FPL Pre-season

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For the next article in the pre-season series it's the whole of pre-season in one short and sweet article. Every single result, form players, tactical notes and anything else of relevance for FPL. This one takes by far the most hours to research and write of any article all season so you appreciate the effort behind this one in particular. There will be one final update near GW1 which you won't want to miss, but let's get you up to speed first!

🔴 Arsenal

Arsenal have played three times, a win over Milan and Newcastle, and then a loss to Tottenham. There's no stand out players in form this pre-season.

• Havertz has 2 assists.

• Saka has a goal.

• Odegaard scored a pen though Saka wasn't on the pitch and of course there's speculation Gyokeres assumes pen duties given his stellar record.

• It's worth debating whether he starts in GW1 as well, Arteta may want to start with Havertz and bring him on second half vs Man Utd. It's high risk high reward given his 9m price tag.

• Gabriel hasn't featured in any pre-season games nursing an injury, Calafiori and Kiwior have taken turns in LCB.

• Go for Saliba or Raya or avoid the Arsenal defence.

• I'd like to see Gabriel involved in the final two games vs Villarreal and Athletic to be comfortable picking him in my GW1 team, he's left the draft currently.

🦁 Aston Villa

Villa have given us so much to discuss and think about in their pre-season, 5 games played and Malen, Watkins, Rogers have all impressed.

• A goal and 3 assists for Malen who comes in at only 5.5m.

• He's played up top even, though of course that spot belongs to Watkins, Villa fans are predicting Malen right mid for GW1.

• Is he worth it for 5.5m though? This is very much opinion based given the price differences but my favourites are Rogers and Watkins, they get fantastic minutes and are nailed.

• Malen could share minutes with Ramsey or others and much less likely to get 90 minutes.

• I was chatting to Adam Hopcroft who is one of the best all-time managers, lots of rankings have him placed #3 all-time and he's a Villa fan, he also shares the same sentiment Rogers and Watkins are the ones from an offensive perspective.

• Defensively Konsa is your best bet though he'll probably give you 2 or 6 points most of the time, he isn't great for defensive contribution points.

🍒 Bournemouth

Bournemouth have given us a lot to chew on too, 4 games played - 3 wins and a loss which came against Man Utd.

• Evanilson has a goal and an assist, a real under the radar pick at 2.4% - if he stays injury free I'd predict something like 170 points for him this season.

• You just have to look past that GW1 fixture which is putting many off, and keep in mind last season he was settling into the league and was injured for a while.

• Still managed a goal involvement about every other game on average despite that.

• Kluivert has barely been involved, missing a few games amidst some rumours of a possible transfer.

• Truffert, the Kerkez replacement scored twice in their 6 - 2 win over Bristol City.

• He's even more differential at 1.5%.

• He was named Rennes captain last year and made over 200 appearances for them, still only 23.

• Christie racked up very good defensive contribution tallies last season and has been a popular one for 5m, he hasn't played in pre-season at all yet, keep an eye on that.

• 4.5m Traore has been playing who is also one to watch, he's impressed.

🐝 Brentford

What's going on at Brentford then? Mbeumo and Norgaard gone, Wissa reportedly wants out. How are they getting on?

• They've only played 2 games a draw and a win, only 1 goal scored in each game.

• Thiago lead the line and did score one of those two, Collins the other with a Damsgaard assist.

• Frank replacement Andrews has used a 4-2-3-1, which has even seen Lewis-Potter out of position left wing.

• He was reclassified to defender in FPL this year after being used there last season but his natural position is out on the wing.

• The only thing is his minutes are not a certainty otherwise what a steal he would be for 5m.

• If Wissa leaves then Thiago shoots right up my forward rankings, only 6m which was the same price Wissa was before he had a 185 point season.

• Even 150 points would be incredible for 6m by GW38.

• He missed the majority of last season with injury but the big man is back and I'm sure desperate to hit the ground running after such a long wait to get his moment.

