Welcome back to Fantasy Premier League and welcome back to FISO!
Looking at the top of the Premier League table at the end of last season, you could be forgiven for thinking that it was almost a replica of the season before that. As they have done in six of the last seven season, Manchester City finished on top, followed by Arsenal. The Gunners once again lost out to their skyblue Manchester rivals, though they did manage to limit the gap to the top to just 2 points, compared to the 5 points between the top the season prior. At this point in the pre-season last year, we asked ourselves whether or not Arsenal would be able to compete for the title until the very end once again? Now we are asking themselves, will this be the season in which the Gunners finally bring the Premier League title back to North London, for the first time since the legendary 2003-04 season?
Now, on to more serious business, because the Fantasy Premier League has undergone a significant facelift in the build-up to the 2024-25 campaign. We recommend FPL managers to explore the changes in detail, but we’ll already list them here below to give you a head start:
Banking 5 free transfers: This season, fantasy managers can save up to FIVE free transfers instead of the usual two. In other words, great news for the patient managers and the big planners. On top of that, however many free transfers you have saved up will NOT be reset to zero after activating either a Free Hit or a Wild Card.
Mystery Chip: Talking about Chips, we’ve got a new one this season! It’s called the Mystery Chip and fully in line with its name, it’s use is well… a mystery. FPL towers say that all will be revealed towards January 2025, so keep an eye out for that.
Updated points-scoring: Good news for goalkeepers with a penchant for goalscoring, because a goal by a goalie will be worth 10 points this season, up from 6 points last season. As far as the Bonus Points System (BPS) goes, a saved penalty is now worth 9 BPS (down from 15 BPS). Also, conceding a goal now results in -4 BPS for goalkeepers and defenders. For any player, a goal line clearance is now worth 3 BPS, a foul won 1 BPS and a shot on target 2 BPS.
New look: The design of the in-game FPL pitch has been improved as well, copying the format that is already being used in FPL Challenge.
The Premier League 2024-25 season is set to kick off on Friday, August 16th, at 20h00 (UK time), when Manchester United host Fulham at Old Trafford. 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.
In the build-up to gameweek 1, we will be taking an in-depth look at each of the 20 teams competing in the Premier League this season, including a general team preview, a tactical preview and some FPL recommendations per side. In this fourth part of our Season Preview series, we’re taking a look at Crystal Palace and an Everton side that overcame an 8-point deduction to remain in the Premier League.
CRYSTAL PALACE – General preview for 2024/25
The 2024-2025 season was a season full of new challenges, twists and turns for the Crystal Palace. To start with, it was the first season since the 2014-2015 campaign without living club legend Wilfried Zaha, who left the club together with veteran James McArthur and captain Luka Milivojevic. As a result, right-back Joel Ward was named the new club captain, while the gifted duo of Michael Olise (now at Bayern Munich) and Eberechi Eze took over most of Zaha’s dominance over Palace’s attacking moves. On top of that, manager Roy Hodgson retired in February of this year, for the club to replace him with Austrian manager Oliver Glassner, who had just won the Europa League with Eintracht Frankfurt the season prior.
Despite the apparently unexpected need for a manager change, it turned out to be a golden move for the Eagles. Where they were hovering right about the drop zone when Hodgson left the club, just 5 points clear, the club actually finished the season in strong fashion. A 10th-place finish meant they equalled their best-ever league finish (in 2014-15), while 49 points meant equalling their highest points total ever (49 points in 2018-19). And at that point, the perhaps truly best part of the season hadn’t even taken place yet, because the Eagles also ended up being the club with the most representatives in England’s EURO 2024 squad with four players (Eberechi Eze, Marc Guehi, Dean Henderson and Adam Wharton). Guehi, as a matter of fact, started six out of seven EURO 2024 games, including the final, and firmly put down his name as one to count on for the Three Lions over the coming years.
As a result, the central defender will be one of the protagonists in Palace’s transfer summer. At the moment of writing, Guehi is still an Eagle, but a host of bigger clubs have already expressed interest, including the likes of Liverpool, Chelsea and Newcastle. Keeping him at the club will be difficult, but it would also very likely be the club’s main summer transfer success. Besides that, Palace have already signed a few players, including former Watford winger Ismaïla Sarr (£12.5 million from Marseille) and central defender Chadi Riad (£12.5 million from Real Betis). They also brought in Japanese attacking midfielder Daichi Kamada from Lazio Roma on a free. On the outgoing front, the main news, as mentioned earlier, was the departure of Michael Olise to Bundesliga giants Bayern Munich for about £51 million.
