The Players to Buy series is BACK. If you're new around here every Monday we run through the best players to buy for next gameweek in these articles.

For this one we're going to look at the best players for the opening 5 gameweeks, so let's start with a goalkeepers discussion.

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🧤 Goalkeepers

• So let's get in to it with the keepers. The table is Raya, Donnarumma, Lammens, Alisson, Kelleher, Pickford, Kinsky and Trafford.

• So immediate observations are Raya unsurprisingly the top keeper for the opening 5, then it's tighter beyond that. Donnarumma prevented 5.8 xG last season, top in the league. xG prevented is xGOT minus actual goals conceded, to give an indication of goalkeeping quality. Lammens was second best in the league with 4.4 so I like him a lot especially given Man Utd have the best two opening fixtures by a mile.

• Another observation - Kinsky the only 4.5m to make the table which suggests he's fantastic value. The expectation is Spurs will be a lot better than last season, they looked so much better after De Zerbi's arrival and have spent big this summer to bolster the squad, with more business expected before the window closes.

• Lammens with 18.3 projected points is about the same as Donnarumma and Alisson so that's somewhere you can shave 0.5m off your team, or even drop down to Kinsky and save 1 million.

• In the second half of last season Arsenal's 14.9 xGC was comfortably top, Brighton leap off the page here though - second best in the league with 21 expected goals conceded. So Verbruggen also worth considering for 4.5m and of course you could even run with the pair on a GW1 bench boost.

🛡️ Defenders

• At the top it's of course Gabriel, 209 points, 8 goal involvements, 277 defensive contributions and all that in just 30 starts.

• Arsenal were dominant against Man City who fielded a very strong team, 3 - 0 and a clean sheet. White was the only one who actually hit defcon that game. Anyway is he worth it?

• It's very difficult to have Haaland, Bruno and Gabriel whilst retaining good team balance. If you don't have either of the premiums then Gabriel makes sense to include, otherwise it's 35.5m of your 100m budget on just 3 picks!

• There are a few 5.5m options but possibly come with compromises - Calafiori, Mosquera, White. Calafiori has Hincapie for competition. He was asked about it having him for competition after the game and said:

"I don’t see it as a battle. He’s one of my best friends, and we’re very different players. If I was the manager I’d be very happy about the options."

• To play devil's advocate there's a chance he starts 1 in the opening 5. But Calafiori is so attacking, the haul potential is there and they've got the best GW1 clean sheet odds by a distance. Mosquera is safer as it stands with no competition, but Arsenal reportedly in the market for a CB so he too may become a problem later. Same applies to White with Timber supposedly back in a few weeks. All 3 are valid picks! You can of course save yourself a headache with Raya but he's .5m and lower ceiling than the defenders.

• Tarkowski is going under the radar, earned himself 18 extra points from defcons last year and finished on 170 points, and their opening 5 aren't too bad. Palace home, Bournemouth away, Man Utd home, Spurs away, Ipswich home.

• Maguire is the cheapest on the table at 5m, started 15 out of a possible 17 under Carrick, one suspension in there. He's also played in 5 of their 6 pre-season games so Carrick seems to really like him, we don't know exactly when De Ligt is back yet either so he makes a lot of sense for 5m, having also scored in pre-season off a Bruno corner. But Shaw is a nice cheap route in to the defence for 4.5m albeit very low ceiling. The Man City defence is an interesting one, you've got Gvardiol, Guehi, Ruben and Khusanov for 2 CB spots. Guehi was benched in the community shield, Khusanov played right back. Are you running with any City defenders? If Gvardiol is nailed he'll be great for 5.5m but I'll wait and see myself.

• As a GW1 special we're going to split defenders and midfielders up by looking the players a notch below, so it's not just a table of expensive players. So here's the defenders table 4.5m and under.

• No 4m defenders here suggesting they're not going to be good to start regularly, but Ipswich defenders can work in GW1 fine home to Sunderland, Coventry defenders GW2 home to Hull.

• Rodon is top, or joint top with Chadi Riad.

• Leeds have made some incredible reinforcements, Muharemovic looks fantastic throughout pre-season, Trafford is a huge upgrade on Perri. Van Den Berg is out for a couple of months so Ajer for 4.5m could be a steal, good defcon numbers as well and his CB partner Collins is a whole 1m more.

• The rest of the table is Kadioglu, Shaw, Bogle, Konsa and Kayode. None are particularly exciting but these are all valid GW1 picks, just don't expect too much. They're 4.5m for a reason. Rodon my favourite on the table, though if you have a third Man Utd slot available Shaw makes sense for those opening 2.

⚽ Midfielders

• Bruno is on 29.6 projected points on FPL Review for the opening 5, head and shoulders above any other mid here. If you have Bruno and Haaland who are you captaining? The default answer earlier in pre-season was Haaland but I think it's a close one now, we'll compare Haaland's projections in a sec. He's had no pre-season, got 50 or so mins in the Community Shield. Though Bournemouth home is a great fixture.

• So it's Szobo second, let's talk about him. The appeal is he's got corners, free kicks, a chance of being on pens even, or at worst on pens when Isak goes off early.

• In pre-season he's been playing in the pivot next to Gravenberch to accommodate Wirtz in the 10, which did not work well at all in their final friendly, their midfield was getting played through too easily, Szobo doesn't suit such a deep role and this is a tricky one for Iraola. There's some compromises coming from Wirtz, this is enough to put me off Wirtz initially. Don't forget how much Iraola loved to sub off Evanilson and Kroupi early as well. Wirtz does have a lot of potential though.