🐦 Brighton

Brighton have been the busiest team with 6 games played already, one final game vs Wolfsburg to go.

• Welbeck has scored 4 times though all 4 came against Wycombe Wanderers.

• Minteh is the other form player of note with 2 goals and an assist playing right wing, only 6m.

• He has Rutter for competition though we may see Rutter used as a striker more given Welbeck's age and injury record, he's played up top in pre-season a bit.

• New signing De Cuyper has been playing left back, in the build up he hasn't been the one pushing forward as we'd hoped, has been moving centrally to form a back 3, though Hurzeler could be trying different things out.

• Verurbuggen's been dealing with a knee injury and is back in training.

• The only players I'd consider are De Cuyper given at the end of the day he's 4.5m, Verbruggen and Minteh.

• I've left Welbeck out that list because I like Strand Larsen more than Welbeck for the same price and he'll be better for minutes given no competition.

🍷 Burnley

Not much to report from Burnley.

• Esteve has signed a new contract and is the go to 4m defender.

• 5m midfielder Edwards has 3 goals, though it's worth noting in the Championship he only managed 1 goal 1 assist in 14 games for them and he'll rarely get 90 most likely.

🔵 Chelsea

We'll skip over Chelsea who are yet to play in pre-season, getting a much needed break after the Club World Cup. they'll play against Bayer Leverkusen and AC Milan before GW1.

🦅 Crystal Palace

Crystal Palace are absolutely flying in pre-season, 6 games played though like Brighton some of those are an A team and B team split.

• Mateta has 4 goals and an assist to his name.

• Eze has 2 goals 2 assists.

• Sarr has a couple assists.

• Even Munoz and Lacroix have scored.

• Lots to think about, Munoz is like having an extra midfielder in your FPL team as he plays like a winger, when you look at it that way he got 21 returns last season from goal involvements and clean sheets.

• So if you're on a 3-4-3 then it's basically a 2-5-3.

• The all out attack chip is back.

• Lacroix is 0.5m cheaper and did very well for defensive contributions last season.

• A big question mark overshadowing Palace is will Eze stay or leave? There could be some insane value in the Palace picks if they can hold on to him for another year, in all positions.

• The annoying situation with Palace is it's Chelsea, Forest, Villa, so lots of us have 2 or even 3 defences invested in there, so it's attackers vs defenders.

💙 Everton

Nothing of note from Everton to be honest, one clean sheet which came against Blackburn.

• Tarkowski joined up late missing those first few games.

• McNeil has the most minutes, 94% of all available minutes, could he be back as an under the radar option for 6m?

• 5.5m would've been more tempting but 6m feels slightly too steep.

🤍 Fulham

Fulham have provided some food for thought.

• Wilson has more goal involvements than anyone in the league in pre-season with 5 goals and an assist.

• He's a weird one, does great when playing but rarely seems to string a load of games together, he is only 5.5m though and the form is there.

• Does have competition from Traore and Sessegnon as well.

• 4.5m midfielder King is incredibly highly rated by fans and has scored twice, he could be the best 4.5m midfielder in the game right now, though don't expect many starts.

• The other thing to weigh up is the striker situation, Jimenez is 34 now and we could see 5.5m Muniz getting a bunch more games this season, though initially the minutes could be shared between him and Jimenez.

• Raul joined up late having played in the Gold Cup for Mexico, he scored in the 3-2 training session vs Sheffield Utd.

Leeds United

There is one other 5.5m forward in the discussion, Piroe.

• 16 goals in 46 league appearances last season, and he has 4 goals this pre-season.

• They have signed Nmecha this window however.

• Bijol is a great option for 4m who they signed from Udinese, he's suspended for GW1 which has kept his ownership incredibly low.

🔴 Liverpool

So is Wirtz the next big FPL superstar?

• He has a goal and 2 assists in pre-season, even playing as a false 9 early on but that was due to no forwards in the squad, he's expected to be a 10 behind Ekitike or whoever it is up top during the season.

