FPL is live and a bunch of new changes for the 2026/27 season!
Price Changes will be on the official site after GW1
They've also added live rank, league and points officially
Some tweaks to bonus points that will benefit keepers, full backs and attackers
My name Oscar and it's my 16th season, my best rank is 1st in the world during the 21/22 season, last 3 ranks 25k, 3.4k and 49k. All top 0.5%.
So let's run through the first draft!
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🧤 Goalkeeper
In goal one of the only players I've carried over from the end of last season is Verbruggen who is priced very fairly at 4.5m. Was taking a look at projected clean sheets while picking a keeper and Raya is 6m which is very expensive for a keeper but not surprising after another golden glove. Arsenal are top for clean sheets over the first 6 gameweeks. Then Man City, then man Utd, then Everton, then Brighton. So Brighton fifth place and only 4.5m for their keeper. Van Hecke is a big name to be have left though so how much will that affect them? 🧤
Projections tool - https://fpl.page/projections
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🛡️ Defenders
In defence I've gone with Guehi, Jacquet and Mosquera. 🛡️
Some players are question marks after the world cup, if you didn't know players must undergo a mandatory 3 week rest period and the World Cup finalists are very likely to miss GW1, at least those that were involved. Raya could be fine. I wrote a free article about it and which players from which teams are most at risk. Guehi could be a slight risk since he'll be back training at the absolute earliest 10th August so not far off GW1. 6m is a great price though and as the ticker showed they're right up there for clean sheets. 📋
Mosquera comes in at 5.5m which is 2.5m cheaper than Gabriel, an absolutely massive saving. He's good enough to be starting in RCB, Saliba is sidelined for months and I think there's a good chance he comes in until then, it's just whether Arsenal sign another RCB which is very possible, they've been linked with Stones and Konsa. ⚽
Seems mad to have a yellow flagged player from GW1 but I was doing a big of digging on Jacquet who is the Konate replacement. Speaking after his move to Anfield became official on July 1, Jacquet revealed that he is set to be fully fit in time for pre-season so no concerns there unless he has a setback. 5m is a great price especially again in comparison to Van Dijk for 6.5m. Iraola genuinely turned the Vitality Stadium into a fortress when he was at Bournemouth, they were second best in the entire league after Arsenal for xGC in home games. Will he tighten Liverpool up? 🏰
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⚽ Midfielders
In midfield I've opted for Mbeumo over Bruno and gone with Palmer as a semi-premium ⚽
So it's Mbeumo, Rogers, Palmer, Szobo and Anderson.
Hull away GW1. We will have to see but they could be a real team to target, having managed promotion after finishing 6th in the Championship, 22 points behind Coventry at the top, they only managed 13 clean sheets in 46 games. Their xG difference was -18.2 so they did very well to have an actual goal difference of +4. 📊
Mbeumo 4m cheaper than Bruno is something to tink about. That said Cunha is also the same price, who's better Mbeumo or Cunha? They made the same number of appearances with 33, Mbeumo's expected goal involvement was significantly better 17.2 xGI vs 10.3 xGI 📈
I think that partly why Man Utd had a great season including the likes of Bruno was no Europe, while having a good squad and manager, Chelsea feel like this season's equivalent. They've got such a quality team that just got even stronger, plus Alonso in who is a world class manager. More on Chelsea in a sec 🦁
Szoboszlai has been priced .5m cheaper than I was expecting at 7m. He was one of if not their best player last season, with so many routes to points, penalties, free kicks, corners, even defensive contributions at times. In FPL you want to identify those players with multiple routes to points, like he could have a bad game in open play but one of his corners finds Van Dijk, or if he stays on pens then even more points potential there. Could be Isak, up in the fair at this point. Liverpool fans let us know 🔴
I feel that FPL is potentially shifting a little away from trying to spike those massive hauls and identifying a steady consistent stream of points which is exactly what Anderson is. He earned more defensive contribution points than anyone last season, and more regularly than anyone. Yes he's moved to Man City who will play very differently to Forest but that potentially won't hinder him, Rodri for example has been exceptional at racking up defcons if you go back a couple years before injuries disrupted his seasons. 🧠
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🎯 Forwards
I know a lot of you aren't gonna like this but I've gone triple Chelsea attack, up top we've got Joao Pedro and Haaland 🎯
Hear me out for a sec 🖐️
Pretty much every season I tend to start very slowly, last season something like 5m after 5 weeks before eventually clawing it back for a good finish. We're playing to win FPL aren't we? And that's the type of differential that could go big or go bad. Chelsea have no Europe, a stronger squad and a world class manager in Xabi Alonso. 💙
Joao Pedro had a fantastic season, I will concede that Rogers and Palmer had more mixed seasons, especially Palmer. Rogers can be a streaky player but surrounded by better players he could thrive, and we could all see that Palmer desperately needed the time off to recover with ongoing injuries and issues. He's had a full summer off. ☀️
Palmer has Hull home in GW4 which is when you probably captain him, Haaland plays Man Utd at Old Trafford, though he's got a cracking record in the derbies. 👑
What's your opinions on the 15.5m price tag for Haaland? 🤖
It's definitely in part due to the lack of other premiums, Bruno had an incredible season and that's it beyond that. Saka won't play the start of the season, Palmer admittedly is a bit of a question mark. ❓
Just to mention a few other players that have caught my eye, Robinson, Williams, Kroupi, Wirtz, Gibbs-White, Sarr, Isak, Brobbey, Thiago. 👀
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🪑 Bench
On the bench it's Steele, Cash, Kayode and Kuso-Asare. 🪑
The bonus changes this season will benefit attacking midfielders, they're no longer punished for being tackled and it really feels to me initially like midfield is where to spend the money. So I haven't got any cheap mids like 5 or 5.5m ones. 💰
Cash and Kayode are both 4.5m and Kusi-Asarare a dead spot last on the bench for the 3-5-2 set up. No issues with that. 👍
As it stands it looks like we have no 4m keepers this season, we were spoiled last year with Dubravka who actually did well for me the 2 or 3 times I stuck him in the 11. 🧤
Please note my team and plans aren’t locked in and can change!