The new Premier League season kicks off on August 14, meaning time is running out to register your fantasy league team so it starts scoring points immediately.
The official competition is on premierleague.com, and to help you select a squad (which can be worth no more than £100 million), I will look at each position and assess the players to move for. First, it's the strikers.
Bargains
At £7.5 million, Javier Hernandez could prove the best value for money out of all the Manchester United strikers. The Mexico ace has been likened to ex-United striker Ole Gunnar Solskjær by teammate Paul Scholes. He appears to have the Midas touch in front of goal and could be money well spent.
Mame Biram Diouf had a good goalscoring record in Norway before Manchester United signed him last summer. He has been loaned out to Blackburn for the season and should see plenty of playing time given the paucity of Sam Allardyce's other options. He is valued at £5.5 million and so is teammate Nikola Kalinic who I believe could also do well. The Croatian did enough last season to suggest that he could become a fine all-round center forward, and expect him to partner Diouf this season.
Birmingham's new 6ft 8in striker Nikola Zigic will surely do well if given the service. He returned to pre-season early after a poor World Cup in order to acclimatize to his new surroundings and looks a snip at £6 million.
Tottenham Hotspur's Roman Pavluychenko looks a bargain at £6 million, and should get games now that he has the trust of manager Harry Redknapp after an impressive second half to last season.
The Usual Suspects
Man Utd's Wayne Rooney saves his best performances for club instead of country, and is almost a guaranteed high points scorer, barring an unforeseen injury. He's pricey at £12 million though.
Robin van Persie was scoring with regularity for Arsenal before getting injured last November. He didn't have a good World Cup, but should be amongst the goals as long as he can avoid the major injury he has a tendency to pick up.
Chelsea's Didier Drogba is £12.5 million, and again likely to be one of the top scorers, but Fernando Torres arguably looks the best value of all the big hitters as he costs £11.5 million and will not have the distraction of Champions League football. Manager Roy Hodgson will surely prioritize the Premier League, meaning Torres will have a lot of playing time as the club looks to get back into the top four.
Carlos Tevez scored 23 Premier League goals last season and looks a good purchase at £10.5 million as he is the club's first choice striker. He has been one of the most popular strikers since the this season's game started earlier in the summer.
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Comments
Vrtnle Real brain power on display. Thanks for that answer!