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            <p>In this <strong>FPL team reveal</strong> article, <a href="http://twitter.com/fplmatthew"><strong>FPL Matthew</strong></a> gives his early thoughts on the players in his shortlist and his current <strong>Gameweek 1 FPL draft</strong>.</p>
<p>Arguably the best FPL manager in the world, with three top 500 finishes and a further six top 10k finishes, FPL Matthew writes his <strong>FPL Team Reveal</strong> article every week detailing his team, captain and plans for the coming gameweek exclusively for Fantasy Football Hub members.</p>
<p><em>There's loads of <strong>FPL analysis and tips</strong> on Fantasy Football Hub:</em></p>
<p>&nbsp;</p>
<ul>
<li><em><a href="https://cms.fantasyfootballhub.co.uk/fantasy-premier-league-strategy-and-tips/"><strong>FPL strategy and tips from the world's best FPL managers</strong></a></em></li>
<li><a href="https://cms.fantasyfootballhub.co.uk/premier-league-team-previews-and-best-players/"><em><strong>Comprehensive FPL team previews</strong></em></a></li>
<li><a href="https://cms.fantasyfootballhub.co.uk/opta/"><em><strong>The Fantasy Football Hub OPTA FPL tool</strong></em></a></li>
</ul>
<h2></h2>
<h2>Gameweek 1 FPL Tips - Avoiding a bad Start</h2>
<p>It's good to have an overarching strategy in mind when going into the new season. I cover my <a href="https://cms.fantasyfootballhub.co.uk/key-principles-of-fpl-success-complete-guide-by-fplmatthew/">Key Principles of FPL Success</a> in a separate article, but here I'm talking more about my <a href="https://cms.fantasyfootballhub.co.uk/fantasy-premier-league-strategy-and-tips/"><strong>FPL strategy</strong></a> for the first few gameweeks.</p>
<p>My thoughts for <strong>Gameweek 1</strong> are heavily influenced by my experience of last year.</p>
<p>In hindsight, I tried to be a bit too clever in some of my Gameweek 1 picks last season. For example, I doubled up on <a href="https://cms.fantasyfootballhub.co.uk/the-best-chelsea-fpl-players/"><strong>Chelsea</strong></a> attack with <strong>Timo Werner (£9.0m)</strong> and <strong>Kai Havertz (£8.5m)</strong>.</p>
<p>I ended up having a terrible start in a period where variance seemed to be huge, made worse by players that I <em>didn't</em> have like <a href="https://cms.fantasyfootballhub.co.uk/premier-league-fantasy-football-leicester-city-best-player-tips/"><strong>Leicester</strong></a>'s <strong>James Justin (£5.0m)</strong> and <a href="https://cms.fantasyfootballhub.co.uk/everton-fantasy-football-tips-team-preview/"><strong>Everton</strong></a>'s <strong>Dominic Calvert-Lewin</strong> <strong>(£8.0m)</strong> performing well.</p>
<p>I ended up outside of the top four million after six or seven gameweeks and spent the rest of the season recovering. I ended up finishing at 29k; respectable enough but with a half decent start I would've had a really good overall rank.</p>
<p>So, how do I apply this experience to the start of this season? Well, perhaps sadly, it means starting off with a fairly <strong>template team. </strong>The aim is to cover the main popular options as a sort of 'insurance policy' against another bad start.</p>
<p>Whilst this seems a little boring, I feel that my strength is in navigating the ebb and flow as the season progresses, rather than hitting the perfect start or a barnstorming <a href="https://cms.fantasyfootballhub.co.uk/fpl-chip-strategy-2021-22/"><strong>Wildcard</strong></a> team. In other words, I'm going to play the <strong>long game</strong>.</p>
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<blockquote class="wp-embedded-content" data-secret="9OzvFxqzYf"><p><a href="https://cms.fantasyfootballhub.co.uk/how-to-win-at-fpl-the-complete-guide/">How To Win at Fantasy Premier League (FPL) &#8211; The Complete Guide</a></p></blockquote>
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<h2></h2>
<h2>Gameweek 1 FPL Tips - Staying Flexible</h2>
<p>My second question is how far to look ahead at the start of the season.</p>
