The Scout looks at players with favourable early fixtures for Fantasy Premier League managers to consider in their squads.
Patrick van Aanholt (CRY) £5.5m
After ending 2017/18 with a burst of points, the Crystal Palace left-back is poised to become an early Fantasy favourite.
The fixture list has given Van Aanholt the platform to carry his end-of-season form into 2018/19.
Over the first eight matches he will face only one of the teams who finished in the top nine last season.
That is in Gameweek 2 when Liverpool travel to Selhurst Park.
Palace's first eight matches
| GW | Opponent | Venue |
|---|---|---|
| 1 | Fulham | A |
| 2 | Liverpool | H |
| 3 | Watford | A |
| 4 | Southampton | H |
| 5 | Huddersfield | A |
| 6 | Newcastle | H |
| 7 | AFC Bournemouth | A |
| 8 | Wolves | H |
Goalscoring finale
Van Aanholt ended last season in tremendous form.
He scored a goal in each of the final three Gameweeks.
Indeed, all five of his goals for the season came from Gameweek 29 onwards.
They did not come by chance either. During that period he was the best FPL defender for strikes on goal.
His eight shots on target were more than any other player in his position, while only Harry Maguire produced more shots overall, by 13 to 15.
Worth the outlay
Crystal Palace improved defensively once Roy Hodgson was appointed manager from Gameweek 5.
Only the teams who finished in the top seven produced more clean sheets than Palace's nine from that point.
Van Aanholt is likely to be the most expensive Eagles defender and could demand a fee of £5.5m.
But with at least five goals in each of the last three campaigns, the Dutchman’s potential to provide double-figure scores over the opening Gameweeks can justify that outlay.
Also in this series
Part 1: FPL early ones to watch: Begovic
Part 2: FPL early ones to watch: Mee
Part 3: FPL early ones to watch: Coleman
Part 5: FPL early ones to watch: Otamendi
Part 6: FPL early ones to watch: Sane
Part 7: FPL early ones to watch: Hazard
Part 8: FPL early ones to watch: Gudmundsson
Part 9: FPL early ones to watch: Sigurdsson
Part 10: FPL early ones to watch: Zaha
Part 11: FPL early ones to watch: Firmino
Part 12: FPL early ones to watch: King