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Our resident experts Luke Williams and Niall Murphy have already released an in-depth Overhaul special video and will be recording every week throughout the season so you get the very best insight and advice.
This week, four-time top 50 finisher Niall reveals his player shortlist and strategy to picking a Sky team during the crucial Overhaul period, as managers look to set themselves up for the rest of the season.
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The sprint is over. Let the marathon begin. If you’re reading this, well done – you’ve made it to the famous Sky Overhaul.
With three weeks of matches now out of the way, we’ve reached a crucial point in the season. Arguably the most important, season-defining decisions now await you. Regardless of your start, we all now have the chance to rip it up and start again.
As you consider who you want in your team, I believe there are a few things every Sky manager should be thinking about right now to set yourself up for success in the long road ahead before the next overhaul in February.
PICK YOUR SKY OVERHAUL TEAM HERE
Plan your captains
The first point is a pretty straightforward one. We’ve been blessed with the TV fixtures all the way out to late October, giving us the chance to set our teams up with the coverage required to navigate the critical single matchdays (without relying too much on our precious transfers).
Looking at the fixtures, Liverpool, Leeds, Everton, Crystal Palace/Brighton and later down the line, Arsenal, all look necessary for those important single matchdays. My view is that the Gunners’ double-header, at home to Palace and Villa in mid-October, is still too far down the line to justify starting with any Arsenal players. Transfers are there to be used and we’ve not yet seen enough from Mikel Arteta’s men to know who the best options might be. That said, those already a few transfers down might consider starting with an Arsenal player to save themselves another move down the line, in which case I’d look at Ben White (7.8) or Emile Smith-Rowe (7.5) who offer solid value/returns potential.
While you might not start with an Arsenal player, you absolutely should be acquiring Everton and Leeds coverage to give yourself a captain for the first of the standalone fixtures. Dominic Calvert-Lewin (10.0) and Patrick Bamford (9.5) are the stand-outs, but alternatives include Demarai Gray (7.8), Jordan Pickford (7.0), Liam Cooper (6.9) and Raphinha (8.3). I prefer the combination of Calvert-Lewin and Raphinha, though concerns about the fallout from the Brazilian’s non-involvement on international duty may sway me towards Gray and Bamford.
Don’t fixate on fixture runs…
… particularly for those ‘set and forget’ players in your defence.
Unlike in the pre-overhaul period, you must remember you are setting your team up for the long haul. Fixating on the teams at the top of the Season Ticker could pay dividends in the short term, but poor fixture runs are always just around the corner. If you’re planning on holding a player throughout the year, whether they have a difficult start or not should have little bearing on their appeal as a season-long pick.
Chelsea and Man City defensive assets are demonstrative of this point. I wouldn’t let their stern run of games in the first few weeks deter you from starting with them, especially as there are no obvious entry routes for either side’s assets as they tend to play on the first matchday of each game week.
Take risks… In moderation
Your appetite for risk will be crucial in determining how you fare. I personally tend to be more risk-averse at this period in the season versus pre-overhaul as we now need to pick players we can confidently depend on to carry us through the bulk of the weeks and months ahead.
That said, we have transfers for a reason, and educated gambles can be the difference between mediocrity and success. Ferran Torres (9.1), Joel Matip (8.4), Andreas Christensen (8.3), Marcos Alonso (7.9), Shane Duffy (6.6), Mohamed Elyounoussi (6.3) and Max Kilman (6.2) all strike me as risky selections for a series of reasons (principally rotation and game time) but I can certainly see the advantages of picking these players as budget-friendly alternatives.
As a rule of thumb, if you have more than two – at a push, three – players you could class as risky choices, you’re probably flying a bit too close to the sun and the chances are that you’ll be dipping into your transfer tally sooner than you’d like to. Of course, not all risks are equal, and it’s about judgement – especially when sacrifices are needed to fit the big hitters up front.
The Overhaul Shortlist
Almost all of these players have featured at some point in my own drafts and I believe they are all viable picks.
I have broken the shortlist into three categories: Premium, Mid-Range and Budget. The key to success in picking your Overhaul team will be finding a balance, to ensure you’re able to carry as many of those premium options (particularly the defenders and forwards) as you can, without sacrificing too much elsewhere. Hopefully, the budget options listed below provide a flavour of the kind of players you could have to enable premium assets throughout the rest of your team.
Goalkeepers:
Premium
- Alisson (7.8)
- Edouard Mendy (7.6)
Mid-range
- Jose Sa (6.7)
- Robert Sanchez (6.5)
Budget
- David Raya (6.3)
Defenders
Premium
- Ruben Dias (10.6)
- Trent Alexander-Arnold (10.5)
- Virgil van Dijk (10.2)
- Joao Cancelo (9.5)
- Cesar Azpilicueta (9.3)
- Raphael Varane (9.2)
- Antonio Rudiger (9.0)
Mid-range
- Joel Matip (8.4)
- Andreas Christensen (8.3)
- Lewis Dunk (8.2)
- Caglar Soyuncu (8.2)
Budget
- Adam Webster (7.0)
- Liam Cooper (6.9)
- Shane Duffy (6.6)
- Max Kilman (6.2)
- Ethan Pinnock (6.1)
Midfielders:
Premium
- Bruno Fernandes (11.8)
- Paul Pogba (9.4)
- Ilkay Gundogan (9.3)
- Ferran Torres (9.1)
- Jack Grealish (9.0)
Mid-range
- Youri Tielemans (8.7)
- Raphinha (8.3)
- Jorginho (8.3)
- Adama Traore (7.9)
- Said Benrahma (7.8)
- Ismaila Sarr (7.8)
- Demarai Gray (7.8)
Budget
- Wilfred Ndidi (7.5)
- Connor Gallagher (7.3)
- Billy Gilmour (6.9)
- Mohamed Elyounoussi (6.3)
Forwards:
Premium
- Harry Kane (12.0)
- Mohamed Salah (11.9)
- Cristiano Ronaldo (11.8)
- Romelu Lukaku (11.3)
Mid-range
- Dominic Calvert-Lewin (10.0)
- Patrick Bamford (9.5)
- Michail Antonio (8.8)
PICK YOUR SKY OVERHAUL TEAM HERE
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