England’s heroics. A fantastic World Cup. Transfer rumours. Pre-season friendlies. Forget them all because this weekend the Premier League is back! And, as per usual, here at FantasyBet we’ll have fantasy competitions running throughout the season where you can win big – including our monster £100,000 season-long game!

The Bookies’ Advantage article, where we analyse the clean sheet and anytime goalscorer odds from bookmakers across the internet to help you with your squad selection, transfer and captaincy decisions every gameweek, also returns as one of your key fantasy aides.

After experimenting with a few selection criteria changes over the summer, we’ll be sticking to our tried and tested method of a 3-4-3 formation, prioritising the starting XI, and selecting our captain as the player with the highest implied chance of scoring from our strikers and midfielders.

So without further ado…

Clean sheet odds

Team Best clean sheet odds Implied chance of a clean sheet Man Utd 1.96 51% Liverpool 1.99 50% Chelsea 2.15 47% Southampton 2.2 45% Bournemouth 2.59 39% Tottenham 2.7 37% Watford 2.7 37% Wolves 2.75 36% Fulham 3.15 32% Everton 3.4 29% Brighton 3.5 29% Man City 3.7 27% Crystal Palace 3.8 26% Cardiff 4.2 24% Newcastle 4.25 24% Burnley 4.35 23% Huddersfield 5.7 18% Arsenal 5.8 17% Leicester 6.3 16% West Ham 12 8% CAN YOU SET UP A CASH WINNING TEAM? 💰 COMPETE FOR £100,000 WITH YOUR FANTASY TEAM

⚽ ENTER OUR MOST REWARDING FANTASY TOURNAMENT NOW Known for their defensive solidity under Jose Mourinho, it is no surprise to see Manchester United top the bookies’ defensive rankings with a 51% chance of keeping a clean sheet when they host Leicester on Friday night. Following a shambolic pre-season and a number of injuries in defence, last season’s top-scoring FPL goalkeeper David de Gea takes his place between the sticks for our squad as the most secure route into the United back line. Having sold Riyad Mahrez over the summer, and with Jamie Vardy still not ready to start after his exertions at the World Cup, the Foxes could be lacking in attack, boosting the Red Devils’ shutout prospects.

United’s fierce rivals Liverpool (50%) rank second prior to their Anfield clash with West Ham on Sunday. The signing of Virgil van Dijk really helped the Reds’ shore up at the back last term, and with the arrival of Alisson now offering a safe pair of hands in goal, Jurgen Klopp’s defence should improve further still. However, they’ll have to be at their resolute best against Mauricio Pellegrini’s new look West Ham attack on Sunday, with Marko Arnautovic particularly dangerous over the course of pre-season, so we plump for Andrew Robertson, who’s attacking qualities saw him score once and assist a further five times in the Premier League last season.

Chelsea (47%) and Southampton (45%) complete the top 4 defences most likely to register clean sheets in Gameweek 1. The Blues start Maurizio Sarri’s first league campaign on English soil away to Huddersfield, who were the joint-lowest home scorers (along with Burnley) in the top flight last season, scoring just 16 times in 19 games in front of their own fans. Speaking of Burnley, they visit St Mary’s on Sunday afternoon, having made the tiring trip to Turkey on Thursday evening for their Europa League third round first leg qualifier. David Luiz and Jan Bednarek offer the best value routes into their respective defences and make our starting XI as a result.

On the bench, Ben Hamer (18%) is the only £4.0m priced keeper who may have a chance of featuring, although it is highly unlikely that we will require his services anyway. Aaron Wan-Bissaka (26%) and Lee Peltier (24%), of Crystal Palace and Cardiff respectively, offer fantasy managers a pair of genuine bargain £4.0m defenders who are likely to be first choice for their sides, at least at the start of the season.

