Lewis Rutledge offers the first lot of transfer tips ahead of the opening weekend of the season.
Lewis Rutledge offers the first lot of transfer tips ahead of the opening weekend of the Premier League season
Fantasy Football kicks off in conjunction with the start of the new Premier League season this weekend and
skysports.com will be bringing you weekly previews to highlight which players could be worth bringing in at any given stage.
The game has been up and running for a few weeks now and thousands have already selected the teams that they hope will rocket to the top of the leaderboard and provide plenty of opportunities for bragging.
Private leagues will be hotly contested and many will have been keeping their cards close to their chest, prepared to wait until the last minute before making a host of changes to their side.
This tactic can still be utilised because unlimited transfers are available until the start of the season, with the deadline set at 12.45pm on Saturday when Chelsea and Hull City lock horns at Stamford Bridge in the opening game.
Any changes made after this point will come out of your monthly ration of five and full quota of 30 for the season, so it is vital to have the right players in place from the start.
The formula for these previews last season was to list three transfer tips ahead of each weekend and the plan of attack will generally stay the same despite our reporters having mixed success with their predictions.
Injuries
Rule No. 1 for the opening weekend must be to pick a fully-fit XI who are all likely start for their respective teams, and just because there has been no competitive football for the past three months does not mean that everybody has steered clear of injuries.
Luis Boa Morte is set to miss the first half of the season with cruciate knee ligament damage, Tottenham defenders Jonathan Woodgate and Michael Dawson are both sidelined, while Birmingham's record signing Christian Benitez is still recovering from a shoulder operation and Roque Santa Cruz of Manchester City is missing as well.
Aston Villa new boy Stewart Downing will be out until around December with a foot problem and Chelsea's Joe Cole has suffered a setback in his rehabilitation and will not be available for a few weeks.
Wednesday's round of international friendlies, apparently devised to rile Premier League bosses, could also result in more injuries and those who have travelled long distances may have to be rested for the opening weekend of the season.
As there is no current form as such to go on, the most logical approach for the first batch of games would be to pick proven performers who can be expected to make a contribution, whilst also looking at the fixture list to see who the big winners may be.
A number of the top teams face tricky games, with title hopefuls Liverpool visiting Tottenham, Arsenal locking horns with Everton at Goodison Park and big-spending Manchester City making the journey to Blackburn.
Recommended
Manchester United start their title defence with a home clash against Birmingham and the likes of Michael Owen (£7.0m) and Antonio Valencia (£4.4m) will be determined to show they can help fill the void created by Cristiano Ronaldo's departure.
However, there are no United players in our opening trio of transfer tips and instead the recommended men are Sylvan Ebanks-Blake, Mark Schwarzer and Frank Lampard.
Wolves striker Ebanks-Blake has been a destructive force in the Championship over the past couple of years and possesses the talent to succeed at the highest level of English football.
The promoted teams can sometimes be at their most dangerous in the first few weeks of the season, as Hull City proved 12 months ago, and it would not be a major surprise to see Ebanks-Blake inspiring Wolves to an opening day victory at home to West Ham.
Fulham begin their campaign on the road but they will fancy their chances against a Portsmouth side that has endured a turbulent summer off the field, while some of their best players have also moved on from the South Coast.
The Cottagers should be sharp after a couple of Europa League qualifiers and goalkeeper Schwarzer is a good bet to keep a clean sheet if the defensive unit can carry on their excellent form from last term.
Lampard is almost certain to finish as one of the top points scorers in Fantasy Football and the midfielder is likely to pose plenty of problems for Hull City in Carlo Ancelotti's first competitive home game in charge of Chelsea.
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