Players and teams to avoid early on
Here we will take a look through players and teams to avoid early on in the season. This will be based on team fixture periods, last seasons form, how well or not teams have bought during the transfer window and other factors that could help us.
When planning for the upcoming season there are a number of factors for FPL managers to consider. One of the key areas are the early fixtures and what this means for potential points returns. The Fantasy Football Scout Fixture Ticker allows managers to sort the fixtures by difficulty as well as defence and attack, to make fixture targeting easier.
Bournemouth
Newly promoted Bournemouth will as predicted come into FPL with nicely priced budget enabling players. One of the issues they have is their starting fixtures.
The Cherries play Man City, Arsenal and Liverpool in their first four fixtures, enough to put anyone off. Even starting with budget players like Solanke, Travers and Zemura feels very difficult to fit them in. Bournemouth are also a newly promoted team so monitoring them in the early stages of the season until their fixtures improve feels like the best option.
Crystal Palace
Viera did really well last season for Crystal Palace. A team that were on the edge of relegation have been transformed into a young and exciting team to watch. Although Palace put up some fantastic underlying stats, the starting fixtures do offer up some early problems.
Viera and his side face Arsenal, Man City, Liverpool, Chelsea and Man United in the first 10 matches. Some very tough fixtures mixed with the fact most of their attackers will not be extremely cheap is enough to stay away. Even with players like Zaha, Olise and Eze its tough to fit them in for those reasons.
Fulham
The newly promoted side will almost certainly offer budget enabling players such as Solanke, Robinson and Wilson. A big issue with starting with Fulham players would be having to bench them for several of their first period of fixtures.
Fulham play against Liverpool, Arsenal, Tottenham and Chelsea in their first seven fixtures so they could be an avoid early on. Until their fixtures improve.
Leicester
The foxes had a tough season last season. From competing to top four in 2020/21 to finishing eighth in campaign just passed. Hampered with injuries Leicester struggled to cope with the combination of European football and the difficulty of the Premier League.
Whilst the foxes have the likes of Maddison, Barnes and Vardy, when money is needed elsewhere their assets become difficult to budget. This is especially true as a result of the fixtures. Leicester play Arsenal, Chelsea and Man United in their first five fixtures which makes it even more difficult to invest in the foxes.
Manchester United
Manchester United are going through a transitional period currently. Having just signed a new manager and needing to invest in some big signings its hard to say how good or bad United will be. Although many expect improvements as we always do with new managers the red devils face
Liverpool, Arsenal and Leicester in their first six matches, an early indication it may be wise to avoid. If that wasn’t enough players like Ronaldo and Bruno will carry premium price tags. This budget would be well used elsewhere to both more settled teams and teams with better early fixtures.