<p>I think a lot of people tend to assume that they'll be Wildcarding after three or four gameweeks. This gives them a very short horizon when picking their <strong>Gameweek 1 FPL team</strong>.</p>
<p>I prefer to at least give myself the chance to preserve my Wildcard for longer, looking at at least six gameweeks ahead. That time span increases for <a href="https://cms.fantasyfootballhub.co.uk/who-are-the-best-fpl-budget-goalkeepers/"><strong>goalkeepers</strong></a> and <a href="https://cms.fantasyfootballhub.co.uk/who-are-the-best-fpl-mid-priced-defenders/"><strong>defenders</strong></a> who I don't really want to be spending too many transfers on.</p>
<p>With that said, I also need to <strong>remain flexible</strong> and open to the idea of an <strong>early Wildcard</strong> if my team needs it. Again, in hindsight, I probably would have been better served biting the bullet last season and Wildcarding after around three gameweeks, but I was too stubborn. This is definitely a failing of mine!</p>
<p>It seemed that the managers who Wildcarded early were the ones who ended up comprising the bulk of the top 10k come the end of last season.</p>
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<blockquote class="wp-embedded-content" data-secret="EyPXL5dqHz"><p><a href="https://cms.fantasyfootballhub.co.uk/the-best-value-players-in-fpl/">The Best Value Players in FPL 2021/22 | FPL Matthew</a></p></blockquote>
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<h2></h2>
<h2>Gameweek 1 FPL Tips - Finding Squad Balance</h2>
<p>My final thinking for <strong>Gameweek 1</strong> is the overall make up of the squad in terms of <strong>longer-term proven assets</strong> versus <strong>shorter term 'punts'</strong>.</p>
<p>If you want to have any chance of saving your <strong>Wildcard</strong> a bit longer then I think the team needs to be weighted towards the long-term proven assets, although shorter term 'punts' are also a necessary evil given budget constraints as well as <a href="https://cms.fantasyfootballhub.co.uk/fpl-best-opening-fixtures/"><strong>FPL fixtures</strong></a>.</p>
<p>I guess the learning from last season, for me, is for those punts to be at the <a href="https://cms.fantasyfootballhub.co.uk/who-are-the-best-fpl-budget-midfielders/"><strong>cheaper end</strong></a> rather than more <a href="https://cms.fantasyfootballhub.co.uk/who-are-the-best-fpl-premium-midfielders/"><strong>expensive ones</strong></a>. <a href="http://@CORF_FPL">FPL Corf</a>  illustrates this point in a really nice visual way in his new 'Squad Balance Tool':</p>
<div id="attachment_36899" style="width: 1034px" class="wp-caption aligncenter"><img aria-describedby="caption-attachment-36899" class="size-large wp-image-36899" src="https://cms.fantasyfootballhub.co.uk/wp-content/uploads/2021/07/Squad-balance-1024x574.jpeg" alt="" width="1024" height="574" /></p>
<p id="caption-attachment-36899" class="wp-caption-text">Squad Balance Tool</p>
</div>
<h2></h2>
<h2>The Best FPL Fixtures 2021/22</h2>
<p>Let's now look at every FPL manager's favourite tool, <a href="https://cms.fantasyfootballhub.co.uk/fixture-ticker/">the Hub's Fixture Ticker</a>. Here's a more thorough analysis of <a href="https://cms.fantasyfootballhub.co.uk/fpl-best-opening-fixtures/"><strong>the best FPL fixtures for the 2021/22 season</strong></a>.</p>
<p>Looking at Gameweeks 1-6, I'll first sort by fixture ease. This doesn't take account of a team's quality.</p>
<div id="attachment_36894" style="width: 1034px" class="wp-caption aligncenter"><img aria-describedby="caption-attachment-36894" class="size-large wp-image-36894" src="https://cms.fantasyfootballhub.co.uk/wp-content/uploads/2021/07/Screenshot-2021-07-31-4.22.17-PM-1024x628.png" alt="" width="1024" height="628" /></p>
<p id="caption-attachment-36894" class="wp-caption-text">Fixture Ticker (sorted by fixture ease)</p>
</div>
<p>&nbsp;</p>
<p>Straightaway, we can see <a href="https://cms.fantasyfootballhub.co.uk/the-best-brighton-fpl-players/"><strong>Brighton</strong></a>'s great start highlighted at the top.</p>
