📢 What's happened in football this week? ⚽

Summary for the lazy

🤝 The domestic transfer window is now open

🔮 The 23/24 fixtures have been released - analysis coming up

👀 FPL HQ hints at a new format for next season

🧤 Pochettino prefers Kepa as his No.1 goalkeeper

Keep reading to find out why Trent Alexander-Arnold might not be a defender next season…

Alright?

As I write, there are 55 days until Gameweek 1. That’s just 7 weeks and 6 days away which, given last season’s Gameweek 38 still feels like yesterday, ain’t that long at all.

And the oven is already on preheat. Now that the fixtures are out, managers can start to concoct the recipe for their Gameweek 1 pie.

Three Man City players forms the crust. Man United, Arsenal and Brighton are the meaty filling. Perhaps even a sprinkle of Chelsea on top, if you can handle the spice.

We’ll get into that, and update you on everything else you need to know, right around now.

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The fixtures are out

When you’re hungry enough, you’ll take a morsel of food.

In FPL terms, the fixture release is a morsel. Something for the most emaciated managers to gnaw upon. It is, to borrow the pie metaphor from earlier, the inevitable crushed pea you discover underneath your pie once you’ve finished it.

Still, it’s something, and here at LazyFPL, we want to leave no pastry-based snack unturned.

Here are the fixtures as shown by Ben Crellin, including the blank in Gameweek 18 between Man City and Brentford.

You’ll also notice that Gameweeks 26 and 29 are highlighted in red - that’s because we know that some teams will definitely blank. We also know that Gameweek 37 will be a double, hence why it’s highlighted in yellow.

This one’s a zoomer.

There are plenty of fixture tickers in the ether already, neatly ordering and colour-coding teams based on the assumed difficulty of their opening matches.

The problem is that, as much as we like to kid ourselves, none of us really know how good or bad ~15 of the 20 Premier League teams competing next season are actually going to be.

Based on last season and the (perhaps mistaken) assumption that the newly promoted teams are all going to play like Norwich, we’re excited about the opening six fixtures of Man City, Arsenal, Brighton and Chelsea.

Man City - Burnley (A), Newcastle (H), Sheffield United (A), Fulham (H), West Ham (A), Nottingham Forest (H)

Arsenal - Nottingham Forest (H), Crystal Palace (A), Fulham (H), Man United (H), Everton (A), Spurs (H)

Brighton - Luton (H), Wolves (A), West Ham (H), Newcastle (H), Man United (A), Bournemouth (H)

Chelsea - Liverpool (H), West Ham (A), Luton (H), Nottingham Forest (H), Bournemouth (A), Aston Villa (H)

We can’t stress enough that it’s all very theoretical at this point. Teams like West Ham and Nottingham Forest feature in three of the above teams’ opening six, but both could be very different entities to the relegation-threatened outfits of yester-season.

If nothing else, three of the four teams above also have four home fixtures in their first six - a small advantage afforded to a lucky minority.

The Arrivals Lounge

As of Wednesday 14th June, the domestic transfer window is open for business. Whilst that sounds exciting, the international transfer window gets a lie-in until July 1st, meaning the arrivals lounge looks a bit more like London’s Biggin Hill Airport than London Heathrow.

• Dejan Kulusevski has signed with Spurs on a permanent deal worth a reported £30m.

• Loanee Pedro Porro has also signed to stay with Spurs permanently.

• Brighton have signed midfielder Mahmoud Dahoud from Dortmund on a free transfer. In 141 appearances for the German side he’s scored just five goals, so don’t expect fantasy fireworks from this guy. He’ll join on 1st July for an undisclosed fee.

The Rumour Mill

We’ll never report a rumour unless:

• it has a legitimate source

• it’s relevant to FPL

Josko Gvardiol to Man City?

According to the Don, Fabrizio Romano, City are “making progress” on their pursuit of the Leipzig defender.

Pickford to Man United?

Man United are preparing a £45m bid for Jordan Pickford, reports Sky News and other sources.

Havertz to Arsenal?

According to the Guardian and other sources, Arsenal are pursuing Kai Havertz for a £60m move, for reasons that FPL managers are still trying to figure out.

Raya to Spurs?

Romano has reported that personal terms have been agreed with Brentford’s goalkeeper David Raya and Spurs.

A new FPL format

When a 25-minute video titled “The business of Fantasy Premier League” has over 8,500 views in five days, you know it’s the off-season.

In it, Alexandra Willis, the Director of Digital Marketing at the Premier League, talks about the growth of FPL and what’s to come.

She also reveals that a new game format is landing next season.

This doesn’t sound like an amendment to the current format, but more a “side-game” of sorts, much like the draft mode of FPL.

Word on the grapevine is that it could be a “daily fantasy” style format, in which a new team can be created from scratch every gameweek.

Others have suggested 5-a-side or a scoring system that also rewards defensive midfielders. Twitter user @FPL_Risktaker was particularly keen on the latter idea.

We’ll keep you updated when it’s announced.

Kepa gets the nod

Despite rumours that Chelsea are hunting for yet another new goalkeeper, Pochettino has reportedly stated that he’s happy with Kepa.

The Chelsea keeper was a popular pick for FPL managers during Potter’s reign, but Lampard’s preference for Mendy cast the Spaniard back to the realms of obscurity, amongst other once-popular players like Antonio and Almiron.

If he gets a good price point and performs in pre-season, he could be an interesting option given his solid opening fixtures.

Other tidbits

• Trent Alexander-Arnold played as a Number 10 for England on Friday and loved it. Talking like he was reviewing the quality of a fake boob, the Liverpool defender said “it feels natural”.

• Fantasy Football Fix’s usually reliable algorithm has predicted Haaland will start at £14.0m next season. Cripes.

• Kevin De Bruyne revealed he’s been playing with a torn hamstring for the last two months, furthering the theory that ginger people are, in fact, hard bastards.

Okay, we’re out. But guess what? We’ll be back again next week.

Until then, stay lazy.

The LazyFPL team.