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 eighth part of our Season Preview series, we’re taking a look at Newcastle United and a Nottingham Forest side that barely escaped relegation last season.
NEWCASTLE UNITED – General preview for 2024/25
When Newcastle United became property of PIF (Public Investment Fund), Saudi Arabia’s sovereign wealth fund, in October 2021, ambitions were sky-high. That is usually the case when a club is taken over by a wealthy owner, especially when it concerns a big name in football like Newcastle, but in reality, the first major step should be to become a contender for silverware. And looking back at the 2023-24 season, it seems like Newcastle’s new owners are managing to do exactly that.
Perhaps the most illustrative development in that sense was Newcastle’s return to Champions League football last season, for the first time since the 2002-03 season. They were introduced to Europe’s elite competition in the toughest way possible, in a group with Borussia Dortmund, Paris Saint-Germain and AC Milan, and the Magpies were still on the cusp of making it through to the next round. Domestically, the club made it into the quarterfinals of both the League Cup and the FA Cup. Their League Cup run in particular impressed, as they managed to eliminate both Manchester City and Manchester United from the competition. The season’s major disappointment was the eventual 7th place finish in the Premier League, not because they would have expected to finish much higher (though they will have hoped for it), but because it means that there won’t be European football at St James’ Park this season.
This setback in their ambitions won’t hold the club back from making investments this summer transfer window, though there have not been huge acquisitions so far. The Magpies bought left-back Lewis Hall from Chelsea for about £28 million and paid around £22 million for 30-year-old goalkeeper Odysseas Vlachodimos from Nottingham Forest. They also brought in Denmark U21 striker William Osula from Sheffield United for £10 million, while Lloyd Kelly (Bournemouth) and John Ruddy (Birmingham) joined the club for free. Newcastle already earned good money this summer already, thanks to the sales of Elliot Anderson to Nottingham Forest (£35 million) and Yankuba Minteh to Brighton (£33 million). Therefore, the club’s summer transfer balance is currently still positive.
Newcastle United: Tactical preview 2024/25
Under Eddie Howe, who is going into his fourth season as Newcastle United manager, the Magpies have become a side that is hard to beat. They have achieved this by combining an effective attack with a very stable defensive setup, though the latter was not as present last season as we have seen in prior seasons under Howe. Newcastle ranked fourth in terms of goals scored, just behind Liverpool, Arsenal and Man City, but defensively it was insufficient. The Magpies conceded 62 goals, a tally bettered by nine teams, including the likes of Everton, Fulham and Crystal Palace.
As a result, a main objective for Howe will be to rediscover some of that earlier defensive stability without compromising on his side’s attacking output. They will be doing so in a 4-3-3 formation, with the mercurial Alexander Isak leading the line, flanked by a dangerous winger on either side. The double pivot in the middle consists of dynamic and technically able players who allow the side to press higher up the pitch while also providing some creativity additional creatively, either from deeper on their own half or in the form of intelligent runs towards the opposition’s penalty area. As most fantasy managers know by now, the Newcastle wing-backs are worth keeping an eye on as well, though FPL gem Kieran Trippier will likely miss the start of the season due to his EURO 2024 involvement.
NEWCASTLE UNITED – Potential FPL picks
Newcastle’s favourable opening set of fixtures (Southampton home, Bournemouth away, Spurs home and Wolves away) has a lot of fantasy managers counting on Alexander Isak (£8.5m) as one of the three forwards in their Gameweek 1 squad. About 56% of fantasy managers to be precise, at the moment of writing. The Swedish attacker is a nailed-on part of Eddie Howe’s starting eleven, usually up top and sometimes on the left flank. Wherever he starts, Isak provides a threat that few players in the league can match, which was emphasised by his 21 goals and 4 assists from 27 league starts last season. As an added bonus, at least for now, there is the injury of Callum Wilson, which means that Isak will be on penalties in the first few Gameweeks as well (and possibly for longer).
Anthony Gordon (£7.5m) was undoubtedly one of the bargains of the season last season, when he started at a price of £5.5m and went on to score an excellent 11 goals and 16 assists in 34 league games. The England international is a mainstay on the left flank under Howe and is expected to be part of the squad come Gameweek 1, as his role at EURO 2024 was minimal. Seeing as he is listed as a midfielder in the official fantasy game, which means that he gets an extra point per goal and for a clean sheet in comparison to forwards, his current price of £7.5m can still be called reasonable. In attack, Gordon often plays almost like a second striker next to Isak (or sometimes Wilson), which makes us think that he could very well equal or even surpass his total of 183 FPL points this season.
Nick Pope (£5.0m) missed a major chunk of last season due to a shoulder injury, which saw Martin Dubravka fill in and do very well in his place. When fit though, the England international (who did not go to EURO 2024) is the number one between the sticks for Eddie Howe. Bar last season, when he featured in 15 league games and collected 57 FPL points, thanks to 6 clean sheets, Pope recorded at least 130 FPL points in each of the last five seasons. In other words, for five years already, Pope has consistently ranked amongst the best goalkeepers in the entire league. If we assume that Howe manages to patch up his defence again this season, we feel that his goalkeeper could represent great value at a price of £5.0m.
