Welcome back for another article 📝
The dust has settled, loads of information to take in since FPL launched for the new season and loads of changes made to my team since my initial draft a few hours after launch.
Back with an update to run you through all the changes. There's some really generous pricing beyond Haaland Bruno and Gabriel, there's a few players I really want to fit in my team that I can't quite fit in so I'll talk about those as well.
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🧤 Goalkeeper
So let's run through the team, starting in goal an upgrade to Raya. At 6m it is one to really think about, he's the most expensive keeper for about 5 years, even at that price what I really like about Raya is he's a comfortable set & forget. There's always the potential to pick a 4.5m or 5.0m keeper and they fall behind the rest of the pack and you start to wonder if you've picked the wrong one, even if Raya has a slower start he always comes good eventually.
🛡️ Defenders
In defence a couple changes as well, it's Nunes, Shaw and Mosquera.
Man Utd are being linked with Hall but Newcastle will definitely not want to let him go, it's a situation to monitor though given it would make Shaw a non-starter. At 4.5m he's good value given they play Hull and Ipswich, two promoted teams the first two gameweeks. He was the top scoring Man Utd defender last season and the rest got priced at 5.0m oddly.
Elevenify's team strength models just updated for all teams both offensively and defensively, so in other words the projections tool has just been updated. Here's the projected clean sheets for the opening 8 gameweeks. Top is Arsenal, then Man City, then Man Utd.
fpl.page/projections if you want to play around with the tool, you can sort by rotation, and add or remove teams to find exactly what you need when planning your team out. So in a nutshell I've now got the top 3 in my back 3 and keeper which feels very strong. Jacquet was in my initial draft, he wasn't involved in Liverpool's last friendly so I'm keeping an eye on that, could be great for 5m depending on when he's back. Colwill is also 5m and could be a nice choice under Alonso. Lacroix 1m more expensive. There's some great options are Brighton as well, one I am very interested in, more on him in a sec.
So just on Nunes, there's no real competition for that right back spot, 5 double digit returns last season. Guehi should be safe for basically every game but how does Maresca fit Ruben Dias, Gvardiol and Guehi in? Gvardiol can play left back but then he's got Ait-Nouri and O'Reilly to appease as well. Perhaps we see O'Reilly in midfield more this season now that Gvardiol's back. There's a good chance my final team ends up with Guehi if I have a Man City defender, I'm just monitoring that situation and don't mind Nunes at all especially now full backs have got a buff this season from BPS tweaks ahead of 2026/27.
⚽ Midfielders
In midfield several changes, it's Ndiaye, Fernandes, Bruno, Szoboszlai and Anderson.
Still thinking about Palmer and Rogers who were in my initial draft, we got some insight from Alonso's latest interview. On the goalkeepers he said they have no number 1, all positions are up for grabs, so definitely avoid Sanchez. He said he has an idea / plan for Palmer and Rogers and that he sees them linking up well, won't use one particular formation. They will be flexible, he's got principles but they won't stick to one thing basically. So that may make Hato a slight risk depending on formation. Rogers he will play more from the left pockets, close to the striker but he's versatile so he can play other positions.
There's a couple of reasons Bruno is in currently:
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#1 is he provides a definite alternate captain to Haaland, especially in GW2 home to Ipswich.
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The other reason is the flexibility he gives, in the sense that you can go anywhere from Bruno. Like if Mbeumo or Cunha or Palmer etc are looking way better value that's only one transfer.
Whereas there is a little bit of a gamble starting with Palmer, what if he carries last season's performances over and you need to get to Bruno, that is a very messy situation to be stuck in with so much money to free up. I'm not fully convinced Bruno will be worth 12m though but he makes sense.
The other combination I've looked at a lot is Mbeumo, Cunha and Semenyo over Bruno, Anderson and Matheus Fernandes. That has the potential to be unbelievably better because you get two Man Utd attackers with the best two opening fixtures, plus you get double Man City attack. It's just more inflexible and riskier.
So Matheus Fernandes is in. He's having a great pre-season, scored a screamer in his first game. In the latest came off the bench second half. Fernandes likes to be the focal point of play and has almost every pass in his locker, which means he can run play at every stage of the buildup. He's got defcon and goal involvement potential. The talent is so obvious and I really like him for 6m.
There's a bunch of good 6m options, Ndiaye is another one. 128 points last season, but it's worth nothing he missed 6 games to AFCON, even if he averaged 3 points per game that nudges him to 146 points which is good for 6m, and that's in a poor goalscoring season compared to the one he had before. He's being linked with a potential move so let's see if anything comes of that. Garner could be the automatic swap who is also good value for 6m, but currently a doubt for GW1 after having surgery.
Which midfielders have a higher floor due to defcon? Last season Anderson was top in the league, he averaged an extra 1.4 points every game due to high defcon hit rate. Garner was joint second top with 1.1, same as Ampadu. Fernandes with 0.9 not far behind though so he can be a real all round asset like Anderson. He won't hit defcon as often most likely but will probably score more.
Szobo at 7m is difficult to ignore, he's stayed in since the first draft. 160 points last season, 13 goal involvements and loads of defcon and bonus points. Corners, direct free kicks and potentially even penalties, plus good opening fixtures.
We looked at projected clean sheets just now, who is top for projected goals over the opening 8 gameweeks. This is where it feels like this draft feels a little bit short potentially. Man City are top, three quarters of teams have Haaland so he's not much of a rank help. Arsenal are second, in fairness Arsenal attackers from GW1 are tricky and make sense to avoid. Man Utd in third place, Bruno's in 50% of teams, in an ideal world one of Cunha or Mbeumo plus Bruno looks very strong. Liverpool fourth, Chelsea fifth.
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I mentioned elevenify data powers the widgets, just to mention how good this guy and his data is, he's the #1 manager in the world the last 4 seasons. His last 4 finishes are 210th, 1.3k, 939th and 1.8k. So I'm very happy to be working with him on those tools.
🎯 Forwards
up front it's unchanged Joao Pedro and Haaland.
Igor Jesus has scored in all 3 pre-season games he's played now, he's very tempting for only 6m, perhaps instead of Fernandes and go 3-4-3. Glasner knows how to get the best out of attackers, he and Gibbs-White are such good picks. When Wood isn't on the pitch it's probably Gibbs-White on pens, plus the corners and free kicks he's amazing for 8m even with a big price jump.
Osula for 6m another one, could be on for a breakout season. Thiago even at 8m is still the main man and he will undoubtedly still be a relevant pick at times this season despite the price jump. It's great when there's so many good options, you can make a good case for so many players.
🪑 Bench + Final Thoughts
The bench is Lecomte, Vuskovic, Thomas and Walle Ageli.
Vuskovic is really intriguing me, I have a feeling this will be a huge season for him. Let me run you through the numbers:
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He's only 19, a huge centre half 6 foot 3.
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His goalscoring record from CB is unreal, 13 goals in 54 games the last 2 seasons. That's 1 goal every 4 games.
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And I read a stat from FPL Calle, if we look at clearances in the the top 5 leagues last season. Guess who is number 1 across the thousands of players across Europe's top 5 leagues on clearances? Vuskovic with 9 per game. NINE per game!
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Defenders need 10 defensive contributions per game, whether that's clearances, blocks, interceptions and tackles. He averaged 12.5 per 90 last season. Senesi was top in the Premier League with 11.4 per 90.
Seems like Spurs had no choice but to let him go to fund the big signings they've made, and were able to sign Senesi as a free transfers which all looks like smart business but he's a huge prospect.
The first two gameweeks I can get away with not starting him, though Villa home isn't bad GW1 if there's any surprises. GW2 they have Chelsea away. So Shaw covers him perfectly GW1 and 2 with Hull and Ipswich. Then Brighton have Leeds home, Coventry away.
Just a note on my bench keeper, I would recommend you avoid Dubravka, he won't start for Spurs and given his high ownership he could be susceptible to price falls after a few weeks. We don't know exactly how the price change algorithm works, and it does scale based on ownership but it feels far safer to go with a different backup 4m keeper and try to preserve some team value.
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Please note my team and plans aren’t locked in and can change!