Delighted to welcome Mervyn Glasgow to the site for the first time. Mervyn finished 14th out of more than 4,500,000 teams and came within a whisker of taking the top spot in the FantasyYIRMA.com mini-league. Mervyn has been kind enough to walk us through his FPL squad selection process –

Drop him a follow on Twitter @M9RVG

Planning my GW1 Team Selection

It’s been three weeks of chopping and changing my draft team for GW1 but it’s time to wipe it all out, start again and get ready for another 38 weeks of chasing green arrows. Many people jump into their selection and start by picking the best players they can think of, I prefer to work back to front a bit.

Bargain Basement

I’ll typically start with my cheap players first, this enables me to see just how many big hitters I can fit in later on. When I say cheap players I mean cheap players, I will want a 4.0 defender, a 4.5 midfielder and I will allow 8.5 for my two goalkeepers so let’s pick those first.

In nets I’m going for Ben Foster 4.5 and a 4.0 of Rob Elliot. I’ll play Foster every week with those opening fixtures of (BOU, bur, STO) and I will have the opportunity of bringing in Joe Hart once WHU fixtures improve after GW3.

My 4.0 defender of choice and bench fodder will be BHA defender Uwe Hunemeier and the 4.5 midfielder of choice will be Tom Carroll of Swansea although I nearly went for Chalobah. The first wildcard will allow me to get the right ones in but at first it’s about getting one who I know will start in Carroll. Carroll was excellent in recent friendlies and I have no problem if I need to draft him into my starting 11 to cover injuries.

Defenders

With the aim of playing 3-4-3 formation it’s time to get 2 first team defenders in, nothing too expensive yet as I will have to come back for one at the end so I’m going for Cedric at 5.0m due to fixtures and Ben Davies at 5.5m.

Others I considered eyed were Lindelof but he looked very poor in the super cup and Tripper but the injury still a concern. Davies to Tripper will be an easy move once Tripps is back fit, Spurs kept lots of clean sheets last season and Tripper has the potential for lots of assists and bonus points this year.

Additional Reading: #FPL Bargain Defenders Article

Midfielders

I’ve been pretty cheap so far with my bench and defenders but that’s about to change, FPL for me is about getting as many big hitters as I can and I’m aiming for 5 or 6 of them. No team should be complete without a Liverpool attacker and I’ve opted for Mo Salah at 9.0m. At 0.5m less than Sadio Mane it was a close call but I think Liverpool will setup very attacking so it’s a toss of a coin for this one.

Willian of Chelsea is next into the team, at just 7.0m and with Hazard out he will be nailed on to start for Chelsea especially for that opening GW1 of BUR.  Kevin De Bruyne finished last season really well for City who I expect to score lots of goals this season, it was him or Jesus for me but until we get to see where Jesus will play I’ve went safe with KDB at 10.0m.

Additional Reading: #FPL Bargain Midfielders Article

Forwards

It’s impossible to pick forwards without either Kane or Lukaku so its going to be no surprise that I’m picking both of them.

Expensive yes but can you really start the season hiding behind the sofa without any of them? I don’t think so.

It’s easy to downgrade them in GW3/4 to Chicharito but until then with such high ownership and captain choices I think I need them both at a combined 24.0.

Additional Reading: #FPL Bargain Forwards Article

That leaves my team looking like below and with 4 spaces yet to fill and £22m to fill them it’s now when the difficult decisions get made.

Filling the Gaps

With so little money left I feel my 4^th defender is going to be 5.0 and there are lots of contenders such as the Bournemouth pair of Ake or Daniels. Ake last season when at Bournemouth was a great asset and chipped in with a few goals so hes going on the watchlist. Another option was Dawson of West Brom but I already have Foster between the sticks.

The one I’m going to go for is Holding 5.0 from Arsenal, with Koscielny suspended, Mustafi not fit I feel Holding can make that place his own at least until I get to the first wildcard and it’s worth the gamble for me. Alongside Holding and likely to be on my bench or rotated as no obvious playing 4.0 defenders available for GW1 I have went with Kyle Naughton 4.5. Swansea played well at the end of last season and Naughton has his spot nailed down in a 4-2-3-1 formation that allows both full backs to bomb forward.

This leaves me with 13.0m for one midfielder and one forward. Zaha and Jay Rodriguez was an option, As is Rooney with James Ward Prowse, but I have decided to try squeeze in one more big hitter in Firmino at 8.5 and this allows me 4.5 left for Jason Lokilo. Who? Yep, playing in the front 3 of the Crystal Palace forward line for pre season I don’t think it will take too long for his ownership to rise, I like a punt and he certainly is one. Come gameweek 4 when Rooney and Chicharito’s fixtures improve one of the forwards will get downgraded to allow some upgrades elsewhere but until then I think I have enough.

I’m pretty sure between now and 6:45 on Friday evening these selections may well change but for now I would have no problem entering GW1 with this 11 safe in the knowledge that I can easily swap the big hitters around if needed.

 Written by @M9RVG

Mervyn and his GForce Allstars have been fantasy football enthusiasts for two decades. Now married with two kids he is supposed to be all grown up but nothing will stand in his way in the hunt for FPL glory.

A dedicated Spurs supporter he knows just what it’s like to just come up short on several occasions. You can follow him on twitter @m9rvg and keep an eye on GForce Allstars making its way to the top of FPL this year.