• Nunez has the most goal involvements of them but obviously an avoid.

• Gakpo could be a hidden gem, given Luis Diaz has left, left wing looks like his spot.

• A 7.5m price tag and reclassified back to midfielder so an extra point per goal and 1 point per clean sheet.

• Last season's 23 appearances his most ever, just 1,921 minutes and you'd fancy this season to be his most starts by a mile.

• Of course if the Isak transfer materialises that could complicate matters, Isak is actually a very capable left winger, those that played a few years ago will remember Wilson and Isak both starting given their form which had Wilson as the number 9 Isak left wing.

• It's also very probable that Gakpo and Isak start if that transfer happens, with new signing Ekitike the unfortunate one to miss out most.

• Is Wirtz worth it then for 8.5m? RobT produced a great graphic with the season long FPL projections using the spread markets odds, that has him on 178 points which would definitely justify 8.5m.

• Bournemouth (H) GW1 is great as well.

• Gakpo has gotten the joint most minutes of the mids or forwards, same as Salah and Szoboszlai.

🔵 Manchester City

We'll skip over Man City as well who are having a short pre-season due to the Club World Cup as well.

👹 Manchester United

Man Utd are undefeated in pre-season, 2 wins 2 draws.

• Most recently a draw against Everton to end the summer series, where Bruno was the stand out.

• It was the first game that Bruno, Cunha and Mbeumo all started together.

• Initial thoughts are the three of them could take time to settle in together, Cunha was occupying some of the same spaces Bruno wanted to be.

• Amorim tried both Mbeumo and Cunha up top during the game.

• However both quite blatantly a huge upgrade on previous players that Man Utd have had occupying those areas.

• I'm swerving Cunha and Mbuemo for the forseeable until they are clearly still great picks.

• 3G 1A for Bruno in pre-season, 2 of those goals penalties.

• It's undeniable he will have a very good FPL season, would have finished just shy of 200 points last season with the rule changes in place and I can see him doing similarly which makes him an incredible option for GW1 at 9m.

• It's worth noting that 4.5m Dorgu had a brilliant game against Bournemouth, coming away with a goal, assist and then subbed off before the clean sheet was wiped.

⚪️⚫️ Newcastle

Newcastle's only win came at the start of pre-season against Carlisle.

• Fair to say the Isak situation is overshadowing things, will he leave?

• Who's coming in to replace him?

• Howe's had to make do with Osula and Gordon getting minutes up top.

• All the wingers have chipped in with returns, which is ultimately the problem with the Newcastle attackers this season, they're all very good and you really can't predict who will be getting reliable starts if any.

• Barnes vs Gordon left wing, Murphy vs Elanga right wing.

• Avoiding them all looks sensible for now.

• Ironically Tonali could end up a solid choice for 5.5m, he'd have finished on 124 points last season with 28 starts and 18 DC points, so he could push 150+ points with the additional starts he'll get this season.

🌳 Nottingham Forest

Quite encouragingly for those of us invested in their defence Forest have been keeping plenty of clean sheets, 3 in pre-season from 5 games played.

• Though they've not scored many either, just 1 in those 5 in fact which was Wood.

• Williams got the assist.

• The debate has raged on over pre-season, Murillo and Milenkovic for 5.5m, or save 0.5m and go Williams?

• Aina didn't fair as well for defensive contributions or underlying attacking data last season hence Williams has emerged as the popular 5m alternative.

🔴⚪️ Sunderland

Sunderland have been very busy, in the transfer market and with pre-season games. 6 matches clocked with 2 to go.

• No form players of note, Le Fee has a goal and assist, might be on pens for Sunderland.

• Adingra is someone I'm very tempted by for 5.5m, he's been getting lots of pre-season minutes, just the 1 goal for him.

• The choice is you punt on a winger like Adingra, Arias for 5.5m or go for a steady defensive contribution points mid with a lower ceiling like Anderson, Caicedo, Christie.