• Semenyo registered 5 assists in pre-season, playing his old team home GW1 - there's a lot to like for 8.5m, and of course Mbeumo as well for .5m cheaper, he'll play striker vs Hull in GW1 which is hard to resist. Has banged in a few in pre-season himself. I'm backing Gibbs-White to have another big season, Glasner is a really good appointment.

• If Ndiaye commits to Everton for another year he stands out here for 6m, the cheapest on the table by far and FPL is all about getting the most points per million which is a box he ticks. On that note let's apply the same filter and look at budget mids, so we'll go 6m and under and filter Ndiaye out since we already have his data. 21.2 projected points for the opening 5.

• Le Fee comes out on top with 18.8. Several routes to points with him, he's an important cog in Sunderland's midfield. Schade just behind worth considering, 2 goals 2 assists in Brentford's final pre-season game. Teams often line up with their first choice 11 in their last pre-season game and he started, though with Anthony for competition there could be some early subs, he's an explosive player though. If you catch him at the right time you're laughing, he can also be one of those that scores 1 goal in 7 and no assists and ends up a bad purchase.

• Gross with corners, free kicks, pens is also looking like top value. Gomez at the bottom as well the only 5m mid here. Minteh is injured for months, Mitoma still working his way back so he's set for pretty good minutes. The only thing against Brighton is they play this Thursday in Europa, then again next week on Thursday so it's a hectic schedule off the bat.

• Worth mentioning Gross and Schade are only .2 and .3 projected points behind Le Fee and it all comes down to expected minutes, Schade could come off at 60 if Brentford are struggling to have an impact, Le Fee won't. Sangare is going to be a reliable source of defcon this season, he brings something different to the other names on the table, will get the odd goal involvement but he's all about defcons.

• Worth touch on Anderson as well for 6.5m who is in the same boat, will get lots of defcons and the occasional goal or assist. Tzolis and Odegaard are worth highlighting as well as two final names. Two assists from Tzolis in the Community Shield, loads of assists in pre-season, only Joao Pedro has had more goal involvements. And Odegaard had a very good World Cup, with lots of goals and assists. He's been unfortunate with injuries the last couple years, don't forget the year before 186 points, the year before the 212. He was absolutely outstanding vs Man City, scored a well taken goal, ran the game and I wonder if Bruno G and Rice will allow him to play a little more advanced.

🎯 Forwards

• Haaland top of the GW1 table with 6.1 projected points. Bruno was on 6.7 so that is actually a noteworth gap between the two. If two players are say .2 or .3 apart I'll be comfortable going against it but when you're talking .6 is significant. As it stands my captain armband is on Bruno. Need to weigh that one up more before committing to a final team!

• Isak is second on the table for the opening 5 gameweeks, there's no denying the fixtures are very good, Newcastle have lost the core of their team, they've got Forest at Anfield after that, then Ipswich, then Fulham. It seems likely he'll get early subs, given Ekitike is out for the rest of the year - that's one consideration. It might not matter though, if he can get back to his best he'll do the damage inside 70 minutes plenty of times before coming off. 9m strikes me as quite steep though with everything in mind, Liverpool desperately need some attacking reinforcements.

• Calvert-Lewin and Igor Jesus are looking like the two stand out 6m forwards. I've seen plenty of drafts with those two and Haaland which has potential. He might feel it but Joao Pedro is not essential, as long as you have a way to get him in GW4 for Hull home which is a fixture you probably do not want to miss out on.

• Brobbey is on 16.6 points for the opening 5 so it's not enough to make the table, but he starts with a strong fixture against Ipswich of course. Despite Welbeck leaving Georginio is still an avoid for me, his minutes will likely still be ropey. Barry could be set for a big season, he's growing in confidence and has looked good in pre-season with a few goals. Only 5.5m with Palace home.

• Last ones to mention is a couple of 4.5's. Walle Egeli should start in GW1 for Ipswich but they have just signed Enciso so it could be as soon as GW2 he's benched. Destan might get some minutes off the bench for Hull as well but none are starters. Defence is the only position where we have nailed on players at the base price. No 4m keepers, no 4.5m mids or forwards. Whereas with the defenders for 4m you've got O'Shea, Davis, Diop, Thomas, Van Ewijk and so on. I did an article earlier in pre-season on the best budget picks.

⭐ Team of the Week

Rounding off Team of the Week using these projected points. What's the best team for GW1 in isolation?

• 🧤 GK: Lammens

• 🛡️ DEF: Calafiori, Gabriel, Maguire, Mosquera

• ⚽ MID: Bruno (C), Le Fee, Ndiaye, Szobo, Wirtz

• 🎯 FWD: Haaland

The ultra aggressive GW1 team and the optimal team, triple Arsenal defence, double Man Utd defence, double Liverpool attack. You'll either by Top 100k by GW2 or 5 million. Not that either rank matters after 1 gameweek, the ranks are so volatile the opening gameweeks you can explode up or down the ranks quick so don't worry if you start slow, likewise if you get a good start thanks to these articles don't take your eye off the ball!

Thanks for reading!

I'm currently doing an 80% off flash sale on membership. Just go to fpl.page/subscribe to take advantage and see the list of benefits. That's 80p all the way til GW5!