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            <p>Holly Shand is an FPL content creator and pundit, with two top 10k finishes in nine seasons of playing Fantasy Premier League.</p>
<p>In this article, Holly reveals high-ownership players you should avoid in FPL Gameweek 1.</p>
<p>See what all our experts are currently planning for their own Gameweek 1 teams via our team reveals page <a href="https://www.fantasyfootballhub.co.uk/fantasy-premier-league-team-reveals">here</a>.</p>
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<h2>Goalkeepers</h2>
<p><strong>Ederson (£5.5m) </strong> is currently the fourth-most picked goalkeeper for Gameweek 1 but for me he's one to avoid, given his reduced routes to points.</p>
<p>Manchester City concede the fewest number of shots on their goal - 96 last season - which gives Ederson little opportunity to accumulate save points.</p>
<p>This generally gives Ederson a ceiling of six points per game, as he's rarely in the bonus points due to this lack of save potential.</p>
<p>Ederson needs to keep 20 clean sheets in a season to come close to justifying his price tag - but last season he managed just 11 and found himself rotated in the final few games.</p>
<p>Hub AI does however predict Ederson to score the most FPL points among goalkeepers in the opening 10 gameweeks of the season, given their favourable fixtures, so he might be an option for the short-term for managers planning an early wildcard.</p>
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<div id="attachment_55695" style="width: 2290px" class="wp-caption alignnone"><img aria-describedby="caption-attachment-55695" class="wp-image-55695 size-full" src="https://cms.fantasyfootballhub.co.uk/wp-content/uploads/2023/07/FFStuffImage-1.jpg" alt="" width="2280" height="1340" /></p>
<p id="caption-attachment-55695" class="wp-caption-text">Predicted points for goalkeepers</p>
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<p><strong>Jordan Pickford (£4.5m) </strong>sits in 16% of teams but does not rank favourably with our AI.</p>
<p>Pickford kept just eight clean sheets last campaign. It may be better to avoid him and look elsewhere in the £4.5m goalkeeper category.</p>
<h2>Defenders</h2>
<p><strong>Kieran Trippier (£6.5m) </strong>has been a popular acquisition for Gameweek 1, given he was the highest-scoring defender in the game last campaign.</p>
<p>But he will find it challenging to justify this higher price tag in Gameweek 1 with a tricky run of opening fixtures, including Manchester City in Gameweek 2 and Liverpool in Gameweek 3.</p>
<div id="attachment_55696" style="width: 1606px" class="wp-caption alignnone"><img aria-describedby="caption-attachment-55696" class="wp-image-55696 size-full" src="https://cms.fantasyfootballhub.co.uk/wp-content/uploads/2023/07/FFStuffImage-1-copy-2.jpg" alt="" width="1596" height="1300" /></p>
<p id="caption-attachment-55696" class="wp-caption-text">Trippier's tricky fixtures</p>
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<p>Given this storm of high ownership and tricky fixtures, underperformance in his opening games could spell a significant drop in his ownership and in his price too.</p>
<p>Newcastle United sit rock bottom of our fixture ticker for the opening five gameweeks, with a prediction of 20.1 points in that period.</p>
<div id="attachment_55697" style="width: 2290px" class="wp-caption alignnone"><img aria-describedby="caption-attachment-55697" class="wp-image-55697 size-full" src="https://cms.fantasyfootballhub.co.uk/wp-content/uploads/2023/07/FFStuffImage-1-1.jpg" alt="" width="2280" height="1340" /></p>
<p id="caption-attachment-55697" class="wp-caption-text">Predicted points for defenders</p>
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<p>Ten defenders are predicted by our AI to outscore Trippier in this period and all of those except <strong>Trent Alexander-Arnold (£8.0m)</strong> come in at a cheaper price.</p>
<p><strong>Reece James (£5.5m) </strong>is another player I'd look to avoid in the early period of the season - but he's currently in just under 20% of sides.</p>
<p>He rarely stays fit for a long period of time and hasn't played a run of seven Premier League games since June 2021.</p>
<p>There's a perfect storm brewing at Chelsea with the hope of improvement under new manager Mauricio Pochettino, favourable fixtures and even an outside chance of penalties for James.</p>
<p>If that comes to fruition then we could see a tipping point where James is worth the gamble - but backing him in Gameweek 1 could mean a transfer out shortly down the line.</p>
<div id="attachment_55639" style="width: 907px" class="wp-caption aligncenter"><img aria-describedby="caption-attachment-55639" class="size-full wp-image-55639" src="https://cms.fantasyfootballhub.co.uk/wp-content/uploads/2023/07/James-fixtures.jpg" alt="" width="897" height="731" /></p>
<p id="caption-attachment-55639" class="wp-caption-text">Reece James</p>
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<p><strong>Ben White (£5.5m) </strong>should also be avoided for this campaign, mainly due to his high price tag relative to the rest of Arsenal's back line.</p>
<p>He doesn't offer enough to justify spending £0.5m above the other Arsenal defenders, especially when Arteta's full-backs are prone to some rotation and early substitutions.</p>
<p>In fact, our points predictions put <strong>Oleksandr Zinchenko (£5.0m)</strong> and <strong>Gabriel (£5.0m)</strong> above White in the pecking order over the first five gameweeks of the season.</p>
<div id="attachment_55710" style="width: 907px" class="wp-caption aligncenter"><img aria-describedby="caption-attachment-55710" class="size-full wp-image-55710" src="https://cms.fantasyfootballhub.co.uk/wp-content/uploads/2023/07/White.jpg" alt="" width="897" height="731" /></p>
<p id="caption-attachment-55710" class="wp-caption-text">Is Ben White too pricey?</p>
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<p>&nbsp;</p>
<p>Aston Villa's <strong>Tyrone Mings (£4.5m) </strong>sits in around 15% of squads but his side face a tough start to the season.</p>
<p>Villa have three away games in their first four, including against Newcastle and Liverpool.</p>
<p>They also have two midweek fixtures before the first international break - which comes after Gameweek 4 - due to their involvement in the UEFA Europa Conference League qualifying play-off rounds.</p>
<p>This European involvement may have a big impact in Villa's early season and there's set to be strong competition for places too after they completed the signing of <strong>Pau Torres (£4.5m)</strong> from Villarreal.</p>
<p>Elsewhere, <strong>Luke Shaw (£5.5m) </strong>fails to make the top 20 defenders according to our AI over the first five gameweeks - but I still think he's worth having in particular for the home games against Wolves and Nottingham Forest in Gameweek 1 and 3.</p>
<div id="attachment_55711" style="width: 907px" class="wp-caption aligncenter"><img aria-describedby="caption-attachment-55711" class="size-full wp-image-55711" src="https://cms.fantasyfootballhub.co.uk/wp-content/uploads/2023/07/Mings.jpg" alt="" width="897" height="731" /></p>
<p id="caption-attachment-55711" class="wp-caption-text">Tyrone Mings</p>
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<p><span style="font-weight: 400;"> <em><strong>Join the Hub to see the highly owned midfielders and forwards to avoid </strong></em></span><span style="font-weight: 400;"> </span></p>
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Highly owned FPL players to avoid in Gameweek 1 2023/24

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