• Reportedly a minor set back to Marc Guiu's loan deal so that's not official yet, so the 4.5m forward has not joined with the squad yet.

• 5.5m forward Mayenda has the most minutes of Sunderland attackers.

🤍 Tottenham

Spurs most recently drew 1 - 1 with Newcastle which was also Son's farewell, so we can't read into that line-up which of course had him starting in left wing one last time.

• A devastating game for Spurs sadly as Maddison was stretchered off with a potentially serious injury.

• Who will play as a 10? Could be Bergvall, maybe even Sarr who is more of a box to box mid.

• He's had a great pre-season with 2 goals including that goal against Arsenal from about 40 yards out lobbing Raya.

• Solanke hasn't been in any match day squads since Reading, and every passing day he becomes more of a concern to pick.

• Is he definitely going to start GW1? And if he does is he definitely going to get good enough minutes?

• Solanke has left my team.

• Udogie has also been out injured so swerve him in your team for now.

• Van de Ven, Romero and Porro are all 3 good options at 3 different price points with their individual appeals.

• Just 1 assist for Kudus, who has been getting lots of minutes in right wing.

⚒️ West Ham

Just a couple more teams then we'll look at who has the most goal involvements across all teams. Unsurprisingly Bowen is still the main man at West Ham, 2 goals 2 assists for him, one final game against Lille to go.

• Involved in both goals in the 2 - 0 win over Bournemouth most recently.

• The reclassification to forward is a shame however he absolutely can still be a good choice for 8m, especially given it's Sunderland on the opening day.

• Fullkrug has been back in the 11, with 2 goals in 2 games.

• Only 6m but probably an avoid, his minutes were terrible last season even when he was starting, Wilson has just joined on a free transfer too.

• Paqueta could be an underrated pick for 6m, on penalties, cleared of those spot-fixing charges that were looming over him, 2 goals 1 assist in pre-season.

• I had the Bournemouth game on and Diouf seriously impressed me, new left wing back signing.

• Both goals came from him, think Trent style whipped crosses but from the left side.

• The first goal he whipped it to Bowen who sliced his volley, and played it back to Fullkrug who scored.

• The second was Diouf again which Bowen caught on the volley this time to slot it bottom left.

• Diouf and Wan-Bissaka are both 4.5m.

• The way I can see it playing out is Wan-Bissaka gets more DC points, Diouf gets more attacking returns. They could score similarly.

• Wan-Bissaka is literally the most owned defender in the game at 32% so you could go for Diouf to protect yourself from price falls, like if West Ham concede to Sunderland and some other 4.5m defender smashes it you can see the mass sales happening.

🐺 Wolves

Quickly Wolves then we'll look at which players are most in form then. Not much to write home about.

• Strand Larsen has the 1 goal to his name.

• Hoever has caught the attention of some people since he's only 4m but he's not gonna be nailed, you're better off with someone more reliable like Bijol, Gudmunsson, Esteve etc.

• Agbadou is my favourite of the Wolves defenders, he'll do well for defensive contributions this season.

• It's a new look Wolves attack which may take some time to click, though Strand Larsen will be the main man up top every game and should get consistent 80 - 90 mins so he's great for 6.5m.

📊 In-Form Players

Lastly a quick look at which players are in form with the best numbers. This is a filtered list with a select few players filtered out like Darwin, Westley etc.

• So it's Mateta and Wilson leading the pack with 6 goal involvements each.

• Palace are a strange one aren't they, they always seem to start the season slowly then hit serious form in the second half, could we see something different from them?

• They'll need to start well because juggling European football will come with its challenges.

• Wilson will be amazing value for 5.5m if he keeps starting but does have competition.

• Malen is in the same boat, potential 5.5m gems if they get the minutes but carry a small risk.

• Bruno and Bowen are top picks with obvious reasons and playing well right now.

• Wirtz offers a 0.5m alternative to Bruno if you're really tight, though I'm expecting Bruno to beat him for points overall.

I'll do one final pre-season form players update before the season begins, so you don't miss it.