The kick-off for the 2020/21 Premier League season is imminent, and fantasy football players will be furiously studying the stats to ensure their team is optimised for the new season. As most are aware, a slow start can be detrimental to a team’s chances, and the beginning of the season can always be a little more difficult to predict: Some clubs and players will start slow, then kick into gear, whereas others will start with a bang and then fade away.
And yet, there has been a lot more continuity in terms of games given the rearranged football schedule over the summer. Indeed, it was less than three weeks ago that we saw the conclusion of the Europa League and Champions League competitions. Players shouldn’t be too rusty, and perhaps they’ll even be fresher after a shorter-than-usual summer break. Moreover, the relatively muted transfer window means that there should be a little less disruption than usual in line-ups. In a nutshell, we believe the start of the season might be a bit more predictable than the norm as players pick up from where they left off in late-July.
In light of that, we are going to pick out four strikers for whom we believe a prolific early part of the season awaits.
- Anthony Martial – Manchester United*
Only Bruno Fernandes has been better in a United shirt in 2020, and there is no shame at all for Martial to come second to the brilliant Portuguese. More importantly, however, Martial seems to have settled in nicely as United’s central striker. He scored 10 goals in United’s unbeaten run that saw them secure third place at the end of the season, and he has even caught the notice of France boss Didier Deschamps who called him up for the Nations League games last weekend. According to the latest football betting odds online at 888sport, the Frenchman is a whopping 20/1 to be top scorer next season. And, we think that price will start to look very big as Martial continues his transition into being one of the Premier League’s top strikers.
*United won’t play until Gameweek 2
- Danny Ings – Southampton
It seems like Ings has been around forever, but the Saints marksman has just turned 28 and seems to be at the peak of his powers. More importantly, from a fantasy football perspective, Ings seems to have put all his injury woes behind him after it threatened to derail his career. He played all 38 games for Southampton in the league last season, and was still banging them in (five in six games) as Saints finished the season strongly. Ralph Hassenhuttl seems to play to Ings’ strengths, and there is no reason to believe that Ings can’t get off to a flyer after his 22-goal haul last season. Indeed, Southampton have a relatively gentle to start to the season with games against Palace, West Brom, Burnley and Spurs.
- Gabriel Jesus – Manchester City*
Jesus is an intriguing player. He hasn’t got the plaudits that you’d expect for a player leading the line for Manchester City, yet Pep Guardiola tends to prefer him to Sergio Aguero. Our suspicion, however, is that this could be a breakout season for the Brazilian, one where he shows the rest of the world exactly why Guardiola puts so much faith in him. Game time can be an issue in Guardiola’s team, but Jesus clocked up over 500 minutes more than Aguero last season – and eclipsed the Argentine in terms of combined goals and assists.
*City also start on Gameweek 2
- Kai Havertz – Chelsea
More of a wildcard one here as Havertz is an unknown quality in the Premier League, but there is every reason to believe that he can hit the ground running at Chelsea. He was excellent for a good, but not great, Bayer Leverkusen side, and he can link with and feed of Chelsea’s clever attacking players. Of all starting line ups for the Premier League next season, Chelsea’s seems the most difficult to predict. But they must make room for Havertz, and there is a sense that he might be deployed as a striker rather than an offensive midfielder. He has done that before for Leverkusen, and Lampard might use him instead of Tammy Abraham.
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