Premier League: Team of Round One

The top five teams from last season's Premier League may have each won on the opening day of the new season, but it was players from outside of the those clubs that dominated on the opening weekend of 2018/19 Premier League fantasy action at Superbru.

Here, we'll be beginning a weekly look at the best possible XI you could have picked for the weekend's round of our full fantasy game, though the information is of course also relevant for our daily 5-a-side game that sees players pick up exactly the same number of points. Though the 'ideal teams' presented in these articles may ignore our limit of two players per club at times, other high scoring players will be mentioned and info on the outright highest scorers is something we hope will be interesting and of use to you throughout the new campaign regardless of who they play for.

So, without further ado, here's the Team of Round One which features three Crystal Palace defenders!

Defence

This team could even include another defensive Palace player as goalkeeper Wayne Hennessey equalled the eight-point total managed by Southampton keeper Alex McCarthy. The Eagles put in an impressive away performance at Craven Cottage to defeat newly-promoted Fulham 2-0. As well as managing their clean sheet, Patrick van Aanholt (assist) and Jeffrey Schlupp (scorer) combined for Palace's opening goal while Wan-Bissaka assisted Wilfried Zaha for the second.

This week's highest scoring defender was Benjamin Mendy who given how well City have started their season, looks set to be a very strong pick this season. The Frenchman missed out on much of last season with injury but has already bagged two assists this time out in his opening game against Arsenal. That feat was matched by Jose Holebas for Watford in a Hornets win over Brighton that means we have a backline complete with players that picked up 2-0 victories.

Midfield

Roberto Pereyra was the man Jose Holebas assisted on both occasions as the former Juventus midfielder starred in that Watford victory to be the highest scoring player in Day 2 of our 5-a-side game. Pereyra is another player that may be worth looking at for the long-term this season if he stays fit as attacking midfielders playing in a team that look short of goals up front (as is the case with Watford) are always worth keeping in mind. Joining Pereyra in midfield is the more popular Paul Pogba (picked by 15% of brus) who confidently slotted home an early penalty for Manchester United against Leicester City. If Pogba is to be United's regular penalty taker, expect that popularity percentage to rise further!

The high-scoring wide midfield players this week were from the Merseyside clubs as Sadio Mane, Richarlison and Mo Salah were all within the top six midfielders you could have picked for Round One. The ability each of those players possess is well-known and Salah (who scored 8 points) remains the most popular player in our game having been picked by 55%. Chelsea's Pedro was the other midfielder to score 8 points and narrowly miss out on a place in this TOTR - though whether or not he retains his starting spot in the Blues XI once Eden Hazard returns to full fitness remains to be seen.

Strikers

With many goals coming from midfielders in this opening round, there weren't too many strikers that would have got you points in this round. Daniel Sturridge (6 pts), Jamie Vardy (6) and Raul Jimenez (7) each found the net but it was Bournemouth's Callum Wilson who picked up the most points as a forward despite missing a penalty against Cardiff. His goal and assist in a game that was relatively comfortable for the Cherries highlighted the difficult season Cardiff are likely to endure this year and picking strikers that are set to face the Bluebirds probably isn't the worst idea if you're unsure of who to pick - especially in our 5-a-side game.

Summary

The average bru managed a total of 48 points in the opening round of our fantasy game and 14, 17 and 22 in the opening three days of 5-a-side. If you're keeping yourself level or above those averages then well done on a strong start to the campaign! An interesting thing to note in this round was the speedy return of many World Cup stars that could well have been brought back into Premier League action in later weeks. With the likes of Pogba, Lukaku, Kane and Eden Hazard all getting minutes under their belts it seems fair to assume they will each be likely to start in Round Two.

Let us know in the comments how you found the opening of each of our fantasy games. This is of course just the beginning of a lengthy fantasy campaign and a very lengthy 5-a-side marathon!