The Friday Fantasy Roundup

Writing the round-up last week we could feel GW1 in our bones. Today it feels like a storms-a-brewing. An electric storm, one of those ones where the air tingles. It's crazy to think after a long summer stretch that only this time next week we will be on the eve of a sparkling new season of Fantasy Premier League. Tingley!

Anyway, to business. Here's this week's round-up  You can catch up on our previous weekly round ups here and make sure to come back next week as we'll pull out the stops for a pre-GW1 bonanza.

Pre-Season Guide

• We'll start with ourselves. We've put in a lot of time and effort to put together a pre-season guide for you this season. Check it out if you've not already.

Players

• Roberto Soldado, or Robby to his mates, is the main transfer of interest this week - he's £9.5m in FPL. We took a look at his strengths on the pitch concluding he'll fit in well with Spurs' tactics whilst Fantasy Premier League Transfers took a look at his La Liga form concluding he'll be giving FPL managers headaches this season.
• Diego Luana has probably gone slightly under the radar. Fantasy Football Scout picked up the Baggies' new £5m centre back but only to consign him as adding uncertainty to West Brom's defensive picks.

Community

• As GW1 approaches there's been some great stuff coming out. Matej completes his series of (Un)conventional Wisdoms and is a man after our own hearts with his final instalment - Have Fun and Don't Over Complicate
• Fantasy Yirma launch their mini-league for the new season offering a £100 winners kitty plus weekly and monthly prizes. Next week we'll bring you some other community and cash leagues you can join, including our own.
• FPL Dugout and FF Cheat have both asked readers to vote on who'll do well in FPL this year in some different categories. FPL Dugout voted Wilfred Bony as the best new signing with Anelka in 2nd place. On FF Cheat Hazard, Coutinho and Walcott were voted 1, 2, 3 in the £8-10m midfielder category (we completely agree). Sturridge, Lukaku and Benteke take to the podium as the best £8-10m Strikers.

Analysis

• One of the best analysis we've read lately, Transfer History Analysis takes you through his thoughts on the fantasy prospects from all 20 teams
• FPL Addicts have a post on the status of a several key players who might not be red flagged on FPL but have been struggling with injury pre-season, the likes of Rooney, Aguero, Lampard and Luiz all with niggles.
• All Things FPL - a top site - have a great run-through goalkeepers and recommended pairings. They really like a Foster/Boruc combo based on optimum rotation all the way 'til GW19.

The Friday Fantasy Round-Up

GW1 is getting close. We can feel it in our bones. Here's a round-up of some of the goings on in the world of Fantasy Premier League.

Players

• Fantasy Football Geek is one of the first to review Spur's record signing and new striker Soldado and reckons "he’s definitely a option for my GW1 team"
• More on Spurs, this time The Scout talk up the prospects of £5m pair Dawson and Kaboul after  Steven Caulker's exit, who himself is now probably slightly overpriced at Cardiff.

Pre-Season Guide

• Next week we'll be launching our Complete Pre-Season Guide, you can claim a 30% pre-order discount here.

Community

• All Things FPL have some really cracking stuff on their site. Here's a great beginner's guide to managing your team.
• If you keep in touch with things on Twitter then check out FPL Hints as they kick off a 5-part countdown of their favourite FPL Twitter accounts. 
• FPL Dugout continue their fine run of articles with a look at different strategies for building your FPL defence
• We put together a FPL Crossword! We'll have the answers posted over the week (although it was pretty easy, right?).
• Over at /r/fantasyPL, Games_and_Dames wrote a remarkable Guide to budget defenders. 

Analysis

• Relatively new to the scene, FantasyPL has a great look at shot effectiveness from last season with the conclusion that a front three for his GW1 team of Benteke, Lukaku and Sturridge sounds pretty good.

The Friday Fantasy Roundup

Another week and another week closer to GW1.  Can you wait? Let's take a look around some of our favourite sites and blogs to see what's been going on this week.

Official

• A GW1 double has been confirmed for Chelsea and Aston Villa.  Chelsea play Villa and Hull at home (!!), Villa will play Arsenal and Chelsea away (ouch).

Players

• Stefan Jovetic adds even more world-class talent to Man City's attack. We thought his all-round ability may see him utilised too wide or too deep. The Scout tends to agree. 
• Alvaro Negredo is a penalty box striker and could well be a star performer in your team. He just needs to nail down his role upfront.
• Nacer Chadli Spur's new inverted winger had goals in his locker at FC Twente. FPLTransfers reckon he looks a good prospect while Scout hints at the tactical influences on Spurs and Bale.
• Gareth Bale Amidst all the Real Madrid speculation we  gave 5 reasons to pick the Welshman and he's the first name on the teamsheet at FPL Dugout 

Community

• So long to Never Captain Nicky Butt who are hanging up their fantasy boots after 5 years of laughs, studs and duds. You will be missed.
• Farewell to one great FPL site but it's time to welcome another - Fantasy Football Pundits. 

Newsletter

• We released our first free newsletter of the pre-season to over 1000 subscribers. This week we took a closer look at the new Bonus Points System as well as those players we've pencilled into our own team already. We'll have another newsletter out next week, you can sign up here.

