This season’s Dream Team looks set to be the most open game in history. I’m really struggling to fix a front three which I’m firmly happy with. In previous season’s it’s been more straightforward with less prolific strikers available. With an abundance of strikers to choose from I’m torn between a few options. I’d imagine many other managers are facing the same issue. As a follow on to my post about the best strikers in this season’s game I’ve decided to look in a bit more detail at the handful I’ve narrowed it down to (in order of preference at this stage)
Lukaku
Price: 6m
Club: Man Utd
Selected by (at time of publish): 60%
Pros: bargain price, has Champions League fixtures, should be the main striker at Man Utd, proven track record in the Premier League, easy fixtures to start the season, high selected percentage
Cons: none come to mind
The most selected player on the game at this point in time. Lukaku is in my opinion the must have player for the start of the season. He’s a bargain price, Man Utd have favourable fixtures to start and he’s already proven in the Premier League. He could well finish the season as the highest scoring player. I can’t think of a single reason not to have him.
Kane
Price: 8m
Club: Spurs
Selected by (at time of publish): 45%
Pros: last season’s top goalscorer, has Champions League fixtures, main striker at Spurs, proven track record in the Premier League
Cons: very expensive, move to Wembley could disrupt Spurs form.
His goalscoring record speaks for itself and he’s certain to be the main man at Spurs next season. This does however come at a cost, he’s significantly more expensive than other strikers resulting in less funds to be spent elsewhere. I’ve got a slight concern that Spurs may struggle at Wembley as well. However when he’s selected by 45% of other managers it’s a very risky move to overlook him. Should he get off to a big point scoring start, there could be a lot of catching up to do. At the moment he stays in. Should his selected by percentage drop significantly before the start of the season I may look elsewhere.
Lacazette
Price: 5m
Club: Arsenal
Selected by (at time of publish): 30%
Pros: bargain price, should be the main striker at Arsenal, decent early fixtures for Arsenal
Cons: not proven in the Premier League, may be rested in the Europa League
Lacazette comes in at a real bargain price. He should be the main striker at Arsenal next season and they get off to a fairly comfortable start in the Premier League. Despite a poor campaign last time around for Arsenal, this was the very same position Sanchez managed to finish as the highest scoring player for the season. Should he feature in the Europa League as well he could pick up a lot of points. He is new to the Premier League though and it may take some time to adjust. At the moment he makes my team in the hope that he hits the ground running.
Morata
Price: 5m
Club: Chelsea
Selected by (at time of publish): 14%
Pros: bargain price, has Champions League fixtures, should be the main striker at Chelsea,
Cons: not proven in the Premier League, difficult early fixtures
Morata has only recently been added to the game and as a result is only selected by 14% of other managers. He is however a bargain price, with Champions League football and should be the main striker at Chelsea. He’s sure to get plenty of goalscoring opportunities and could well have a fantastic season with the current Champions. I see Chelsea as a stronger side than Arsenal, however I favour Lacazette at the moment as Chelsea have a slightly tougher start. I think Morata is slightly less of a proven goalscorer as well and will need some time to settle in the Premier League. At the moment he’s not making my front three unless his selected percentage rises dramatically.
Jesus
Price: 5m
Club: Man City
Selected by (at time of publish): 22%
Pros: bargain price, has Champions League fixtures
Cons: not quite proven in the Premier League, doubts over who will be the main goalscorer at City
At this point in time Jesus is the fourth most selected striker in the game. For me this is a bit of a risk. Aguero finished last season strongly and I can see him being the main striker at City at least for the start of next season. They may well play together but Aguero may overshadow the young Brazilian in terms of early point scoring. He will have Champions League fixtures to contend with however I’m personally going to see how things play out at City before including either striker.
Aguero
Price: 7m
Club: Man City
Selected by (at time of publish): 20%
Pros: has Champions League fixtures, proven track record in the Premier League
Cons: very expensive, doubts over who will be the main goalscorer at City
For me Aguero is way too expensive for a player whose selection was in question last season. As he’s not moved on from City, this suggests he will feature heavily during next season. However I’d prefer to wait and see how things pan out before opting for either Jesus or Aguero. It’s less of a risk to exclude him as he’s the sixth most selected striker at this point in time.
As always, share your thoughts/ideas in the comments below. I’d be interested to hear who other people have gone for as their front three.
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I think it’s definitely 3 from those 4, I think maybe that Morata needs to settle in a bit longer has made my mind up really, at least there is 3 transfers to use in a short August month.
