Gameweeks 1-3 Overview, Gameweek 1 Review
My FPL Gameweek 1 Points
As I am starting this blog a few weeks into the season this first post will go through my first three game weeks before the first international break. As this week there are no Premier League fixtures I will just go through my team and a give a few thoughts including my overall score and pointers.
Gameweek 1-
Overall Points: 67
Overall rank: 1,950,328
Free transfers: 1
Transfers made: 0
Gameweek Points Rundown-
For my opening day lineup for the first gameweek of the 2024-2025 season I went with both Salah and Haaland despite their combined starting price of 27.5 million. My thought process for this was to have the two best captaincy options and knowing their reliability for points scoring and as overall picks. I also wanted to have Haaland before European matches start where he is more likely to be rotated then Salah.
Both these players returned in the first gameweek but my captain armband went on Salah who was playing Ipswich away and he scored 14 points for 28 due to the double captain points and this was where most of my points came from. My other points returners in Gameweek one featured Haaland with his goal for 7 points, Alexander Isak with an assist for five points, then Trent Alexander-Arnold with his clean sheet against Ipswich got me an eight point haul and Man City’s clean sheet against Chelsea gave me another seven points.
Unfortunately the rest of my picks this week did not return. Henderson in goal got the two points for appearance but a -1 due to conceding two goals to Brentford away but he did pick up three saves to earn the point back. Elsewhere at the back, one of my biggest regrets was the punt on Jarrell Quansah which did not pay off as he was hooked at halftime by Arne Slot after a difficult first half performance. He is a player I need to immediately deal with as it looks like he has already lost his place.
In midfield my Nottingham Forest pick of captain and penalty taker Morgan Gibbs-White only got two points but I am optimistic with the kind opening fixtures that he could return. Similarly Emilie Smith-Rowe got three points, for the appearance and a clean sheet point for Fulham but he looked lively and I am confident he will return soon. Meanwhile Eberechi Eze was so unlucky not return after scoring a free kick but it was ruled out for a foul, but as the Crystal Palace talisman looked really sharp he is going nowhere from my team.
Finally upfront, my final forward spot went to Joao Pedro who did not return except for the appearance points but I think he is a really good pick and a great enabler so I am sticking with him. On the bench I went with Valdimarsson at Brentford as the second keeper if Flekken gets injured, but he did not play. I think Morgan Rogers is a bargain in the Aston Villa midfield for 5 million to come in for some games and Antonee Robinson looked really attacking against Manchester United, so he will come into my team next week for attacking and clean sheet potential. Unfortunately, while Valentin Barco of Brighton was an FPL tipsters dream sold to me, the gamble has not paid off, I need to deal with him similar to Quansah with potential price falls on the way.
Unfortunately this is the second season in a row where my opening day defence had major issues with Gabriel benched last year and John Stones injured so I only had three playing defenders and it looks like it could now be the same this year but I am hoping my current solid three of Trent, Gvardiol and Robinson can bail me out until I manage to deal with Barco and Quansah.
Transfer plans/ strategy-
Even despite the major issues with my defence as I potentially only have three playing defenders out of five I am rolling my transfer as I used all my 100 million budget on my opening day team so have no money in the bank to deal with my issues. With Jarrell Quansah dropping to 4.4 million in price I need to wait to deal with him anyway and take money out of a different player in the team. I will most likely switch him to a different playing and more reliable 4.5 defender such as Konsa at Aston Villa but Mazraoui at Manchester United looked attacking and could be a good option. Where that money is coming from I am not 100% sure yet but perhaps Morgan Gibbs-White down to a 6 million or 5.5 midfielder as I like the players better in that bracket anyway.
In the forward positions I picked this team for a reason so I am sticking with all the players for at least the first few game weeks before making any major decisions on changing the players when fixture swings occur.