Crystal Palace: Tactical preview 2024/25
Over the last 11 league matches of the 2023-24 season, only Chelsea, Arsenal and Manchester City took home more points than Crystal Palace. And that after not winning a single game in the seven matches prior to that. The appointment of Oliver Glasner as new manager was clearly the catalyst for this fantastic end to the season, though very few people will have expected such an immediate and considerable impact. Of course, starting with a squad mid-season while flirting with a relegation battle and working with a team from the very beginning of the pre-season are often two very different things, so predicting Palace’s tactical setup for the coming season remains a bit of a guessing game.
Having said that, it seems likely that he will line up his Eagles in a 3-4-2-1 formation that leaves a lot of room for flexibility, as this is how he played last season. This setup allows the side to press higher and with more intensity, with the goal of both neutralising potential threats early and launching (counter) attacks from higher up the opposition’s pitch. For this reason, Glasner likes to play with a double creative block right behind the lone striker and with more attacking wing-backs. Defensively, the earlier mentioned formation allows the Eagles to play with a heavy defensive block in the centre as well, composed of the three central defenders plus a disciplined pair of more defensive midfielders right in front of them. It will be interesting to see him Glasner lines up his men come Gameweek 1, but we are cautiously optimistic that we might just see a more attacking and adventurous Crystal Palace than we have seen in many seasons.
CRYSTAL PALACE – Potential FPL picks
We mentioned the sale of Michael Olise already, but perhaps more important is the fact that England international and EURO 2024 member Eberechi Eze (£7.0m) is still very much a part of the Palace squad. Everything points at his role as the most creative player on the pitch for the Eagles, a kind of playmaker who needs to shape the majority of his side’s attacking moves. He already managed 11 goals and 5 assists from 24 league starts last season, and we kind of expect him to exceed those numbers in the first full season under Glasner. His price might put some fantasy managers off, perhaps, but don’t forget that Eze is on practically all set-pieces for the Eagles as well, including penalties.
Picking Jean-Philippe Mateta (£7.5m) comes with a bit of risk, as the 27-year-old striker is participating with France’s Olympic team at the moment of writing. This means that he is likely to be rested at the start of the Premier League season, though this is not certain. He did, after all, have a bit of a rest before the start of the Olympics, where he has already scored 2 goals in four games. While that may have some FPL managers doubt to select him, his FPL stats from last season certainly won’t. Mateta started 25 league games last season and managed no less than 16 goals and 7 assists for a total of 165 FPL points. Fantastic numbers, in all honesty, and a valid reason for FPL towers to increase his price tag to £7.5m for the upcoming season. On top of that, Palace’s starting run of fixtures looks good, with Brentford away, West Ham at home, Chelsea away and Leicester at home in the first four, so we wouldn’t be surprised to see his current ownership of 7.9% still rise a bit by the time Gameweek 1 is upon us.
Going by last season’s games under Glasner, the Palace wing-backs should be on your scouting list for the 2024-25 season as well. As both Tyrick Mitchell (left-back) and Daniel Muñoz (right-back) are priced at £5.0m, we feel that there isn’t a whole lot between the two. The former got 2 goals and 3 assists for 119 FPL points from 37 starts last season, while the latter got 16 starts after his move from RC Genk during the winter transfer window and recorded 4 assists over that run. If we have to choose between the two of them, we are opting for Mitchell, mainly due to the fact that the 24-year-old is going into his fourth full Premier League season as a starter. Besides that, he is already one of the team’s most active tacklers and Glasner wants even more from him as well as the rest of the side. Marc Guéhi at £4.5m is attractive as a Palace defender as well, should he stay at the club, but with Mitchell (or indeed Muñoz) you can bet on attacking returns a bit as well.
EVERTON – General preview for 2024/25
Everton ended the 2023-24 Premier League season in 15th place with 40 points, which is simply too little for a club with the kind of history, following and money that the Toffees have. What would you say though, if they had finished in 12th place with 48 points, 22 points above the relegation zone (but also 12 points off any kind of hope of European football)? Still not exactly good enough, perhaps, but a lot more acceptable, right? This is of course a major “ifs, buts and maybe” hypothesis, but had Everton not been punished with a double points deduction for breaching the league’s profit and sustainability rules, that 12th spot would have been more or less where they would have finished. And considering the presence in the league of the likes of Manchester City, Newcastle United and Chelsea, it’s not that unfair for the Everton faithful to be enraged about the 8-point deduction.
