along with some players whom you can draft into your team.
Goalkeepers:
When you pick your goalkeeper, make sure at least one of them is from a team which keeps clean sheets regularly. For example, if you've seen Italy in Euro, then you would have figured out by now that Antonio Conte's teams do not concede many goals. In fact, his Juventus side went unbeaten in the Serie A once. So picking Courtois would be a good plan.
Similarly, Jose Mourinho's teams do not concede many goals. A quick glance at his Premier League record and David De Gea's mesmerising performances in recent years suggests that the Spaniard is the one to guard the posts of your team.
If you are planning to build a team with a good defence, then it would be wise to pick two strong keepers and rotate them around depending on their fixtures. Otherwise, you can pick one strong keeper and pick another who is cheap and is a sure starter.
Given below are some of the best picks and some cheap alternatives.
| Player | Price |
| Best Picks | |
| David De Gea (Manchester United) | £5.5 |
| Thibaut Courtois (Chelsea) | £5.5 |
| Hugo Lloris (Tottenham Hotspur) | £5.5 |
| Affordable options | |
| Steve Mandanda (Crystal Palace) | £4.5 |
| Artur Boruc (Bournemouth) | £4.5 |
| Ben Foster (West Brom) | £4.5 |
Defenders:
While picking defenders, there is one very safe way to maximise your points. Let me explain. For example, if your goalkeeper is from Manchester United then try not pick a defender from the same team. This way, if Man Utd do not keep a clean sheet then you do not lose the points for both your keeper and defender.
This is the best way to start the FPL season. However, later on, when a certain team does well defensively, you can go ahead and pick that team’s goalkeeper and defender or two defenders from the same team to maximise your points. But right now, it’s better to be safe than sorry.
So spread out your team selection. Pick defenders from teams like Chelsea, Tottenham, Arsenal and Manchester City which generally keeps clean sheets. Other teams like West Brom, West Ham, Leicester, Liverpool, Burnley and Middlesbrough are also decent defensively. It would be wise to pick one of their starting defenders who are cheap to fill your squad.
In addition, it is always good to pick fullbacks (left-backs and right-backs) instead of central defenders as fullbacks join the attack and have a better chance of scoring or assisting. Plus, they get the points for clean sheets as well.
Last season, Eric Dier was listed as a defender, but he played in midfield for Spurs. Whenever his team kept a clean sheet, he got the points for the same and his chances of scoring or assisting were good because he played in midfield.
Hence, for the same reason if you find out any midfielder listed as a defender on the FPL page, do not hesitate to pick him.
| Player | Price |
| Best picks | |
| Kyle Walker (Tottenham Hotspur) | £5.5 |
| Antonio Valencia (Manchester United) | £5.5 |
| Bacary Sagna (Manchester City) | £5.5 |
| Cesar Azpilicueta (Chelsea) | £6.0 |
| Seamus Coleman (Everton) | £5.5 |
| Affordable options | |
| Sam Byram (West Ham) | £4.5 |
| George Friend (Middlesbrough) | £4.5 |
| Jon Flanagan (Burnley) | £4.5 |
| Wes Morgan (Leicester) | £5.0 |
| Dejan Lovren (Liverpool) | £5.0 |
Midfielders:
The best way to pick midfielders is by choosing wingers or attacking midfielders. Players like Henrikh Mkhitaryan, Alexis Sanchez, Sadio Mane, Dimitri Payet, Mesut Ozil, Kevin De Bruyne, Eden Hazard and Riyad Mahrez are the best goalscoring midfielders.
There are also players like Roberto Firmino and Andre Ayew who could prove to be really good buys. These players are listed as midfielders but they often play as their teams strikers. Firmino was in red-hot form last season when he played up front last season and Ayew scored 12 goals for a below par Swansea side.
According to reports, Firmino is likely to start against Arsenal as a forward. I would recommend against picking central midfielders as they don't score or assist a lot.
| Player | Price |
| Best picks | |
| Henrikh Mkhitaryan (Manchester United) | £9.5 |
| Alexis Sanchez (Arsenal) | £11.0 |
| Roberto Firmino (Liverpool) | £8.5 |
| Christian Eriksen (Tottenham) | £8.5 |
| Dimitri Payet (West Ham) | £9.5 |
| Affordable options | |
| Nathan Redmond (Southampton) | £6.0 |
| Xherdan Shaqiri (Stoke City) | £6.5 |
| Viktor Fischer (Middlesbrough) | £5.0 |
| Sofiane Feghouli (West Ham) | £5.5 |
| Alex Iwobi (Arsenal) | £6.0 |
Forwards:
Last season's performance has resulted in a huge price hike for players like Vardy, Kane and Aguero. However, they are still some of the best options up front. In addition, Zlatan Ibrahimovic could prove to be a very good acquisition if he can replicate his Ligue 1 form in the Premier League as well.
Other than the expensive choices, there are some cheaper alternatives who could fetch you points. Former Manchester City striker, Alvaro Negredo, is surely Middlesbrough's first choice striker and he is available for £6.5. For the same fee, FPL managers can also sign others like Jose Salomon Rondon of West Brom or Andy Carroll of West Ham or Andre Gray of Burnley.
Gray was the leading goalscorer in Championship last season and was in good form during the preseason.
| Player | Price |
| Best picks | |
| Sergio Aguero (Manchester City) | £13.0 |
| Zlatan Ibrahimovic (Manchester United) | £11.5 |
| Harry Kane (Tottenham Hotspur) | £11.0 |
| Affordable options | |
| Alvaro Negredo (Middlesbrough) | £6.5 |
| Andy Carroll (West Ham) | £6.5 |
| Andre Gray (Burnley) | £6.5 |