It’s gonna be an exciting season.
It certainly makes for an exciting season. I tend to agree with you that Morata needs time to settle. I can’t really justify leaving out Kane the moment either.
How do you feel about Hernandez for 3.5m?.
Decent fixtures for west ham and a much improved squad, he’s also got pl experience
I like him as a player but I can’t see him outscoring any of the strikers mentioned above. I like to base decisions on stats and last season we didn’t see any player break the 200 point mark as a striker from a team outside the top 7 clubs.
In fact only 1 striker (Benteke) made the top 10 strikers from outside of the top 7. I wouldn’t want to take the risk on Hernandez with some many better options this year. I’m already struggling to fix on three from the top clubs.
How about Marcus Rashford?
Easy fixtures in first couple of months.
I have lukaku and rashford struggles to score from the wing as much. He’s also on rotation
I really like Hernandez as an option but im currently toying with this due to this article.
De gea ( i feel the safest man u defensive option)
Trippier, Soares, Ogbonna, Martina?
Salah, Mkhi, Mane (author likes cout but im worried playing so deep mane scores more)
Kane, Lukaku, Aguerro (i honestly feel aguerro will start and is likely to score a hat trick if dont have him)
This changes constantly but is my current version. I can make a very strong squad if i drop aguerro for hernandez but i worry about him some.
I agree on Aguero, I think he would’ve pushed a move if pep didn’t want him there. I think it’s dangerous not to include him.
I was considering Mkhi, although Willian is attracting at 4mil
Looks really strong going forward. I think Mane is as good an option as Coutinho and they both obviously have the extra Champions League fixtures. If the three strikers get off to a strong start you could get a very big early lead.
He could do well but I think Lukaku is a much better option, he’s cheap and will be the main striker at Old Trafford. I wouldn’t want to double up in terms of strikers from the same club either, with so many good options I think Lukaku is the obvious choice for Man Utd representation.
Hi mate, thanks for the great tips as per usual! Just wondering what’s your thoughts are on who which attacking mid/wingers will play for Man City next season? Considering Bernardo silva but not sure…
Rumour has it that Sanchez is pushing for a move to city, this would change everything.
I personally wouldn’t take a risk on Silva. I’m only really considering De Bruyne for City. Sane could be a good option but a little risky. As for the others (including Aguero and Jesus), I’m going to wait and see how it pans out over August.
Great site. Really good.
What are your thoughts on this team:
Pickford
Valencia
B Davies
Ogbamna
Soares
KDB
Salah
Coutinho
Kane
Lukaku
Lacaxete
If coutinho moves, likely to go pogba or mane
Hi Dan, looks a strong side. Davies could be a good option while he covers for Rose. However I think some Liverpool representation at the back could be handy with their additional two games in August. Should Coutinho move I’d go for Mane, who would pretty much be a like for like swap.
Thanks, personally just not a massive fan of Liverpool at the back…
Will see how the next few weeks go with transfers. Appreciate your feedback
So many teams going to have the same or similar front 6 + Pickford. Brave men go with their guts & take a gamble.
Yes I agree Anthony that a lot of people with start the season with similar line ups but that will all change when the transfer windows kick in.
For instance.i think it’s wise to start the season with good Liverpool coverage for their champions league qualifiers.
When they are over that is when a lot of team line ups will change.
I personally can’t wait, this season should be a cracker.
Good luck to everyone.
Where do you see the upsets will happen in the first couple of fixtures?
Rooney – Might be a dark horse IF fit enough for Everton first team striker. He has the possibility to score well with extra Europa League Qualification games but it is a big IF. What’s his selection percentage at the moment?
Also I’m tempted to have Pogba instead of De Bruyne due to ManU starting fixtures. Pogba and Lukaku look very strong together. Thoughts?
I can’t really see any upsets at the start of the season. Everyone will want to get off to a good start so it’s fairly hard to predict. Rooney is currently at around 20% selected but for me he’s not an option. Lukaku and Kane are must haves and I think Aguero, Jesus, Morata, Lacazette and Firmino would all be better options over Rooney. I’m sure Pogba will score well as Man Utd have a good start but I like to try and spread my risk by having coverage from all of the top teams in my attacking 6. At the moment I’ve got Liverpool/Man City/Liverpool/Man Utd/Spurs/Arsenal – doubling up on Liverpool makes sense for the Champions League qualifiers and I’m then likely to move for a Chelsea player to get good coverage of the top 6 teams. I aim to have the highest scoring player from each of these teams.
