FanDuel - Gameweek 1

The new Premier League season is upon us. The likes of Jose Mourinho and Pep Guardiola are busy preparing themselves for important games, but Fantasy Football managers up and down the country are also frantically assessing their teams ahead of the first weekend's action.

Ahead of kickoff, The Football Republic have partnered with FanDuel for an exciting new fantasy football tournament.

If you want to prove you’re a managerial magician and take on OUR team, join The Football Republic Challenge before the action gets underway on Saturday. It costs just £1 to enter and pick your lineup, with money prizes up for grabs.

In FanDuel, you can change your entire starting 11 every single weekend and there are weekly cash prizes to be won if your Ranieri-esque tinkering sees you climb to the top of the league each weekend!

You have £100 million to splash on your side – so spend wisely, these guys could be earning you real cash by the end of the week! So who should you be looking at selecting for this weekend's action?

Gameweek 1 Player Tips

John Stones - £5.6m

One of the key features of FanDuel's unique scoring system is the fact that only goalkeepers receive points for clean sheets, defenders do not. So although you'll want to pick defensively solid players, you won't need to worry about how many goals they conceed each weekend. 

Where does that leave us then? Well, to be successful, you need to find defensive players who can rack up points for key actions such as clearances, blocks, interceptions and successful tackles. Obviously finding a defender that can offer a goal threat is a huge boost, but another key factor will be their passing rate. Players get 0.25 points for every five successful passes in FanDuel, so John Stones should be a great option for the opening weekend's action. He is set to make his City debut following his big-money move to join Pep Guardiola. Only three defenders had a better pass completion rate than Stones last season and he looks set for a strong start to his City career as Sunderland visit on Saturday.

N'Golo Kante - £10.8m

Most fantasy games ignore the contributions of holding midfielders and instead reward the 'glamour' positions further up the field with huge points. That's not the case in FanDuel. With points being issued for tackles, interceptions and successful passes, deep-lying midfield players are suddenly a much more attractive option.

N'Golo Kante is expected to make his Chelsea debut on Monday night and when you consider he made more successful tackles and interceptions than any player in last term’s top-flight, he has to be a shoe-in this weekend. 

Sergio Aguero - £14m

Aguero is the joint-most expensive player in FanDuel this weekend (along with teammate Kevin De Bruyne) but those who are willing to outlay £14m on the Manchester City star are unlikely to be let down. The Argentine has been in good form during preseason and should benefit greatly from FanDuel's attacking scoring system. With 15 points awarded for a goal and 5 for a shot on target, Aguero is expected to rack up his score when Sunderland visit The Etihad on Saturday.

Join our FanDuel league!

You must be over 18 to play. Simply create an account at FanDuel.co.uk/thefootballrepublic and join our league. Don’t forget to enter the promo code: REPUBLIC when you set your account up – and FanDuel will refund your first paid entry fee, up to £10, as free entry credit if you don’t win cash. New users only. FanDuel T&C’s will apply so check them out.

Good luck!