Euro 2020 Fantasy Football offers an exciting opportunity for FPL managers to enjoy this tournament even more. What could be more exciting than researching the starting line-ups of Finland and North Macedonia? Read on to find out more about this game with a specific focus on matchday one.
Euro 2020 Fantasy Football Matchday One Picks
Quick Tips
It is crucial to at least have a plan about your chip strategy before selecting the matchday one squad. As this is a short tournament, there isn’t much scope to come back. Read the rules carefully. Basically, you get unlimited transfers before the start of the knockout round, one wildcard chip and a limitless chip, which is like the free hit chip in FPL but with no price limitations. You can also change players and captains on each day if you want to. In addition, there is a varying number of free transfers available throughout the tournament. During the group stage, you get two free transfers per matchday. So, overall it is important to have at least 14 players who should start for their country.
Goalkeepers
It is very difficult to get a good cheap goalkeeper combination. Finland’s goalkeeper Lukáš Hrádecký is an option to have on the bench. However, will he get any clean sheets? Kasper Schmeichel, Gianluigi Donnarumma, Daniel Bachmann and Rui Patrício seem to be the best options.
Defenders
Denmark, Portugal, Belgium, Austria, Poland and Spain seem to have the best possibilities of keeping a clean sheet. From those teams, you could look at Simon Kjær, Joakim Mæhle, João Cancelo, Jason Denayer, Martin Hinteregger, Jan Bednarek and Pau Torres. Out of those, Bednarek is an injury doubt and there are uncertainties about the Spain v Sweden match due to the Covid breakout in Spain’s camp. So, try to find out the latest updates before deciding.
Other than the ones mentioned above, you could look at Leonardo Spinazzola, Ricardo Rodríguez, Owen Wijndal and Ezgjan Alioski for their attacking potential. If Nuno Mendes starts for Portugal, he could be an explosive option as well.
Midfielders
Plenty of options in various price ranges are available as expected. Christian Eriksen, Domenico Berardi, Lorenzo Insigne, Bernardo Silva, Tomáš Souček, Diogo Jota, Ferran Torres, Piotr Zieliński, Andriy Yarmelenko, Georginio Wijnaldum and Marcel Sabitzer are probably the best options.
As you can see the line-ups for the first match of every matchday, you will know whether Berardi is starting or not. If he does, he would be a wonderful pick at only 6.0 units.
From the premium options, Eriksen seems like a no-brainer against Finland. Portugal have a lot of options so Jota is a slightly risky starter although recent fixtures suggest he should start ahead of João Félix. Bruno Fernandes is also a decent option but is priced quite high.
With one extra point awarded for long-range goals, the temptation is there to go for players who like to shoot from distance. You could consider Marcel Sabitzer, Piotr Zieliński and Andriy Yarmelenko as punts for the first matchday.
It is very tough to find cheap midfielders that offer good attacking potential. David Alaba is possibly the only decent option at 5.5 units.
From Belgium, you could look at Yannick Carrasco and Youri Tielemans. Carrasco has looked lively in recent fixtures although it remains to be seen whether Eden Hazard starts over him.
Strikers
With not many great mid-range options available, you might have to spend big on the strikers. Romelu Lukaku is definitely the one to have as he is in superb form. The only concern is that Belgium will have to play away at Russia.
Not much is required to be said about the great Cristiano Ronaldo. You just have to have him as he might rack up a big score against Hungary.
Memphis Depay and Robert Lewandowski are also great options for matchday one. However, there are slight issues with both of them. Depay is in good form and takes penalties and free-kicks. The Netherlands are a bit unpredictable though and the team overall is not settled. Besides, Ukraine are not easy opponents at all. Lewandowski on the other hand had a sensational season for Bayern Munich. He has never been that prolific for Poland though. In addition, Poland have not impressed in recent fixtures as well.
Other strikers to consider are Harry Kane, Che Adams, Patrick Schik, Marko Arnautović, Martin Braithwaite, Yussuf Poulsen and Ciro Immobile.
Arnautović would have been a great option if he was 100% fit. There is a possibility of him being benched.
As world champions France are playing against Germany in Munich, managers are avoiding players from that match. However, the likes of Kylian Mbappé, Antoine Griezmann and Karim Benzema could still do well. They are all very expensive though.
Euro 2020 Fantasy Football Matchday One Captaincy Picks
As one can change the captain each day, a list of possible captaincy candidates for each day has been given below-
DAY 1 (June 11)
• Immobile, Insigne, Berardi
DAY 2 (June 12)
• Eriksen, Lukaku
DAY 3 (June 13)
• Kane, Depay
DAY 4 (June 14)
• Lewandowski, Ferran Torres
DAY 5 (June 15)
• Ronaldo, Jota, Bruno, Bernardo Silva
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