<p>Together with their improving form as last season went on, it's no wonder that their assets are proving popular right now. <a href="https://cms.fantasyfootballhub.co.uk/premier-league-fantasy-football-manchester-united-best-player-picks/"><strong>Manchester United</strong></a> and <a href="https://cms.fantasyfootballhub.co.uk/essential-everton-fpl-stats/"><strong>Everton</strong></a> are also up there although most teams have a mixed first six gameweeks. It's quite an interesting start to the season.</p>
<p>The other teams I would highlight are <a href="https://cms.fantasyfootballhub.co.uk/premier-league-fantasy-football-liverpool-best-player-picks/"><strong>Liverpool</strong></a>, who have some very nice looking fixtures together with some tricky ones, as well as <a href="https://cms.fantasyfootballhub.co.uk/the-best-aston-villa-fpl-players/"><strong>Aston Villa</strong></a>, who have a dream first three before things get decidedly more awkward.</p>
<p>Secondly, I am going to look at the same six Gameweeks but sorted by predicted points. This takes the quality of a team itself into account as well as their opponents.</p>
<div id="attachment_36895" style="width: 1034px" class="wp-caption aligncenter"><img aria-describedby="caption-attachment-36895" class="size-large wp-image-36895" src="https://cms.fantasyfootballhub.co.uk/wp-content/uploads/2021/07/Screenshot-2021-07-31-4.25.06-PM-1024x628.png" alt="" width="1024" height="628" /></p>
<p id="caption-attachment-36895" class="wp-caption-text">Fixture Ticker (sorted by predicted points)</p>
</div>
<p>We can see the dramatic effect that predicted points has on the <a href="https://cms.fantasyfootballhub.co.uk/fixture-ticker/"><strong>FPL fixture ticker</strong></a>, with <a href="https://cms.fantasyfootballhub.co.uk/premier-league-fantasy-football-manchester-city-best-player-picks/"><strong>Manchester City</strong></a> and <strong>Chelsea</strong> suddenly going from at or near the bottom to at or near the top.</p>
<p>Of course, this is because the likes of Man City are expected to make a mockery of their so-called difficult fixtures. It's not difficult to imagine them putting the likes of <a href="https://cms.fantasyfootballhub.co.uk/fantasy-football-tips-team-preview-arsenal/"><strong>Arsenal</strong></a> to the sword if they are in the mood.</p>
<p>Encouragingly, the likes of <strong>Brighton</strong> and <strong>Manchester United</strong> stay near the summit here, fancied to do well in the opening salvo of games.</p>
<h2></h2>
<h2>My Gameweek 1 Shortlist</h2>
<p>There are so many <a href="https://cms.fantasyfootballhub.co.uk/fantasy-premier-league-team-previews-and-best-players/"><strong>players in FPL</strong></a> and the number of options and combinations are almost unlimited. It can be almost overwhelming going into Gameweek 1.</p>
<p>For this reason, to try and simplify things, I like to have a much more manageable 'shortlist' of players that I am realistically picking from. As regular readers will know, I do a similar thing throughout the season with my "<strong>Most Wanted List</strong>" - an even smaller shortlist of options.</p>
<p>Of course, this shortlist can be tweaked as more information comes to light. Players are added or removed, but the number of players shouldn't really increase overall. In fact, it may well reduce as <strong>Gameweek 1</strong> approaches and my thinking crystallises.</p>
<p>So, here is my current <strong>FPL player shortlist for Gameweek 1. </strong>For ease of thinking I have sorted it by both <strong>position</strong> and (rough) <strong>price bracket</strong>, together with a guide to how many I am likely to want to draft from each section. I like to simplify FPL as much as possible!</p>
<p>You'll need to <a href="https://cms.fantasyfootballhub.co.uk/MJ6987/73/"><strong>join Fantasy Football Hub</strong></a> to access the rest of this article.</p>
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