Back to reality though, where Everton managed to clinch 15th place under Sean Dyche despite the avalanche of off-the-pitch chaos during the season. Add to that a heavily minimized transfer budget and the former Burnley manager’s task suddenly starts looking quite impressive. As usual, his approach was basic, but it worked extraordinarily well given the circumstances. In fact, he instilled the basics into his team so well that by the end of the season, only champions Manchester City (34), runners-up Arsenal (29) and number three Liverpool (41) conceded less goals than the Toffees. That’s right, a Sean Dyche masterclass in defending if there ever was one. At the same time, it was much too little at the other end of the pitch, where Everton collectively managed to find the opposition net just 40 times in 38 games. Only red lantern Sheffield United scored less than them.
One of Everton’s main goals during the current transfer window will be to properly replace defensive midfielder Amadou Onana, who was sold to Aston Villa for £50 million. The departure of Ben Godfrey (£10 million to Atalanta Bergamo) is also worth mentioning, though the central defender started just 13 times under Dyche last season. In terms of new faces, the Toffees have already spent about £43 million, mainly on centre-back Jack O’Brien (£17 million from Olympique Lyonnais), Iliman Ndiaye (£15 million from Marseille) and Tim Iroegbunam (£9 million from Aston Villa). We are not sure though if any of these acquisitions will feature in the first eleven come Gameweek 1 against Brighton at home.
Everton: Tactical preview 2024/25
Everton last season was a classic Sean Dyche team, results included, and we bet anyone Blue in Liverpool was glad it was. ““The biggest judgment here so far is winning”, the manager told The Guardian at the end of April, “This is not a time for style, this is a time to win. I have always said I am trying to get a base to work from. If you get that, and the club is in better health and better shape, then you can start developing styles”. It doesn’t get much clearer than that and in troubled times, such radical clarity is sometimes what players need the most.
Of course, it now remains to be seen to what extent Dyche and Everton will cling to the same style and approach this season. To be honest, we don’t see him switching up his 4-4-2 or 4-4-1-1 formation and we seriously doubt that he will be willing to sacrifice last season’s impressive defensive stability for, for example, a more adventurous attacking style. Then again, do they need to? If they can once again finish as a top-five defence, but this time combined with perhaps 10 more goals in comparison to last season, then a comfortable mid-table finish is all but guaranteed. In that sense it’s worth noting that Everton might venture a bit more forward once they secure Premier League survival, a situation that didn’t occur last season due to the points deductions.
EVERTON – Potential FPL pick
Based on our analysis of Everton so far, we’re sure it’s no surprise that our first potential FPL pick from the Toffees roster is a defender. In a defence that consists of two £5.0 central defenders and a right-back (Seamus Coleman) who might not be a starter every gameweek, Vitaly Mykolenko (£4.5m) stands out. The Ukrainian left-back offers a secure entry into one of last season’s best defences and he does so at a very friendly price. On top of that, and despite the fact that Dyche’s wing-backs are not amongst the most attacking, he carries a bit of offensive threat as well. In 28 league starts last season, Mykolenko scored 2 goals and gave 1 assist on top of his 9 clean sheets, for a total of 101 FPL points. While not scoring the most FPL points of his side overall, he did record the highest points average per appearance of every Toffee.
More than a few Evertonians who started reading this fantasy pick section of our Everton analysis will have asked themselves out loud how on Earth we did not start with Jordan Pickford (£5.0m) on top of this list. And they are probably right for doing so, seeing as the England number one was the highest-scoring goalkeeper in the league last season. Only Arsenal kept more clean sheets than the Toffees (13), as many as Manchester City, which explains why Pickford ended the 2023-24 campaign with a lovely 153 FPL points despite Everton’s poor start to the season. No wonder his price was increased from £4.5m to £5.0m for the coming season, and that is still a very reasonable increase. As a result, the Everton shot stopper is already sitting pretty in almost 20% of all gameweek 1 FPL squads.
If we’re being honest, we would not go for Everton assets outside of their defence, at least not until we get a better idea of their match approach this season. For those set on a more attacking Everton fantasy pick though, Dwight McNeil (£5.5m) is probably the safest choice. The winger was, together with central defender Jarrad Branthwaite, the highest-scoring outfield player for the Toffees last season with 124 FPL points, courtesy of 3 goals and 8 assists. That might not seem as much, but keep in mind that Everton scored just 40 goals overall, meaning that McNeil was directly involved in 27.5% of all goals. Part of that is thanks to the fact that he is on most corners, which is good route to (bonus) points thanks to the likes of James Tarkowski and Jarrad Branthwaite who come forward at those moments. Besides that, McNeil finds himself in the budget midfielder category as well, which means that as a fifth midfielder in your squad, he might just prove to be quite valuable.
For further thoughts and discussions on the new FPL season visit FISO’s FPL forum.