Kane lukaku and sergio
Rather pay extra couple of mill on sergio than lac and morata cos he’s proven he’ll be a regular nailed on….300 pt cert
If he bags a hatrick at brighton first day i am playing catch up already
I like pogba he’s a pts machine however does not score enough goals for me i would have de bruyne or mane all day long…
The way rooney played last night i would not hold out much hope
I’d always go for 3 big nailed on hitters up top….platform to my side….get 900 pts plus on the board and calculate team from there only move them out via long suspension or long term injury which is what i done with sergio and harry last year
Sergio out lukaku in
Harry out son in
Then replaced back when available again
Not gonna take risks up top let the ‘chancers’ try it
Any thoughts on this team, help would be much appreciated.
Foster
Evans, Ogbonna, Matip, Trippier
KDB, Coutinho, Salah, Alli
Lukaku, Kane
I’ve gone very cheap on the defence, gone with two west brom players due to fairly easy opening fixtures. Gone with three liverpool players for extra fixtures and four in midfield, what are your thoughts on this.
Thanks
Made some changes….
Pickford
Baines, Matip, Ogbonna, Davies
Coutinho, Salah, Alli
Kane, Lukaku, Lacazette
Thoughts?!!
Decent team, not too different to where I am with mine. I went for De Bruyne over Alli purely because I wanted a bit of Man City representation in the attacking 6. Alli is a popular choice with other managers though so that’s a good thing to have him in. Defence is fairly similar as well – I’m likely to go for Matip instead of Clyne due to injury for the latter. I’ve personally favoured Valencia and Soares over Davies and Baines – purely as I think Man Utd will be strong at the back and Southampton have a fairly easy start.
Looking forward to your next articles, some tough decisions to make with teams
Coutinho playing deeper this year, would mane be a better option, hes looked sharp in pre season
Yeah I watched Liverpool last night and Mane did look good. Hopefully Coutinho will go to Barcelona and it would make it an easy decision to go for Mane instead.
The consensus is very likely 3 from those options, whch if works out to be the case, then there’s going to be many many teams the same.
It’s the “brave man” that goes for other options. It’s that bravery that could prove fruitful & get you a lead in the game! ?
There’s got to be someone that comes through & surprises people, ( A cheaper option. ) it’s just which one will it be ! ??
Liverpool are having a great pre-season, especially Salah, he’s a must in my starting line up.
His value could go up very quickly.
It would certainly be brave to overlook Lukaku or Kane considering how many other managers have chosen them. My tactics tend to shy away from bravery – I like to go with proven point scorers from the top teams. It worked well last year. Taking a risk on a cheap striker no one else has picked could be a very risky move indeed. After all if you looked through the highest scoring strikers from last season they were all generally from the top clubs and who you would have expected to be there from the start of the season.
Also I think it’s wide open this season already – there are so many good options up front that I don’t think most teams will look the same. I think this year we will see the most variations of strikers we’ve ever had. Last year most managers went for Kane, Ibrahimovic, Aguero or Sanchez – and not many others beyond that. This year we’ve got Kane, Lukaku, Sanchez, Aguero, Lacazette, Jesus and Morata to choose from – I personally wouldn’t look past this list. It’s hard enough to choose 3 from this 7 without looking further afield.
Who are the front three you have gone for
Currently fixed on Kane, Lukaku and Lacazette. Not overly happy with Lacazette but at 5m he’s a bargain. I’d rather have Aguero but the team wouldn’t be very balanced.
Isn’t Soares struggling to make the start of season, he hasn’t featured in Southamptons past couple of friendly games?
He’s just played in their latest friendly. But yes I agree he could still be a doubt for the start of the season. I’ve taken a few days away from looking at my team but I’ll be reviewing over the next couple of days with an updated team.
When will you be assessing your team again? Clyne is injured and Soares yet to play any pre season because of an extended break because of Portugal duties. Southampton have their last friendly today when he is likely to feature, but not confident he will be match fit for Swansea next week
Yeah I’d noticed he has just played but with only one pre season friendly I agree he may not be match fit for next weekend. I’ve been away for a few days – I’ll be updating my team over the next couple of days as Clyne also needs to come out.
What about Sanchez?
Not currently considering him, I know he will probably score well over the season but he’s not featured today and had an extended break over the summer. He’s also got a very high starting price, in my opinion there are better options to start with.
When is your updated team post?!
Just updated it now