"TOIT!" How our FPL squad picked itself (part 2 - strikers!)

Strikers!

• Haaland (Manc, 14) is a natural pick and our captain: (a) away to Wolves that's had a lacklustre pre-season after losing Cunha and Ait-nouri (b) Scoring fine in pre-season (4 goals) (c) rare opportunity to have him as a relative differential despite the positive situation, with majority flocking to Salah/Watkins. Fixtures are fine.
• Joao Pedro (Chelsea, 7.5) is incredibly good risk/reward as a mid-priced striker at a good team (World Club Cup winner that ended the season well) and who may have formed a good partnership with Cole Palmer (!) Fixtures are fine.
• Mateta (Crystal Palace, 7.5) in contrast is logically a weaker proposition since he's the same price as Pedro but from a weaker team and no Palmer as partner. But we pick him simply because he's better than the other options - either cheaper, classier, or better clashes. All in all, he's even fixture-proof given his and Crystal Palace's outsized quality, as shown in his goal against Liverpool at the Community Shield.

Why not these others:

• Watkins (Aston Villa, 9.0) is our most reluctant "no" because we believe any squad that has Haaland (top pick) AND him will impoverish the rest of the squad too much.
• Ekitke (Liverpool, 8.5) is likely to do well but we are avoiding two Liverpool attackers when the fixtures aren't great. (See next article for our Liverpool attacking midfielder pick.)
• Welback (Brighton, 6.5) is really tempting given Brighton's quality and his cheaper price than Pedro/Mateta but their first week opponent Fulham is not a pushover; Welbeck stopped scoring in pre-season after his bright start in the first match (four goals); while Fulham did well in pre-season.
• Fullkrug (West Ham, 6) is interesting given his positive pre-season performance but still too risky as he has yet to proven himself in the main season.
• Marc Guiu (Sunderland, 4.5) is the standard enabler but unclear if he'll start and there's no call for giving up a three-good-strikers arrangement.