NOTTINGHAM FORREST – General preview for 2024/25
As any team, Nottingham Forest experienced ups and downs last season, but ultimately it was a sufficiently good season for the Tricky Trees. They managed to clinch Premier League survival after all, by finishing 16th, and they did so with a 6-point advantage over 17th placed Luton Town. As a result, the club is now going into their third consecutive season at the highest level of English football, which is a considerable achievement in itself.
Nottingham Forest replaced Steve Cooper, who will be leading newly promoted Leicester City this season, with the experienced Nuno Espirito Santo towards the end of 2023 and it turned out to be a good decision. Apart from avoiding relegation, the Portuguese manager’s biggest achievement was perhaps the creation of an exciting attacking block mainly consisting of Morgan Gibbs-White, Callum Hudson-Odoi and Anthony Elanga, and Chris Wood up front. It looked very good at times, but one of the coming season’s main objectives will be to increase their end result. More than that though, the Tricky Trees will need to tighten up their defence if they want to have any hope of avoiding the relegation battle this season. They conceded 67 goals last season and no team in the division conceded more goals from set-pieces than them. They were also terrible at holding on to leading positions, losing a staggering 53 points after going ahead.
Looking at Forest’s summer transfers so far, it seems like the focus is indeed on defensive reinforcements. The marquee signing so far has been central midfielder Elliot Anderson from Newcastle (£35 million), while they also spent considerably on central defender Nikola Milenkovic from Fiorentina (£12 million) and defensive midfielder Marko Stamenic from Red Star Belgrade (£5 million). Jota Silva from Vitoria Guimaraes was another multi-million signing (£6 million), for depth on the left wing in attack. Forest have also sold a few big names already, including Moussa Niakhité (£27 million to Olympique Lyon), Odysseas Vlachodimos (£22 million to Newcastle) and Orel Mangala (£31 million to Olympique Lyon).
Nottingham Forest: Tactical preview 2024/25
Like many managers in the Premier League and indeed the rest of Europe, Nuno Espirito Santo likes to start games with a 4-2-3-1 formation. The front four, who we mentioned before, showed promise last season and could be of tremendous value again this season, especially if the Portuguese manager can make them click better this season. Morgan Gibbs-White especially benefited from a change in management as Espirito Santo decided to utilise his attacking players in their preferred positions more often.
At the same time, the uptick in attacking prowess was slightly surprising as Espirito Santo is known as a more defence-minded manager. Or perhaps not a defence-minded manager, but one who greatly values a solid base for his team before focusing on the more offensive patterns. It will also be interesting to see (and crucial for Forest’s chances of survival) to what extent he will be able to create a solid defensive midfield in front of his back line. If that happens, budget wing-backs Ola Aina and Neco Williams could garner some fantasy appeal as well.
NOTTINGHAM FOREST – Potential FPL pick
We mentioned him a few times already and with good reason, because if Nottingham Forest want to have any hope of improving on their attacking stats from last season, Morgan Gibbs-White (£6.0m) will be key. The former England U21 international was Forest’s most valuable player last year with 5 goals and 12 assists from 35 league starts, resulting in a total of 142 FPL points. That might not sound like that much, but keep in mind that it represents no less than 34% of all goals scored by the Tricky Trees over the last Premier League campaign. MGW is also on most of the set-pieces, including penalties, which is as usual a big plus for any potential fantasy pick.
Not much behind Gibbs-White’s FPL points total of 142 last season came Chris Wood (£6.0m), in great part thanks to his 14 goals (plus 1 assist) in just 20 Premier League starts. That limited number of starts was thanks to his role as back-up behind Taiwo Awoniyi, but the latter’s proneness to injury has resulted problematic for Forest. At the same time, Wood proved to be more than up to the task of leading the attacking line. With Awoniyi struggling with injuries in the current pre-season as well, we are assuming that Wood will once again be the Forest number nine come Gameweek 1. Combined with a very favourable looking opening set of fixtures between GW1 and GW10, the New Zealand international could very well be a valuable budget addition to your FPL squad.
Besides MGW and Wood, we wouldn’t recommend too many other Nottingham Forest assets for now. If you are looking for a budget fantasy pick though, and are enticed by Forest’s great fixture run from Gameweek 1 onwards, then Ola Aina (£4.5m) could be of interest. The Chelsea academy graduate moved to the City Ground last summer on a free transfer and looks set for a spot in the starting eleven under Nuno Espirito Santo this summer. He got 20 league starts last season in which he was part of 2 clean sheets, and he also added a goal and an assist to his record. Competition is fierce in the £4.5m-defender segment, but if you’re looking for a wing-back with guaranteed playing minutes and attacking intentions, Aina could be an option.
For further thoughts and discussions on the new FPL season visit FISO’s FPL forum.