A week later and 7 changes to the team, the bench boost is active and we're ready for GW1. The Focal minileague code is buuuks so get your phone out and join!

I'm currently doing an 80% off flash sale on membership which ends soon. Just go to fpl.page/subscribe to take advantage and see the list of benefits. That's 80p all the way til GW5!

So let's run through the bench boost team and all the changes.

🧤 Goalkeeper

Starting in goal and as much as I'd love to have Raya it's too much of a stretch when bench boosting because you need funds on those 4 spots at the bottom, so it's Verbruggen. It's a home fixture, the clean sheet odds aren't great for any 4.5m keepers in GW1. Brighton given a 23% chance. I've looked at Scherpen who is Ipswich's #1, the clean sheet odds are only 2% better though so little in it. However Brighton have a Europa qualifier before and after GW1 midweek so it really is hard to see them shutting Villa out realistically, the other thing with Scherpen is you really never want to play him beyond GW1 whereas Verbruggen could come in handy in GW3 and 4 with Leeds home Coventry away.

🛡️ Defenders

In defence it's Calafiori, Maguire and Muharemovic.

We all saw what happened in the Community Shield, inside 30 seconds Calafiori puts Arsenal ahead and took up some outrageous positions. He started the first 15 games last season, Hincapie was first available after joining in GW4, got his first minutes GW9 so it might be a different story and that is the risk with Calafiori that I've gone back and forth on. Mosquera is safer. If we get news before the deadline that Arsenal have decided not to sign a CB then it'll be a late swap to Mosquera, but otherwise as it stands Calafiori, Mosquera and White are all slight question marks longer term and I've opted for the attacking one with the upside. Arsenal given a 61% chance of a clean sheet in GW1.

So Muharemovic is another one who has joined the team. He averaged 10.9 defcons per 90 last season, absolutely top numbers because a defender needs 10 in a game to earn an extra +2 points locked in. Plus they've signed Trafford, so if you haven't got him or Rodon who is 4.5m then one of them feels like worth fitting in. He even scored a bicycle kick the other day not that we'll expect that to happen again but he's clearly a CB with an eye for goal.

Maguire completing the back 3, annoyingly this entire back 3 all just scored in pre-season and you just know they've gone a week early and won't replicate it in GW1. One thing I'm certain of is a Man Utd triple up is the way to go from GW1, whether that's two mids and a defender or keeper, or double defence and a mid. The opening 2 fixtures are just way too good against Hull and Ipswich.

⚽ Midfielders

Speaking of, in midfield some changes but the Mbeumo and Bruno double up stays. Tzolis, Ndiaye and Gross complete the midfield.

Let's talk about Tzolis a sec then. across all comps at Club Brugge he has 43 goals, 45 assists in 108 appearances. 88 in 108. Can he bring anything remotely close to the Premier League? He's had a superb pre-season with a goal and 6 assists, 2 assists in the Community Shield against City. The other thing that struck me is the fact that Arteta left Martinelli out of the squad entirely. That to me underlines his potential for 6.5m. It's possible Martinelli leaves, they sign a top LW and his minutes are quickly looking more iffy, but he's had the pre-season and training. Do we really want to go in to GW1 with no attackers from the champions, when they are literally playing a promoted team home.

The trade off is I've had to lose Szoboszlai who is possibly a big miss, he's got the corners, free kicks, pen share with Isak. Szobo's been playing deep in pre-season in the pivot with Gravenberch, basically all to accommodate Wirtz though he was disappointing in their final friendly. I'm very conflicted on this one because Szobo ticks so many boxes and Iraola is a top manager, he could change things at any point if it's not working. It's enough to put me off Wirtz though, expecting some early subs for him as well.

Gross comes in to the team who is basically Bruno lite, corners, free kicks, now penalties. For 5.5m and the impact he had even at his age returning to Brighton last season I like him a lot for that price. There's some other great 5.5m's like Sangare, Ndoye, Gomez I've looking at if he's not injured for 0.5m cheaper. There's other names I'm forgetting.

It was reported that Ndiaye is not moving to the Saudi league and wants to stay in the Premier League, so whether that means staying at Everton or a move to a PL club remains to be seen. As we near GW1 and the transfer deadline it feels likelier he stays, it would surely take north of £70m for him to leave now and who in the Premier League would pay it? Think only 1 or 2 clubs would even be possibilities, so with Palace home in GW1 and reasonable fixtures beyond that I like Ndiaye for 6m, thought he would be 6.5m.

Maybe it's worth me mentioning some players that I think are fantastic picks, I just couldn't find a way to squeeze them in. Gibbs-White, Semenyo, Anderson, Odegaard, Williams, Lammens, Le Fee.

🎯 Forwards

So then up front it's Joao Pedro and Haaland. As good as Joao Pedro's been in pre-season I can see going without him being a valid strategy if you're open to an early wildcard, in GW4. Fulham away, Brighton home isn't too bad, but then Arsenal GW3 which is horrendous and I may even have him benched then. And if you end up wildcarding in GW4 regardless then it's 7.5m spent for two gameweeks. Maybe those two gameweeks will be worth it. But on the other hand if you do start with him maybe you'll find that you're doing just fine and don't need to wildcard GW4 anyway. For example if things are going swimmingly (do they ever?) then Mbeumo to Rogers GW4 and perhaps Bruno to Palmer and then that's triple Chelsea attack home to Hull. If there's any fixture worth tripling up on attack for this season it's Hull home, trust me. Sorry Hull fans. I think if any are watching they'd probably agree.

Hull ranked 2nd worst in the Championship for expected goals conceded, and they've got a few flagged players for GW1.

Let's talk about captaincy then, I'm going with Bruno with that in mind, but also based on the Community Shield. City were so poor and Haaland got like 53 minutes before coming off. He still had a really good chance at one point which forced a good save from Raya. The captain widget on the app has Bruno top with 5 stars, Haaland and Gabriel on 4, Odegaard and Havertz on 3. It's a free tool by the way and if you go with the top player each week despite if you have strong opinions to the contrary you'll do well over 38 gameweeks.

🪑 Bench + Transfer Plans

Moving on to the bench which is Kinsky, Calvert-Lewin, Kadioglu and Diop.

I've got a real love/hate relationship with DCL over the years, I remember owning him when Ancelotti was at Everton and he was so good that year, then stank it up for years for Everton overall, then did well at Leeds last season. Given his price, the fixtures and pens he's in to the team in place of Igor Jesus.

I've swapped Diop in as well, reason being O'Shea has been playing RB rather than CB in pre-season and I just want to target defcons with any promoted team CB. Greaves has been playing CB as well but he may or may not be riskier than Diop, if O'Neil decided to play O'Shea again at some point so Diop is safest.

The 4.5m defenders are all a bit rough for BB1. There is Hume but he played RB last friendly, his appeal was the fact that he was playing RW. If Meunier is back in training and Le Bris gives a positive update in Friday's presser then he's still an option for you to consider. There's Ajer for 4.5m as well at Brentford, should be nailed on while Van den Berg is injured for a couple months. Kadioglu is nailed, a little bit of goal threat and that's about it. Doubling up with Leeds with Rodon might have legs.

Thanks for reading!

I'm currently doing an 80% off flash sale on membership which ends soon. Just go to fpl.page/subscribe to take advantage and see the list of benefits. That's 80p all the way til GW5!