Chief's All-Star XI - Budget-Free Picks - Gameweek 1

Daily Fantasy Football Tips - Gameweek 1

Starting 11 is a new Daily Fantasy Premier League football game and app, which has become extremely popular among the FPL community since August 2017, as managers get to pick a brand new fantasy team each week, without the headache of managing a season-long team.

As always, this week’s picks are suitable for all fantasy football game formats and will suit most scoring systems, so we hope you find good use for them, whether you’re playing Fantasy Premier League, or daily fantasy games over at Starting 11.

If you’d like to get involved this week by challenging us, simply create your lineups today via the FREE app.

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Forwards

Safe Pick – Salah vs West Ham (H)

Of course we have to kick off the season with last season’s Golden Boot winner, Mo Salah.

The fact that he is classified as a striker on Starting 11 make no difference to me, he is the first player on my team sheet and I’ll happily captain him this week vs West Ham.

Liverpool are the team to put pressure on Manchester City this year and I expect them to start the season with a win, with Salah key to that victory.

Differential - King vs Cardiff (H)

I don’t hold out much hope for Cardiff this season who are one of the favourites for the drop come May – their first opponents on Saturday are Bournemouth.

Callum Wilson was tempting, but with King taking his sides penalties and his impressive goal scoring form during preseason he’s my differential forward for Gameweek 1.

Midfielders

Safe Pick - Bernardo Silva vs Arsenal (A)

Looking for a safe pick in that Manchester City midfield?  Pep Guardiola’s comments after the Community Shield strongly suggest that Bernardo will be the first name on his team sheet on Sunday.

Bernardo and Aguero looked the sharpest players on the pitch last Sunday, playing centrally and pulling all the strings for Manchester City as they put on another show of attacking football.

Differential – Jota vs Everton (H)

Jota could be the name on everyone’s lips in a few weeks. Can he produce the same attacking returns in the Premier League that he did in the Championship last season?

17 goals and 6 assists would be an incredible return for a midfielder in the Premier League, largely down to being classed as a midfielder but playing in a more advanced role – we love a good out of position player for fantasy football!

Everton have leaked goals during pre-season and I have little faith in their defence when they travel to Wolves on Saturday.

Defenders

Safe Pick – Rudiger vs Huddersfield (A)

Rudiger seems to have nailed down that centre back position under new boss Maurizio Sarri in a partnership with David Luiz.

OK, so they didn’t look exactly water tight at times during last Sunday’s Community Shield, but that was Manchester City – Huddersfield won’t offer the same level of attacking football.

A big threat from set pieces in the air during preseason, I am expecting us to see some attacking returns from him this season.

Differential – Mee vs Southampton (A)

There has been no talk to Burnley this preseason, seemingly ignored due to their involvement in the Europa League qualifiers – but could this be a good thing?

Players who have been playing competitive football already are going to be sharper and focused on their game – they could be very useful assets in the opening weeks before their squad is stretched too thin.

Ben Mee was fantastic last season and who’s to say Sean Dyche’s Bus can’t start the season with a clean sheet vs Southampton?

Goalkeepers

Safe Pick – Alisson vs West Ham (H)

Liverpool defence is terrible?  It’s a myth! Defensively they were one of the best last season in terms of limiting the number of shots on goal they allowed – unfortunately it tended to take only one defensive error for their goalkeeper to concede.

That issue has been resolved with the signing of goalkeeper Alisson – a big reason why I expect Liverpool to challenge Manchester City this season.

I think we will see a number of fantasy bosses utilising Liverpool defensive assets this season.

Differential – Foster vs Brighton (H)

It wouldn’t be fantasy football without starting the season with Ben Foster, now at Watford. An opening fixture vs Brighton is tempting.

Brighton scored only 34 goals last season, one less than relegated Stoke City.

Watford showed a defensive improvement after appointing new manager Javi Gracia, can this continue into the new season?

Finn Harps FC - Fantasy League - Cash Prizes

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Don't miss out! With the Premier League season almost upon us, make sure YOUR fantasy football team is in our league. Entries are flowing in so the prize fund will be good. Half of all entry fees will be paid out again in prizes. Join today! #UTHre to read more

Must-Have FPL Picks - 2018/2019 - The18.com

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Win a trip for two to a Premier League match (via Finn Harps FC)

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Who Got The Assist? Pod 42 - Unwritten Rules of FPL (w/ FPL Stag)

Hi all!

We’re back for our final pod of the preseason joined by FPL Stag, whom we’re also collaborating with on twitter for our Preseason Previews.

Here, it’s not the ten commandments but nine unwritten rules of FPL that we debate the merits of, as well as talking in depth about how rotation may become part and parcel of our game.

We also talk All England, Zombie League and our teams, too.

Enjoy – and all the very best of luck on Gameweek 1!