Goalscorer odds

Player Best anytime goalscorer odds Implied chance of scoring Mohamed Salah 1.62 62% Sergio Aguero 2.08 48% Roberto Firmino 2.15 47% Harry Kane 2.18 46% Romelu Lukaku 2.2 45% Charlie Austin 2.38 42% Alvaro Morata 2.4 42% Gabriel Jesus 2.5 40% Eden Hazard 2.55 39% Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang 2.55 39% Aleksandar Mitrovic 2.6 38% Sadio Mane 2.6 38% Alexis Sanchez 2.7 37% Callum Wilson 2.7 37% Manolo Gabbiadini 2.75 36% Fernando Llorente 3.05 33% Marcus Rashford 3.1 32% Joshua King 3.15 32% Raul Jimenez 3.15 32% Alexandre Lacazette 3.15 32% Naby Keita 3.3 30% Diogo Jota 3.35 30% Heung-Min Son 3.4 29% Willian 3.5 29% Troy Deeney 3.5 29% Cenk Tosun 3.5 29% Wilfried Zaha 3.55 28% Glenn Murray 3.6 28% Christian Benteke 3.65 27% Andre Gray 3.65 27% Chris Wood 3.65 27% Steve Mounie 3.75 27% Helder Costa 3.75 27% Ryan Sessegnon 3.8 26% Bernardo Silva 3.9 26% Riyad Mahrez 3.9 26% Jose Salomon Rondon 4 25% Kenneth Zohore 4 25% Mohamed Elyounoussi 4 25% Andre Schurrle 4.1 24% Pedro 4.2 24% Jamie Vardy 4.3 23% Laurent Depoitre 4.33 23% Paul Pogba 4.5 22% Bobby Reid 4.5 22% Alireza Jahanbakhsh 4.5 22% Garcia Perez Ayoze 4.6 22% Christian Eriksen 4.7 21% Ashley Barnes 4.7 21% Marko Arnautovic 4.75 21% Luka Milivojevic 5 20% Will Hughes 5 20% Gerard Deulofeu 5 20% Pascal Gross 5 20% Richarlison 5 20% Gylfi Sigurdsson 5.25 19% Theo Walcott 5.25 19% Kelechi Iheanacho 5.5 18% Kenedy 5.5 18% Andros Townsend 5.5 18% Henrikh Mkhitaryan 5.5 18% Ryan Fraser 6 17% David Hoilett 6 17% Tom Cairney 6 17% Anthony Knockaert 6.1 16% Stuart Armstrong 6.1 16% Ruben Neves 6.5 15% Alex Pritchard 6.75 15% Mesut Ozil 6.75 15% James Maddison 7 14% Matt Ritchie 7 14% Jordon Ibe 7 14% Felipe Anderson 7 14% Joe Ralls 7.5 13% Aaron Mooy 7.5 13% Andriy Yarmolenko 7.5 13% Johann Berg Gudmundsson 11.5 9% Aaron Lennon 11.5 9% Marc Albrighton 15 7% Jack Wilshere 17 6%

Golden Boot winner Mo Salah ranks highest in the bookmakers’ attacking estimations with a 62% chance of scoring at home to West Ham on Sunday. Having scored 32 times last season, and provided 12 assists, it was no surprise to see the effervescent Egyptian re-priced as FPL’s most expensive player at £13.0m, but with an opening game against the poorest away defence (42 conceded in 19 matches) from the 2017/18 campaign, hopes are understandably high that he’ll hit the ground running this term. The Liverpool talisman dons our captain’s armband for Gameweek 1.

Sergio Aguero (48%), on the back of his Community Shield brace, is the striker most likely to score this weekend according to the odds compilers. A trip to The Emirates to face Arsenal isn’t the most obliging of openers, but the Argentine has consistently proven that he can score, and score big, against any side in the Premier League, home or away.

Charlie Austin and Alvaro Morata (both 42%) complete our strike force. The pair look to have secured the striking positions at St Mary’s and Stamford Bridge respectively, given their pre-season prominence. Burnley’s goalkeeping issues heighten Austin’s predatory appeal, whilst Huddersfield have underwhelmed in the transfer market this summer and are expected to endure a tough second season in the Premier League – The Terriers are second favourites to be relegated, with only Cardiff shorter odds – which could see Sarri, and Morata, get off to the perfect start.

The bookies also fancy the chances of Roberto Firmino, Harry Kane and Romelu Lukaku, but we overlook the heavy-hitting trio due to the likelihood of reduced gametime following their World Cup exploits. Of the three, Firmino is likeliest to start, but we still deem him a significant risk in terms of being subbed off early.

Back in midfield, the exclusion of Firmino from our squad allows us to select Sadio Mane (38%) as our third Liverpool asset. The Senegalese flyer has looked extremely sharp in pre-season, with 2 goals and an assist from 4 appearances. He forms a potentially deadly double-up with Salah for our squad.

A pair of Premier League newcomers complete our starting XI: Wolves’ Diogo Jota (30%) and Ryan Sessegnon (26%) of Fulham. After scoring 17 and 15 goals in The Championship respectively, both men are being tipped to successfully make the step up to the top flight this year, and could certainly provide value as third or fourth midfielders at a price of £6.5m, especially as they play for teams who prioritise attacking football.

Completing our squad and taking the first spot on our subs bench is Huddersfield’s Alex Pritchard (15%), who showed some promise in limited game-time last season and is expected to play a more prominent role in the number 10 position for the Terriers this term – he is one to watch in the £5.0m bracket (along with Tom Cairney, Joe Ralls and Helder Costa).

The bookies also rate Chelsea duo Eden Hazard and Willian, Liverpool new boy Naby Keita, big hitters Alexis Sanchez and Heung-Min Son, and the aforementioned Helder Costa, but we forgo the services of the sextet due to budget restrictions, team selection constraints or reduced starting security.

Bookies Dream Team

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Good luck with your fantasy teams this weekend!

May the odds be with you 🙏

Daniel Victory is a Fantasy football and anytime goalscorer betting enthusiast. Enjoys SSS – statistics, strategizing and spreadsheets. Follow his great tips on Twitter.

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