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On the one hand, it’s the most beautiful, wonderful, amazing time of the year: the start of the Premier League season! (Woo-hoo!!!)
On the other hand, though, this feels kind of like a party where you invited all of your best friends and favorite family members, but the only people who actually come are party crashers who you barely know and don’t really like at all: uninvited acquaintances who heard about it through the grapevine, frenemies who happened upon it through devious means, dark sheep and hermits who have their magical, evil ways.
Naturally, for a lot of us (if not all of us), World Cup fatigue has left our fantasy teams made up of Bizarro players in an alternate universe, guys who we never would have selected but for this uniquely strange time. Just as on the pitch, the Premier League teams kind of remind us of what we’re used to seeing, but it’s just not the same at all. Where are we??? What is this!?!?! I recognize everything, I recognize nothing. Bizarro opening Premier League weekend, meet fantasy bizarro team.
Friday
Saturday
- Huddersfield vs Chelsea
- Bournemouth vs Cardiff
- Newcastle vs Tottenham
- Watford vs Brighton
- Fulham vs Crystal Palace
- Wolverhampton vs Everton
Sunday
A handful of questions for you:
- How do you feel about your teams? I hate mine. Do you hate yours? Or do you love yours? If you love yours, I’m impressed. Really. That’s amazing. You are an amazing, beautiful, wondrous person. And I hate you. I’m sorry, I promise, I’m usually not like this. I generally love my team on opening day. But a post-World Cup year where so many players are late to camp and not match-fit? Nope, not possible to feel good about things (at least for me).
- How are you weighing short term vs. long term? Are you resigned to having to use your wildcard early, or are you willing to take a bit of an early points hit with a weaker line-up in order to keep that precious chip in your pocket longer?
- If you are hoping to hold off on using your wildcard chip, just how many -4 penalties are you willing to take in the first several weeks when the World Cup stars flood back into action?
- Which teams have you loaded up on, and which have you avoided?
- What fill-in players are worth using for the short-term, and what absent stars are worth stashing on your bench?
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Let us know your thoughts and be sure to join in the live chat below as the opening weekend of Premier League (and along with it, fantasy) action unfolds!
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