Pre-season #7

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THE SUMMARY

This week's quick summary:

- The game is live! 1.5m teams have been created so far.- Kalvin Phillips has moved to Man City- Raheem Sterling to Chelsea confirmed by Romano- Clement Lenglet joins Spurs on loan

The final calm before the inevitable storm.

Isn't she lovely? Well, don't get too used to her, because next week she'll almost certainly look completely different.There are some things you should know about this team.

Ivan Perisic is currently 48% owned, but we're part of the silent 52% going without him. Why? Because of this tweet from friend-of-the-newsletter @BigManBakar.

"Big-at-the-back" - i.e. 5 very good defenders - is going to be very popular this year (at least until everyone starts conceding 90th minute consolation goals). Trent Alexander-Arnold, Ivan Perisic, Reece James and Joao Cancelo are all, as I write, owned by more than 40% of FPL managers.

Erling Haaland is currently the most selected player in the game, sat on a massive 65%. That's 5% more than Mohamed Salah. We're erling towards him too.

Chelsea goalkeeper Edouard Mendy is priced at just £5m this season, making him the template pick between the sticks. We're currently backing team Reecewell (Bames?) because of their attacking threat, but he's an interesting option nonetheless.The guys at @PlanetFPLPod aren't as convinced by the Senegalese.

We haven't picked the most-owned budget options for a reason.Top tip: when you need to fill your bench, it's tempting to pick the highly-owned bargain-bucket shills. After all, they must be highly owned for a reason, right?But before you load up on the likes of Sam Greenwood at Leeds (£4.5m FWD, 27% owned) or Jannik Vestegaard at Leicester (£4.0m DEF, 13% owned), make sure they're definitely going to feature.If they don't, highly owned players are far more likely to drop in value than the obscure fodder, because there are more managers able to get rid of them. The last thing you want is a £4.4m midfielder you can't swap out.

We're staying close to the template, which is rule number two in our 4 FPL commandments.What is the template, I hear you ask?Well, fpltips.com contributor @FPL_Harry is here to help.

The Done Deals.

Gabriel Jesus is now - definitely - 100% - done deal - confirmed - an Arsenal player. He even scored 90 seconds into his debut in a friendly against FC Nurnberg.I actually can't remember what club he used to play for any more, such was the delay to his official announcement. Was it Stoke? Please let me know.Somewhat predictably, Arsenal went for a Christ the Redeemer motif to announce their new acquisition. Here he is stood atop the Emirates, arms out wide, facing the wrong way.Never has North London looked more like Rio.

Raheem Sterling is moving to Chelsea, according to Fabrizio Romano (who is very rarely, if ever, wrong about this stuff). The reported fee is £47.5m.FPL managers can get him for much cheaper at just £10m. Tuchel must be fuming.Are you tempted?

Christian Eriksen looks set to go to Man United after agreeing to join the club on a free.There were some muted reports of a U-turn in the making, but this morning's papers suggest he's about to take his medical ahead of their pre-season tour.

Kalvin Phillips has been signed by Man City from Leeds for a reported £45m. Leeds have already recruited a successor in Leipzig's Tyler Adams (£20m).He won't be in your FPL team any time soon.

Centre-back Clement Lenglet joins Spurs from Barcelona on loan, adding another carriage to a transfer carousel that has also seen Steven Bergwijn leave for Ajax this week.The french international will join Conte's men in South Korea on their pre-season tour.

Planning Ahead

We've found some cool stuff for you this week. Firstly, check this graph out, posted to r/fantasypl earlier today.

Is it enough to convince you that a strong defence is worth splashing out on? Let us know...

Friend of the newsletter Holly Shand is back at it with her excellent pre-season analysis, this time with a look at when to play your first Wildcard.The whole Twitter thread is worth a read, but this accompanying graphic is particularly useful for those already plotting their 22/23 strategy...

And Finally...

Did you know that pre-season friendlies started this week? Yes, that's right, we're there already.Here are some highlights so far:- Palace beat Millwall 5-4- Arsenal beat FC Nurnberg 5-3- Leeds pumped Blackpool 4-0- Nottingham Forest lost 1-3 to CoventryThis fixture calendar we found is handy if you want to stay in-the-loop.

We've launched TWO FPL leagues...If you're a subscriber to this newsletter (which I'm pretty sure you are), you can enter the first one right now. Here's the league code: psmj1rIf you enter it, you'll compete for the biggest trophy in fantasy football. By "biggest", we don't mean the most prestigious or important. We mean its actual, physical size. It's massive.The second one is more exclusive and the prizes are better. To gain entry to that one, you'll need to get 5 people to join the newsletter.Here's your unique link if you fancy sending it to the FPL managers in your circle: we'll email you with the code the moment you hit 5 referrals. P.s. You've referred people so far⚡️ by SparkLoop