SoundCloud:

iTunes

Stitcher

Acast

Spotify (NEW FOR 2018/19 - very slow to update at times unfortunately)

Podbean (NEW FOR 2018/19)

Is Alexis Sánchez past it?

Looking at the Premier League from last season alone, the image of Alexis Sanchez cutting a forlorn figure in a red shirt in North London followed by similar body language in Manchester would make you question his attitude and mindset. 

Perhaps the futile transfer saga with Manchester City affected his concentration? Or the fact that his time at the Emirates was beset by the team’s failures in Europe and gradual decline in the Premier League?

Click here to read more

Alternative World Cup - Second Series - #MyClubYourClub

Following the unprecedented success of last summer's competition and the subsequent rapport with Christmas Island, which led to us being referenced in a book published by Penguin, I'm pleased to confirm a new series.  This edition will involve a slight twist.  But before I get into that, I have pledged my allegiance as an honorary citizen of Christmas Island for another season.  Please join their country league on FPL (instructions here).  Help us to exceed their real life population!

Having watched the best World Cup in living memory over the summer with a rejuvenated England team, something struck a chord.  A considerable number of England's players had an alternative career journey to a lot of their predecessors.  They didn't all come through the youth academies of top tier clubs.  Some even went out on loans to lower divisions to attain relevant experience that led them to where they are today.  In addition, the importance of non-league football in part also proved to be essential.  This shows the importance of grassroots football and the need for it to have even more support.

With the above in mind, I would like to become a 'fan' of a team in a low-level division, be it league or non-league, through out the 2018/19 season.  I wanted to shortlist quirky towns or cool sounding names, interesting back stories, randomness, as well as gauging suggestions from my followers.  For this to work, the clubs must also have Twitter handles.

Here is the competition format:

100% decided by Twitter polls on my timeline

Group 1 - 1st August (top two progress)
Group 2 - 2nd August (top two progress)
Group 3 - 3rd August (top two progress)
Group 4 - 4th August (top two progress)

Quarter Final #1 - 5th August (top two progress)
Quarter Final #2 - 6th August (top two progress)

Semi finals - 7th August (top two progress)
Final - 8th June (one winner)

Here are the 16 shortlisted candidates in no particular order:

Hartlepool United - https://twitter.com/Official_HUFC

Northleigh FC - https://twitter.com/NorthLeigh_FC

Dulwich Hamlet FC - https://twitter.com/DulwichHamletFC

Slough Town FC - https://twitter.com/SloughTownFC

Whitehawk FC - https://twitter.com/HawksFCOfficial

Margate FC - https://twitter.com/Margate_FC

Civil Service Strollers FC - https://twitter.com/CSStrollers

Cobh Ramblers FC - https://twitter.com/CobhRamblersFC

Finn Harps FC - https://twitter.com/FinnHarpsFC

Mold Alexandra FC - https://twitter.com/Mold_AlexFC

Pwllheli FC - https://twitter.com/cpdpwllheli

Salford City FC - https://twitter.com/SalfordCityFC

FC United of Manchester - https://twitter.com/FCUnitedMcr

Hanham Abbotonians FC- https://twitter.com/HAbbotoniansFC

Blyth Spartans FC - https://twitter.com/Blyth_Spartans

AFC Wimbledon - https://twitter.com/AFCWimbledon

Confirmed groups as decided through a random draw generator:

Results:

Group 1: https://twitter.com/FPLHints/status/1024434452502654976
Votes: 271
Group 2: https://twitter.com/FPLHints/status/1024815488445165569
Votes: 151
Group 3: https://twitter.com/FPLHints/status/1025110849982267392
Votes: 536
Group 4: https://twitter.com/FPLHints/status/1025443630553726976
Votes: 386
QF 1: https://twitter.com/FPLHints/status/1025778105804353536
Votes: 459
QF 2: https://twitter.com/FPLHints/status/1026133437059661826
Votes: 370
SF 1: https://twitter.com/FPLHints/status/1026507348892938241
Votes: 432
SF 2: https://twitter.com/FPLHints/status/1026507703131287556
Votes: 333
Final: https://twitter.com/FPLHints/status/1026912146616135681
Votes: 1,691

Total votes: 4,629

After 8 days of back-to-back action, the final arrived and it threw up a massive surprise.  Finn Harps FC and North Leigh FC fought off heavyweight opposition to reach the ultimate Twitter face-off which was packed with drama till the last minute. Polling remained at 50-50 through out the final hour.  Despite a mass influx of votes from both sides they couldn't be split (even with an odd number of votes).  Twitter doesn't give a break down of how many votes each poll option has won and I had no tie breaker! Therefore, I did the most viable thing and adopt both as my football clubs until next summer.

I encourage you all to support Finn Harps FC and North Leigh FC! Start off by following them on Twitter: