FPL is BACK and it's my final team selection for 2026/27. If you're fairly around here - this is my 16th season playing FPL, I've been 1st in the entire world before during the 21/22 season and best finish 3K. This is my website with articles and tools to help you win your league!

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I don't know about you but I've tinkered a lot in pre-season, phone library is filled with screenshots 😂

I've tweaked my chip strategy over the last couple days as well and I'll explain exactly what I'm doing and why.

So let's get in to the team.

🧤 Goalkeeper

In goal feeling a little more confident in Verbruggen, Villa have lost so many key players this window, Rogers, Konsa's gone, Tielemans, Onana and Joao Gomes are injured, they've received a bid for Watkins who is apparently open to a move but Villa of course really want him to stay. They're in rebuild mode and will be making a bunch of signings given how much the sales have brought in.

So Verbruggen is a pretty comfortable GW1 pick, plus has Leeds home GW3, Coventry away GW4 where he could be useful. 🧤 No 4m keepers this season unlike last year so 4.5m is the minimum you have to spend.

🛡️ Defenders

In defence it's Calafiori, Maguire and White. 🛡️

Mosquera was in all my drafts and he's dropped out of the final one. He's safe for GW1 for sure and possibly beyond that but I've opted for the full backs who are potentially a little safer. Calafiori has Hincapie for competition so there is an element of risk, but that's the beauty of WC4 it's only 3 games I'll need from Calafiori and if he starts the season convincingly he'll stay on the wildcard, or if not then he's removed early on.

I've got a quote that I think many have missed on Timber. You never know with Arteta obviously, he can lie but he was asked if Timber will be back before the International break, which is GW6, he said the following:

"I don't know. We have to wait and see. He needs to start to train with the group in the next week or so, hopefully, and then see how he progresses from there. But obviously it's been a long-term issue right now and we want to make sure that every step that we take is the right one. He feels right to do that and it's such an important play for us."

To me that sounds like Timber won't be back the first 3 gameweeks which again is all I need from White. Konsa can play RB but was signed primarily for CB with Saliba out for months.

Maguire scored in Man Utd's final pre-season game, he's actually another one that points towards WC4. De Ligt is back in training and could come back in after a few games, so he's not a long term solution and that aside Man Utd face Man City in GW4 so Maguire would obviously go, as would Mbeumo and maybe Bruno.

⚽ Midfielders

The midfield is Mbeumo, Bruno, Szoboszlai, Ndiaye and Gross. ⚽

Double Man Utd defence is a fantastic set up as well, for me the upside of those opening 2 fixtures is huge so it's double Man Utd attack. Hull are going to be a team to target all season I sense, they were 2nd worst for expected goals conceded in the Championship, and then Man Utd are playing Ipswich at Old Trafford in GW2.

One spot in the midfield I've gone back and forth on is Szoboszlai vs Tzolis and you can even throw Odegaard in that. Tzolis's numbers at Club Brugge were insane, 88 goal involvements in 108 games. And I know what you're thinking can he do it in the Prem? Even half that output would make him an obvious pick for 6.5m. It's especially appealing on WC4 because if you're wrong about him or Arsenal make a big LW signing then it's easy to move on after 3 games. He's 0.5m cheaper than Szobo as well so that's Gross up to a 6m mid or maybe a keeper to a 5m one like Roefs or Sanchez.

Ndiaye and Gross not the most glamorous picks but they're cheap and cheerful, both on pens, Gross on free kicks and corners as well. All these roles in the team slightly increase their floor, if you think about it every time a corner goes in or free kick taken, or penalty there's a chance of a goal involvement and when you have players on multiple duties like these guys, plus Szobo and Bruno they can do very well as far as average points.

🎯 Forwards

Now up top is where I've made a major change. 🎯

So Joao Pedro has been a staple in all my drafts this pre-season and I'm looking to take the risk without him. Let me explain what's led me to this bold call.

