The agony, the ecstasy, the mind-numbing tear your hair out frustration, it’s all coming back… and we couldn’t be happier.
We love having our weekends free and all, but since the World Cup has ended there’s been a football shaped hole in our lives that no amount of pre-season friendlies, wild transfer speculation or seemingly endless new jersey releases have been able to fill.
Thankfully, normality will be restored this weekend and as well as being able to look forward to the Premier League itself, we’ll once again begin to obsess about the identity of goalscorers, assist providers and keepers of clean sheets in games that we wouldn’t normally give two monkeys about.
That’s right folks, Fantasy Football is back and though we have no doubt that it will drive us all demented at various stages over the next nine months or so, the positives of its return far outweigh the negatives, or at least they do in our minds and the minds of the many Fantasy Football obsessives out there.
The excitement of Fantasy Football returning again is tempered by the fact that there is not a whole lot a manager can go on in terms of picking their initial squad. As is the case every year, nobody really knows who’s going to shine and who’s going to have a shocker in the first few weeks and progress at the very start will be determined by large slices of luck.
That said, if you consider all the information at your disposal – pre-season form, early fixtures, injuries, suspensions etc. – you can increase your chances of avoiding disaster and setting a decent pace from the beginning and we’re going to try and help.
We’ve offered a few pieces of advice that you can feel free to take on board or ignore completely, but whatever happens, make sure be sure to join the JOE Fantasy Football J-League between now and Saturday (the incredibly strict deadline is 11.30am Saturday) by heading on over to the Fantasy Premier League site and entering the code 712092-175555.
Banking on United’s bouncebackability
Louis Van Gaal may or not be the instant cure to all of the many ills that manifested themselves at Old Trafford last season, but his chances of making a positive impression from the start have been helped by an extremely kind fixture list.
David Moyes famously complained about a schedule that included fixtures against Chelsea, Liverpool and Manchester City in the first five games last season but it couldn’t be more different this time around with the Red Devils facing Swansea, Sunderland, Burnley, QPR, Leicester and West Ham in their opening six games.
Too much might well have been made of United’s pre-season form – they didn’t lose a game – but the chances of them maintaining that momentum into the league campaign and their players piling up the points are far greater with a fairly kind (on paper at least) run of games like that.
Take a trip down Ramsey Street
Had he not missed a large part of last season through injury, Aaron Ramsey would have challenged Luis Suarez for the Player of the Year award and he was a must-have for all Fantasy managers at the start of the season when he has banging in the goals and could be picked up for a bargain price, which quickly skyrocketed when it became clear that he was no flash in the pan.
On the evidence of the Community Shield, Ramsey is intent on starting this season as quickly as he did the last campaign and even at £9.0 million, he’ll be very popular with managers again this time around.
Give the boys from Brazil a breather
They’ll almost certainly be in your team at some stage, but it’s worth holding off going with the players involved in the latter stages of the World Cup until they’ve had time to settle back into their surroundings.
We’re thinking of the likes of World Cup winners Mesut Ozil and Per Mertesacker at Arsenal, who only arrived back to training this week, Manchester City’s many Argentineans – Zabaleta, Aguero et al – Robin van Persie at Manchester United and a handful of players at Chelsea like Andre Schurrle, Oscar, Willian and Ramires.
Their respective managers have already admitted that they’ll be eased back into competitive action and besides, there are plenty of alternatives to consider until they’re ready to return.
The World Cup had a powerful effect on all of us, but we might hold off on splashing the cash on the likes of West Ham’s Ecuadorian Enner Valencia until we see how they settle too.
JOE’s Fantasy Football Picks:
Top Dollar: Diego Costa (£10.5 million). He struggled at the World Cup when he was evidently not 100 per cent fit, but facing the Netherlands is a world away from facing Burnley and we think Chelsea’s new boy could do significant damage on his Premier League debut.
Mid-Range: Raheem Sterling (£8.5 million). With Suarez gone, several Liverpool players are going to have to step up to the plate this season and having finished last season with a bang and impressed at the World Cup, the teenager could be the main man at Anfield this season.
Bargain Basement: Bojan Krkić (5.5 million)
It could be a disaster but the arrival of the former barca man at Stoke could be a stroke of genius. We’re thinking/hoping he might be this season’s Michu and Stoke facing Villa at home this week, he is getting a great shot at a flying start to life in England.
Irish Pick: Seamus Coleman (£7.0 million). Coleman isn’t the bargain he was before he burst into life last season, but he still remains the Irish player likely to pick up the most Fantasy Football points, starting with an opening day trip to Leicester this weekend.
Captain’s Pick: Wayne Rooney (£10.5 million). Rooney has already been given the Manchester United armband this week and after an impressive pre-season, he gets our vote too. United’s easy run of fixtures is what has really turned our head and he could make hay against Swansea on opening day.
LISTEN: You Must Be Jokin’ podcast – listen to the latest episode now!
