Thanks, I'm still undecided on a formation, 4-4-2 still worries me with the lack of a proper holding midfielder so I think I'm going to exclude that one for now, all of the formations with 3 or 5 at the back can also go, which only leaves me with a handful of options. Ideally I'd want two up front, but I've used 4-2-3-1 quite extensively and while there isn't two dedicated strikers I do find that the CF and ST complement each other very well and it seems like a very balanced formation on the whole. If you set the team to defensive mentality then it can be incredibly difficult to break down and you can keep the ball for huge amounts of time too, which in my experience leads to the opponent getting frustrated, chasing your ball carriers and leaving huge gaps in their formation for you to exploit.
My only issue with attempting to use a 4-2-3-1 with an EPL team is that it virtually excludes the use of the LM's and RM's that the EPL has in abundance, unless you want to play them at CAM with a dark green boot that is.