My gut feeling is that when we get to GW4 the temptation to wildcard is going to be too strong. I was looking at the projections ticker and Chelsea start with Hull home.

Most people only have 1 maybe 2 Chelsea players and tripling up that week is a huge opportunity, maybe hopping off Bruno to Palmer, bringing in Rogers. Liverpool have a really strong run, we'll have a better idea of their picks, is it Jacquet, Wirtz, Isak, someone else? We'll also have a better idea of the best Man City players as well who are literally top of the ticker for projected goals, maybe Gvardiol is nailed for 5.5m, maybe Anderson is gonna tick along with defcons and the occasional goal involvement and worth the 6.5m. And then the other big one - Konsa to Arsenal. By GW4 he will be Arsenal's nailed on RCB is my prediction. Saliba is out for months so WC4 also gives you 4.5m Konsa, maybe he'll be 4.6m then I don't care it's a game breaking price. Arsenal defence is going to be so highly owned you'll need a second defender so maybe Bruno to Palmer gives me Gabriel with Konsa.

So that's my reasoning for why I'm heavily favouring WC4 and that brings me back to Joao Pedro. He has Arsenal in GW3 where I'd bench him so do I want to spend 7.5m for two gameweeks, is there any other forwards with good short term fixtures? Sunderland tick that box with newly promoted Ipswich, then Fulham home in GW2, Brentford in GW3 but I could bench for that if I want. By dropping Joao Pedro to Brobbey for that short term play it frees up the money to upgrade a 4.5 defender from my last draft all the way up White, AND a 4.5m defender up to Ballard. White is a short term play as well, my best guess is around GW4 he could become a problem but I recognise it could be sooner, he can be benched worst case scenario.

Lastly going back to the WC4 point - if I can roll the opening 3 gameweeks and then wildcard in theory I can set up to continue rolling a couple more gameweeks to get up to 5 free transfers which is a very strong position. That should always be the goal but it's very hard and something will probably go wrong haha.

The armband is on Bruno. Haaland's not had a pre-season besides 50 odd minutes in the Community shield, obviously he could haul vs Bournemouth despite that. Doku's out injured as well, Spurs are being linked with Savinho - I think there is a valid argument to going without Haaland entirely and I'm seeing more and more drafts pop up with that set up. It's crazy what you can do spreading the money around, Haaland needs to average a goal a game to be worth the price tag. It's not out of the question he does that at the start of the season, over his career August is his most productive month, followed by September. 25 goals in 17 in August so yeah he actually does average over a goal per game this month, same in September and even October just about with 18 in 17.

🪑 Bench + Chip Strategy

So yeah the bench is now Kinsky, Calvert-Lewin, Ballard and Diop. 🪑

• Ballard's defcon numbers were top last season,a 51.7% hit rate, 24 starts. So he earned himself an additional 30 points from defcons and he carries that aerial threat off set pieces. Alex Vollo made a lovely chart here which shows how Ballard is in a league of his own in some aspects.

• Diop vs O'Shea vs Davis is a debatable one, O'Shea has been playing RB in pre-season so it could be Greaves pairing CB with Diop. Diop's defcon numbers aren't the best but it's more reliable than banking on a goal involvement from a full back so I've opted for the new signing.

Going back to the bench boost to summarise. It's not the best bench you'll ever see but I'd take 10 points, if one of Kinsky, Ballard or Diop keep a clean sheet, or DCL scores that's enough for me. And then when I get to the GW4 wildcard the chip is already played and I don't have to think about spending 0.5m on a second keeper, I can kill that spot with a 4m keeper even though they won't play, and just set and forget one keeper. So this strategy is immediately freeing up 0.5m later as well. I've looked at the GW2 bench boost as well, if you haven't watched the top all-time managers article yet there's 270 involved in that with over 400 top 10k finishes between them and loads of them are going in GW2 instead of GW1. It's basically a gamble on Coventry doing well vs Hull, GW1 is a spread risk. Both weeks will probably do fine.

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