I saw this on Reddit (
https://www.reddit.com/r/FantasyPL/comments/cgxmua/the_rfantasypl_meta_so_far_aka_look_at_this/) and looks like a nice little summary, some rather obvious tips and also some strange sounding ones (5 at the back, well it sounds strange to me at least) but overall I think it may be helpful to anyone just getting into the fantasy league world. I hope it is okay for me to post this here, if not apologies.
Goalkeepers:
-Your best bet is either a 6.0 premium or a 4.5 value pick, there's not much in the middle this season that's worth it
-Allison takes up a valuable Liverpool spot, you're better off with Ederson at that price point
-of the 4.5 keepers, the best options are whoever starts for Burnley--probably Pope, especially if Heaton moves to Villa--or Ryan if you really trust Brighton's defense during their decent early run of fixtures
Defenders:
-while 5 at the back (ATB) is a good long-term strategy due to the point per million value of defenders, and there is a lot of value in defenders this season, it's fairly inflexible and makes it difficult to bring in a mid or forward who's in good form should you eventually want to. 4 ATB allows you to have all those valuable defenders while still remaining flexible
-you should have at least one, if not both, of Alexander-Arnold (TAA) and Robertson (Robbo) , and you'll probably want Van Dijk (VVD) if you've only got one of the aforementioned duo
-Everton's fixtures look really promising to start and both Digne and Coleman are excellent options, with Digne having the higher upside
-City have some early games where they could concede, but one of their defensive assets is still a good idea. Laporte should be totally nailed. Zinchenko is still up in the air a bit, but Pep loves him and City fans seem to think he'll be for sure starting the first couple games at least bar something crazy. You can always reevaluate after a couple weeks. Walker is not a good FPL asset despite his nailedness due to his relative lack of attacking returns
-stay away from Chelsea, we're in a very weird period where no one is entirely sure how we'll do, and only one of our backline (Azpi) is for sure nailed to start
-with Trippier gone from Spurs, Aurier seems a tempting option at his price, but Pochettino loves rotating fullbacks, and Foyth seems like he'll be playing that position a bit. Wait and see on this one
-AWB was great last year, but United are so inconsistent as of recent seasons that you should wait and see how they look
-if you want to rotate cheap defenders, Sheffield, Burnley, Leicester, and Watford all provide good options, and there are a number of guides that have been posted on here about optimal pairings
-if you're willing to endure a possible immediate price drop if he doesn't start, Kelly is a fine choice for bench fodder
Midfielders:
-don't have three super-premium mids, it just sucks way too many funds away from the rest of your team
-you should have Salah, he's the superior pick over Mane due to their relatively close prices this season and the fact that Mane will be a doubt for the first gameweek
-you should probably also have Sterling. De Bruyne (KDB) is tempting given his past excellent seasons and that he's 2.5 less, but we don't know how much he'll be playing or exactly how good he'll be coming back from injury. He also doesn't provide quite the same great captaincy option as Sterling. Probably another wait and see, but if you're confident and really like the team you can create with that extra 2.5, go for it
-between Sigurdsson and Richarlison, Siggy is the better pick due to being on a bunch of set-pieces, his form at the end of last season as he started to gel with the squad, and the fact that unless Everton sign another striker Rich may be forced to play up top where he did so poorly last year, and he's a pretty essential-looking piece in general given his record and Everton's good opening fixtures
-Brooks and Fraser over at Bournemouth both have great fixtures to start and are excellent mid-priced options, with Fraser having a higher ceiling
-VAR does not increase the number of penalties, although the new handball rule might, so it's possible the insane number of pens Milivojevic has scored over the last two seasons could continue, but seems unsustainable. If Zaha stays at Palace, he's a very good option at the same price
-Bernardo Silva, AKA Bilva, is pretty nailed at City, and could potentially break out, but doesn't seem to be a better option than many people at the same or cheaper prices due to the congestion in City's midfield and his somewhat deep-lying nature in previous campaigns
-Perez, Maddison, and Tielemans over at Leicester all look enticing, but they've got a lot of midfielders and some new signings to implement, so be cautious. Tielemans' sample size in terms of minutes was pretty small last season, so be aware
-Moura might not even start for Spurs due to Lamela and the possibility that Pochettino might adjust the formation to accomodate all the defensive mids like newly-signed Ndombele, so perhaps avoid
-again, avoid Chelsea for now
-Dendoncker is far and away the most popular bench fodder option, he started almost all of Wolves' games in the second half of last season and looked good. Guendouzi's popularity here seems to be somewhat on the rise given that Arsenal are a top six side who seem to be somewhat getting things together, although it may bear waiting and seeing whether he can actually nail down a spot (thanks to
u/PouncingZebra for this last point!)
Forwards:
-premium forwards don't really seem to be all that worth it this year given the wealth of excellent premium and mid-priced options in midfield and defense, so absolutely do not load up your front line and leave your midfield and defense light
-if you disagree with the former point (which is fine!), then Kane would be the guy to go with long-term, although he's always a slow starter. You could go with Aubameyang if you really wanted to try and capitalize on a potentially slow Kane August start, Aguero is not highly recommended due to his minutes limitation and the fact that, unlike the other two, he's not easily the primary scorer at City (Sterling)
-at a more mid-priced range, Vardy is an excellent candidate, as Leicester are predicted to be quite strong this year and he's relatively fixture-proof
-Wilson is an excellent, excellent option, and despite having a great season last year he actually should have done even better according to his stats. He's got great opening fixtures and having him at 8.0 allows you some flexibility to move up to a more expensive forward if one of them starts to light it up
-King is a decent option at 6.5 given his fixtures and how attacking Bournemouth are, but when he's on the field with Wilson he tends to play very deep, so be cautious. Upside is that he takes penalties
-over at Watford, opt for Deulofeu over Deeney. He has huge assist potential and despite not taking pens like Deeney and playing fewer minutes last season he scored more goals. Deu is the best 6.5 option to start the season off given his relatively decent fixtures and the fact that Wilson is a better option than King at Bournemouth. Be warned that he's always been a slightly poor finisher and he got a lot of points in very few games last season, so watch his form carefully
-Wolves will probably suffer a bit this season due to having to play in the Europa League, so Jimenez will see a bit of a dropoff in all likelihood. Jota looked excellent at the end of last season and should be a great bargain if he continues that form throughout this season, he's the better deal over Jimenez given that he's 1.0 cheaper
-Haller could be a very good option given his past performances in the Bundesliga, but he's a little pricy, and we don't know how West Ham will be
-Greenwood looks like he might actually play, which makes him incredible value at 4.5. Just be aware that his high current ownership means that if he doesn't play, he'll probably drop in price quickly. Wickham and Nketiah are also good options here
