Welcome back to Fantasy Premier League and welcome back to FISO!
We’ve had EURO 2024, we’ve had the Olympics and now, the kick-off for Premier League season 2024-25 is just a day away. As usual, we will be previewing every Gameweek of this season, providing a quick overview of the action to come and, of course, our own recommended player picks. We have also published a comprehensive series of Pre-season Club Preview articles, taking a look at the shape of each of the twenty clubs that will be competing in the Premier League this season.
At first glance, the new FPL season is starting off with a series of interesting Gameweek 1 fixtures, both from an FPL point of view and from a more general point of view. Fantasy managers will be eyeing the likes of Manchester United (at home to Fulham), Liverpool (at promoted Ipswich Town), Arsenal (at home to Wolves), Newcastle (at home to promoted Southampton) and Spurs (at promoted Leicester City). Most of the general public’s attention will go to Sunday though, when Chelsea and Manchester City are offering us the first top clash of the season straight off the bat.
Don’t forget, the deadline for gameweek 1 is set at 18h30 (UK time) on Friday, August 16th, 2024. The free to play FPL or pay to play games like FanTeam (which has a £200,000 prize fund) are ideal ways of following the Premier League action.
Most transferred in/transferred out players (as per August 15th, 2024)
| TRANSFERS OUT | TRANSFERS IN | POSSIBLE REASONS | |
| GK | N/A for GW1 | Raya (ARS), Turner (NFO), Pickford (EVE) | Season start |
| DEF | N/A for GW1 | Saliba (ARS), Gvardiol (MCI), Porro (TOT) | Season start |
| MID | N/A for GW1 | Palmer (CHE), Eze (CRY), Salah (LIV) | Season start |
| FOR | N/A for GW1 | Isak (NEW), Haaland (MCI), Watkins (AST) | Season start |
*transfer stats heavily influenced by Gameweek 1 full squad creation
Premium pick
We are aware of the current discussion surrounding Erling Haaland (£15.0m) and whether or not to include him in your Gameweek 1 squad, due to his enormous price tag. We understand why some fantasy managers may doubt, as bringing the Norwegian goalscoring machine in takes a considerable chunk out of your budget. Having said that, we are not doubting and are splashing the cash to include him in our first FPL squad of the season. Haaland is fully rested after a EURO 2024-less summer and then we haven’t even mentioned his stats yet. He was crowned Premier League top scorer in each of his first two seasons in England, netting 36 times in the 2022-23 season and 27 times last season. Man City’s season opener is at Stamford Bridge against a Chelsea side in construction (a fixture that ended 4-4 last season), followed by a home game against Ipswich Town, a visit to West Ham and a home game versus Brentford. In other words, we would not be surprised to see Haaland on four or five goals after the first four games.
Non-premium pick
Our Gameweek 1 non-premium fantasy pick is also another forward, namely Alexander Isak (£8.5m). The Newcastle attacker is currently the most selected player in the official fantasy game as he is sitting pretty in almost 58% of all teams at the moment. After an average of 1 goal per 78.4 minutes at St. James Park last season, Isak is now getting ready for a season opener against newly promoted Southampton. And that’s not all, because after Southampton at home it’s a visit to Bournemouth, followed by a home game against Spurs and a visit to Wolves. In other words, while Isak could very well start firing straight away on Saturday, his perspective for the longer term looks appealing as well. Not getting the Swede at the start of the season might see you priced out as fantasy managers flock to him after a few attacking returns in the opening games.
The budget enabler
For our first budget-enabling fantasy pick of the season, we have focused on the fifth defender slot. If you can find a £4.0m-defender to fill that spot in Gameweek 1, you might just save that crucial £0.5m to boost your squad elsewhere. Of course, a key characteristic of this ultimate budget enabler is that he gets playing minutes and preferably even is a starter for his side. Fortunately, the official fantasy game is offering us a few of these options this season and out of those options, we have chosen to go with Valentin Barco (£4.0m). the Argentinian was introduced to the Premier League by Brighton in the last winter transfer window and made a good first impression. Seeing as Pervis Estupiñan is out with an injury for the foreseeable future, it looks likely that Barco will feature as new manager Fabian Hurzeler’s starting wing-back on the left for now. At his current price tag, he could represent fantastic value for fantasy managers, despite their challenging opening set of fixtures.
The differential
Champions Manchester City are opening their season with a visit to Stamford Bridge, but after that the schedule cools down immediately. Their run between GW2 and GW11 includes home games against Ipswich Town, Brentford, Fulham and Southampton, and visits to West Ham, Wolves, Bournemouth and Brighton. Knowing that makes the fact that Kevin de Bruyne (£9.5m) is currently sitting in just 7.2% of all teams all the more surprising, especially when you take into account that the Belgian has had a good rest after Belgium was eliminated at EURO 2024 in the Round of 16. That is contrary to many of his teammates like Foden, who will likely not be ready for Gameweek 1 due to long runs at EURO 2024. In other words, one of the best midfielders in recent Premier League history will very likely start versus a Chelsea side in construction, fully rested and with Erling Haaland in front of him. Our question is, seeing as our upper limit for a differential fantasy pick is 10% ownership, how much longer will De Bruyne be eligible for this category?
The (vice-)captaincy
Gameweek 1 is offering a few very good options for the armband, which immediately makes for a heated captaincy debate. After much deliberation, we have decided to place the armband on Alexander Isak as he prepares for the visit of newly promoted Southampton to St. James Park.
Not sure about Newcastle for their season opener? Then there is, of course, Erling Haaland at Chelsea or Mohamed Salah for Liverpool’s visit to Ipswich Town. Slightly more differential captaincy picks include Kai Havertz for Arsenal’s home game against Wolves and brand-new Spurs signing Dominik Solanke for their visit to promoted Leicester City.
For further thoughts and discussions on the new FPL season visit FISO’s FPL forum.