The football season is almost back! And what better way to prepare and make people think you know about football than picking a fantasy football team for 2013/14?
Imagine it, Hart in net, Baines and Zabaleta racing up from the back while Vidic and Kompany expertly tackle opposition attackers and send the ball forward to a midfield of Mata, Carrick, Hazard and David Silva, with Van Persie and Suarez banging in goals for fun.
And while the £100 million price limit could scupper the team of superstars like the one above, you can get some real bang for your buck (or one Gareth Bale) for the hundred milly.
While I haven't figured out an exact science to play the Premier League Fantasy Football, I'm going to try and explain how to maximise your points for a smaller outlay than you may expect. I've picked my own team, and while I may have potentially shot myself in the foot by claiming I know how the game works, I'll explain why I feel that this could be my best season yet! Of course all that could be wrecked by injuries, suspensions or Carlos Tevez doing a runner.
Obviously, at some points price dictated rather than sense, hopefully the rotation policy will save the day.
Goalkeepers
While last seasons leading scoring keeper was Joe Hart (158) aside from Petr Cech, joint second place keepers were Asmir Begovic and Jussi Jasskelainen, closely followed by Simon Mignolet and Mark Schwarzer.
While picking Hart puts your 14 points better off, he also costs around 1 million more. Unless you put your goalkeeper as your captain, he won't ever win you a huge amount of points over a season as they don't score goals. Their main points come from clean sheets but even the best keepers struggle to do so for more than 50% of the season.
The next best place to pick up points is through saves. Hart, playing behind Kompany and Nastasic is forced to make less saves than someone like Jaaskelainen or Begovic. And because they do generally concede more, they cost around 1-2 million less than Hart, Cech, De Gea etc.
Also, with this seasons new addition of the Bonus Point Systems, players who play out of their skin, will be rewarded with extra points. So if Man City (Hart) beat West Ham (Jaaskelainen) 2-0, but Jussi's heroics kept it at two-nil instead of six-nil, he may end up with the same points than Hart who kept a clean sheet.
Allan McGregor - Hull - 4.5 million
While new to the Premier League, I feel this former Rangers and Bursaspor stopper has the quality to make a lot of saves behind what could a very shaky Hull defence. While he may end up conceding a hat full this season, my plan is to rotate him with my other keeper if he is playing a top four team.
Vito Mannone - Sunderland - 4.5 million
Sunderland have picked up this former Arsenal keeper on a free transfer and unless Sunderland buy a new goalkeeper, I feel he has a strong chance to be their number one. Sub goalkeepers are only used if your number one is injured or not selected on match day. It's usually easy to tell if a keeper will be picked by their form and injuries are highlighted by a red icon, allowing you to transfer or rotate in advance.
Smart picks
Jussi Jaaskelainen - cheap, will be kept busy
Ben Foster - Very consistent over last few seasons
Artur Boruc - If not rotated with Davis and Gazzaniga
Avoid
David de Gea - for the price, just not worth it,
Simon Mignolet - plays for Liverpool now so won't be as busy
Mark Schwarzer - signed up by Chelsea but won't get a game behind Cech.
Have a punt
Mark Stekelenburg - new to the league, could be the next Van der Sar
Brad Friedel - cheap as not played much last season, injury to Lloris could see him back and we know his quality.
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