After a long month of endless tinkering, scouring pre-season results for scraps of intel and filling my phone with hundreds of draft screenshots, the 2022/23 Premier League season finally kicked off on Friday! Getting off to a strong start is of great importance in FPL. You don’t want to feel like you’re playing catch up straight away and it can be seriously demoralising to see all your hard work in pre-season go to waste.

There were a few players in my team that have been there since the first draft (Jesus, Salah, Trent, Saka) but I made some quite big changes at the last minute. I was totally sold on Kane as my premium striker for a long time, but really felt like I’d be missing out on Haaland against Bournemouth in GW2. I didn’t want to book a transfer, so I bit the bullet and got Haaland in for GW1. I was also really impressed with Nunez after the Community Shield and figured that his performance would earn him a start against Fulham. I decided to trust my gut and sacrifice an 8m mid to switch to a 4-3-3 with Nunez, Haaland and Jesus up top.

So how did I do…

GW1 points - 76

Overall Rank - 547,392

Feels Good Man

Haaland over Kane - I was certain that Kane was going to outscore Haaland this week, I was willing to take it on the chin for the benefit of not missing out in GW2. Kane blanking and Haaland scoring a brace is a pretty juicy swing and it obviously feels great to have those 50/50 calls go your way early in the season. You can bet your bottom dollar I’ll still be captaining him against Bournemouth in GW2!

Nunez - Imagine my disappointment when I saw Nunez was starting on the bench. Having him in my GW1 lineup had raised a few eyebrows amongst my peers and I was wondering how I was going to be able to live this one down. Turns out I had nothing to worry about. In a repeat of the Community Shield, he came on in the second half and immediately started making a nuisance of himself in and around the box. Three big chances in 39 minutes! I can’t lie, I feel a bit hard done by that he only scored once.

Feels Bad Man

Saka over Martinelli - I had Martinelli instead of Saka in some of my earlier drafts, using the extra £2m to bolster my defence and keeping some in the bank. I know it’s only the first match, but I can’t help but feel like I ballsed this one up a bit. Martinelli had pretty similar stats as Saka towards the end of last season and, at £2m cheaper, probably should have been an autopick. Thankfully, Guehi took pity on me and helped Saka get a flukey assist, so it wasn’t as bad as it could have been!

Dalot - I’ve been playing FPL long enough to know that you should take pre-season results with a pinch of salt. Unfortunately, every now and then, I’ll get caught up in the hype of some good performances. However, nothing should excuse bringing in a Man Utd defender. Dalot, along with the rest of the team, was absolutely woeful on Sunday. I’ll give him one more week since I want to roll my transfer, but there’s a reasonable chance he’ll be swapped for Saliba if I don’t get priced out by GW3.

No City Defenders - I went into the Sunday games with Cancelo and Ederson being the biggest dangers to my rank. All I wanted was a nice early West Ham goal to keep me in a good spot. Unfortunately for me, West Ham never looked like scoring and I had to watch my rank take a 300k hit at the 60 minute mark. I just count myself lucky that Cancelo didn’t get any attacking returns. With City’s upcoming run of fixtures, I can’t help but think I’m going to have to get one of their defenders in to avoid getting buried in the coming weeks.

Overall, I’m happy with how GW1 went. I can comfortably roll my transfer and attack GW3 with an extra GW worth of information, which can make all the difference!