Fantasy Premier League

FPL experts' teams: Fixtures key to Antonio appeal

7 Aug 2021

Fantasy expert Utkarsh Dalmia believes the West Ham forward can thrive over the opening Gameweeks

The Scout's panel of experts reveal who they currently plan to pick in their 2021/22 Fantasy Premier League starting teams.

Utkarsh Dalmia (@zophar666)

With form difficult to assess ahead of a new campaign, the leading Fantasy managers often focus on selecting players from teams with the best opening fixtures for their Gameweek 1 squads.

That is the case for Utkarsh Dalmia, who is backing Michail Antonio (£7.5m) to make a flying start for West Ham United.

"When fit he was lethal in front of goal," says Dalmia. "The Hammers have a great run of opening fixtures."

Dalmia is also placing his faith in Ollie Watkins (£7.5m), with all of Aston Villa's first three matches scoring only two in the Fixture Difficulty Ratings (FDR).

"With the signing of [Emiliano] Buendia, the supply to the striker should improve a lot, and they play two of the promoted teams in the first three matches," Dalmia adds.

The only player from the promoted teams in Dalmia's team is Watford star Ismaila Sarr (£6.0m), who produced five goals and seven assists over 28 appearances in 2019/20 Fantasy.

"I usually avoid promoted players at the start, but I think Sarr is a bit proven after what we saw from him in 2019/20 and he had a strong finish to the Championship last season under the new manager in a 4-3-3 system," he says.