Analysis

• We updated our Fixture Analyser so that it can be used to assess defensive prospects across 1,3, and 6GW ranges.
• A super guide to £4.0m defenders by FPL Dugout. 

Friday's Fantasy Roundup

We're back at the end of an exciting week for Fantasy Premier League with another round-up of posts and articles from around the community in a week that's dominated by the release of the Price List.

Official

• The FPL Price List was released on Monday. Here's the official full Player List as well as our key players at a glance.

Players

• Jerome Thomas In between analysis of the price list The Scout find time to look over the latest signing at Crystal Palace and reckon as a rare £4.5m with an attacking role he could be a great option.
• Leroy Fer struggles for any attention fromThe Scout after the midfield enforcer's move to Norwich

Fixtures

• We were excited this week to release our updated Fixture Analyser which allows you to select to view strength of fixtures in 1GW, 3GW or 6GW ranges. 

Community

• Fantasy Yirma air their thoughts on scouting the preseason for the fantasy opportunities that arise from change and the importance of finding the new Michu.
• Fantasy Premier League Transfer have a whole host of posts up this week including plenty of pre-season friendly match reports
• Over at Fantasy Premier League Hints @MatejP23 shares his pearls of (un)conventional wisdom with this first part of six. Here he urges you to spend all of your transfer budget, and for good reason

Analysis

• We brought you a compact overview of the pricing of each team's defence and where the value can be found for your fantasy team.
• Back to Fantasy Yirma, here's a smart analysis of Spur's tactical intents under Villas-Boas. Reading between the lines we see a positive impact for Gareth Bale and Paulinho.
• The Scout have a comprehensive breakdown of the price list in the goalkeeping departments, and budget and midpriced defenders
• We looked at the early ownership numbers to see who are the hottest, most-selected players so far in Fantasy Premier League
• Finally, FPL Dugout looks at lessons that can be learnt from last season and some facts vs. fiction

The Friday Fantasy Round-Up

It's Friday again so here's our regular round-up of fantasy related articles from around the web.

If you missed last week's there's still plenty of relevance and it's a worthwhile read through so check it out too!

Players

• Wilfred Bony Swansea's new powerhouse striker got us all in a bother as he rips up for the fantasy landscape
• Jozy Altidore Another top scorer in the Eredivsie, Sunderland's new boy gets the once over on Fantasy Football Scout and despite a positive report it could be Steven Fletcher who benefits the most.
• Gerard Deulofeu Everton' wonderkid loanee from Barca is an exciting contender to be this year's fantasy breakthough star.
• Marco Van Ginkel's prospects are talked up by The Scout but they are in agreement with us that he'll have to bide his time at Chelsea.
• Paulinho gets the seal of approval as a solid midpriced midfielder although we doubt his upside will be all that high.
• Arouna Kone prompts mixed feelings with The Scout quite keen and us not so convinced he's the best option at Everton or for one of your 3 forward spots.

Analysis

• FPL Dugout run the fantasy rule over the Hull City team 

Community

• Fantasy Yirma have a great article from Matej Podobnik who finished in the top 50 in FPL 2012/13
• As always, taking a dip into Nicky Butt's brain is worthy of your time, this time you'll find Dempsey, Bony and Wanayama in there with you
• @EPLFanForLife takes you on a tour of his fantasy thoughts and realises the summer has more questions than answers!

The Friday Fantasy Roundup

This is another new feature we're rolling out for you on the blog, a round-up of everything that matters from the last week of fantasy football.

Players

• Andreas Cornelius  Fantasy Football Scout pointed out the Dane's potential for Cardiff highlighting his likely all-round importance to the team but urging caution with Cardiff's opening set of fixtures. In our report we agreed with Cornelius's raw potential but feel he and Cardiff will struggle for goals in general.
• Ahmed Elmohamady  Hull's signing has The Scout mildly excited by his possible classification as a defender in FPL and the FPL value that would bring with his attacking potential. 
• Jonjo Shelvey  We took a look at Swansea's new boy from Liverpool but decided competition from Michu amongst others for a role in the Swan's most attacking positions rules him out as potential signing for your team.
• Dwight Gayle In the same post Ian Holloway's new striker gets our seal approval as cut-priced fantasy option this season.
• Allan McGregor  The Scout took a look at Hull's new first choice keeper as a good budget rotation option to start the season with.

Community

• How I Won FPL 2012/13 Last season's overall winner shares his thoughts with over at FISO as he breaks downs his team selection and transfers for all 38 gameweeks from his winning campaign. Wow.
• We love Nicky Butt. You should too.

Analysis

• Promoted Prospects  Read up on the prospects of new boys Cardiff, Palace and Hull in our statistical comparison of how well Championship form transfers to the Premier League,
• Rotation, Rotation, Rotation Scout continue their foray through the possible rotation pairs combining Swansea/Cardiff and Villa/West Brom.

If you have a favourite article we've missed or a blog of your own you'd like to share please let us know on Twitter or via email at contact@insideFPL.com