FPL is back for the 2025/26 season! I've entered my team and I'm excited to share it with you.
This will be an FPL season like no other before; it's shaping up to be the funnest season ever.
The Focal mini-league is live, the code is: ddqiou
Auto-join: https://fantasy.premierleague.com/leagues/auto-join/ddqiou
Anyway, let's run you through my FPL team.
🧤 Goalkeeper
Let's start in goal. Some of you will know I've got a soft spot for this man, but for good reason in my eyes: David Raya. He's 5.5m again, so no price change. An opening fixture of Man Utd away could be unpredictable with a more settled Amorim side and some great signings too. Last season, Arsenal was just ahead as the best defensive for expected goals conceded, though they had one fewer clean sheet than Liverpool overall. 364 shots conceded was fewest, as was 34 goals conceded, 7 fewer than Liverpool.
🛡️ Defence
So, in defence, it's a double-up! The back four is Gvardiol, Wan-Bissaka, and Gabriel. Gabriel is the biggest goal threat in the league off set pieces in my opinion, and there's potential for CBs to benefit massively from the changes this season, with defensive recoveries and BPS improvements. I was half expecting a price rise to 6.5m, so I'm pleasantly surprised by 6m.
Elevenify produced a really nice graphic I came across with the clean sheet probabilities for the opening 6 gameweeks, which is a solid window to plan for, and over that run Arsenal are top, hence the double-up, despite some potentially tricky fixtures.
Gvardiol is City's best defender, so he feels nailed for 6m, and an important skill in FPL is remaining flexible and being open to changing your views on players and teams. City's defence was woeful last season at times, but they've made a bunch of signings, most notably Rodri is back. Liverpool and Man City are practically joint on the projected clean sheets over the first 6. van Dijk has had a surprising price drop to 6m, who also looks fantastic, and I'm not ruling him out.
Lastly, Wan-Bissaka, who served me unbelievably well last season. I picked him up for 4.5m when he was playing wingback, and he hauled a couple of times thanks to assists. I'd love to see him playing an advanced role again in pre-season. By the way, I do a series tracking every single pre-season match, result, tactics, etc., with info you won't find anywhere else. Several updates to come over pre-season before we're underway.