FPL Wrapped - Our Updated Thoughts

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Here are our favourite cheap players to consider for your teams 🔍:

• Andersen (£4.5m), Richards (£4.5m) & Senesi (£4.5m): We have grouped these 3 together as they all have one thing in common - very good chance of defensive contributions. All 3 averaged over 9.0 CBIT per 90 last season, so probably offer you the best chance of those regular additional 2 FPL points. Sadly, all of them have rubbish Gameweek 1 fixtures, so not ideal for those on a bench boost in GW1.

• Dorgu (£4.5m): Whilst Man Utd have poor opening fixtures, if you can rotate him in the right weeks, Dorgu offers a really exciting option. With 0.20xGI per 90 last season, and 2 attacking returns against Bournemouth in their most recent pre-season game, he is definitely one to keep your eye on (try to guess who is writing this section…)

• Baleba (£5.0m): A decent pick at a cheap price with 12.32 CBIRT per 90 last season, and he has an absolute banger in him too!

• Le Fee (£5.0m): Might be the most underrated cheap option as things stand. He will play an advanced 8 role, becoming part of a front two in a 4-4-2 pressing system. On corners, free kicks, and could take penalties too. Great fixtures for Sunderland.

• Anderson (£5.5m): Anderson offers a combination of clean sheet point potential, defensive contribution points, and good fixtures. A lack of attacking threat is evident, but with set pieces he could rack up a few assists. His 12.67 CBIRT per 90 last season shows how good he could be for DEFCON points.

• Malen (£5.5m): Malen has been on fire in pre-season, and managed 0.69xGI per 90 in his limited mins last season. With Asensio and Rashford out of the picture, there is a good chance Malen starts the season on the right wing.

• Tielemans (£6.0m): The opposite of Malen, but Tielemans has a good combination of secure minutes, reasonable creative threat, and solid CBIRT per 90. A steady option at that cheaper price.

Here are some players we think you should potentially avoid in your teams 🔍:

• Gabriel (£6.0m): Having sustained an injury towards the end of the 2024/25 campaign, we are yet to see Gabriel back in the Arsenal official squad with the season just over 2 weeks away. He did play some minutes in a behind closed door friendly at the beginning of pre season but Arteta stated “Everybody is going to be ok apart from big Gabi who is still out and probably Califiori”.

• Solanke (£7.5m): This is more of a short term avoid but Solanke (along with also reasonably owned teammate Udogie) is managing an injury that saw him miss out in their most recent pre season friendly. Solanke’s time at Spurs has not been injury free, missing 10 games last season.

• Frimpong (£6.0m): Next up is Frimpong, one of Liverpool’s new exciting transfers. During pre-season, he has looked very attacking with 2 assists, but this is actually a word of caution. Frimpong has been getting minutes and attacking returns playing RW, often in Salah’s position, rather than at RB. At the start of the season, it is currently very unpredictable if it will be Bradley or Frimpong starting as we do not expect him to take Salah’s place!

• Rice (£6.5m): One of the players that got a lot of attention early on with the addition of the DEFCON points was Rice due to the role he was perceived to have been playing. However, he actually only hit it a total of 9 times last season and these were more frequently in favourable fixtures that Arsenal do not have to start the season. We would prefer selecting someone like Anderson at £5.5m, or Baleba at £5.0m, unless you expect significant attacking returns from Rice.

• Pickford (£5.5m): This actually goes for most Everton defenders as well. Tarkowski is actually only just returning from pre season playing 20 minutes in his first match on Wednesday, whilst Branthwaite has not even travelled with them on the USA tour. On top of this, Everton are notoriously slow starters, picking up just 2 wins and 2 clean sheets in the first 10 matches of the 24/25 campaign and 3 wins and 2 clean sheets in the first 10 games of the 23/24 campaign.

Here are our favourite differentials to consider for your teams 🔍:

• Sarr (£6.5m): The Palace midfielder is only 1.9% owned which is surprisingly low. He can be a really frustrating asset, but will be unbelievable value when he hits form. Only Salah, Palmer, Mbeumo and Bruno had a higher xGI and all had pens.

• Livramento (£5.0m): The Newcastle full-back comes in £0.5m cheaper than Hall and will likely end the season on a similar points tally. The Newcastle defence can be elite when Howe gets them clicking.

• Petrovic (£4.5m): Yes, he has Liverpool in Gameweek 1, but you buy a keeper for the long term without planning to make a transfer there if you can help it, the fixtures get better.

• Semenyo (£7.0m): In a very similar situation to Sarr, Semenyo can be wasteful at times but puts up strong underlying numbers. He managed 125 shots last season, with only Salah and Palmer managing more with 130 and 126, respecitvely.

• Schade (£7.0m): Can he step up with the departure of Mbeumo? Will he be getting more minutes? This one feels more punty but he's proven himself to be very explosive.

• Bruno (£9.0m): Once again, we are very surprised at this man being 8.4% owned, albeit this could be the Gameweek 1 fixture putting people off again. Last season, he would have finished on 193 points with the new defensive contribution points added. Pens, free kicks, corners, the main man.

• Strand Larsen (£6.5m): This price is still very cheap for the Wolves main man, who generally played better when Cunha was out as well. 14 goals 4 assists in 30 starts, they'll be feeding all the chances to him. There could even be a small chance of penalties too?

• Evanilson (£7.0m): Last season, he managed 10 goals and 5 assists in 28 starts. He took a bit of time to settle but now has a full year under his belt and could be on for a much better season. He was injured for a while last season which also didn't help his numbers. One to genuinely consider.

With the very strong rumours that Isak will be joining Liverpool, we have built a combined draft which involves selecting Isak as your Liverpool attacker, in the belief that Liverpool’s goals could be spread a bit more evenly this season with Isak, Ekitike, and Wirtz joining the front line.

Keep in mind that this would require Isak to firstly actually join Liverpool, and secondly to be available to start in GW1 in 15 days. Lots will need to happen, but it’s always fun to speculate. Here is the team…

This draft of course doesn’t include Salah or Haaland, but you have captaincy more than covered with Palmer, Saka, Watkins and Isak. Evanilson is sat on the bench for Gameweek 1, but ready to come in for Le Fee or Anderson from GW2 onwards. Watkins and Rogers continue to return every time they play, and have excellent opening fixtures.

There is a very strong defence with VVD and Murillo expected to get plenty of clean sheets and DEFCON points. Gvardiol is nice as some City cover, but if Gabriel is fit for Gameweek 1, you could pivot quite easily. Andersen and Senesi, as discussed, will be really good for DEFCON points too.

What do you think? Can you go without both Haaland AND Salah, and if Isak does move to Liverpool, can he “cover” Salah?

There is still a lot of movement at the moment in the transfer market. As we discussed, one move such as Isak joining Liverpool could completely change our thinking. We advise that you continue to soak in all information that you can during pre-season, but also leave yourself flexible enough to pivot when that important new information arises.

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