Welcome back to the Fantasy Premier League and welcome back to FISO!
The 2024-2025 Premier League season has gone into the rich archives of English football as the season in which Liverpool FC won their 20th title in the topflight of English football. A record-equalling 20th title, we should say, because the Reds equalled the 20 titles of their archrivals Manchester United, who won their last one back in the 2012-13 season. And all of that in the very first season of Arne Slot, the Dutch manager who was brought in from Feyenoord in the summer of 2024.
While that was a beautiful story, the Premier League offered much more drama than that. What about the crumbling of the traditional top six, for example? With Manchester United the great disappointment as a result of their finish in 15th (!) place? Of course, Spurs did even worse, finishing 17th (!), but the Londoners deviated the embarrassment a bit by winning the 2024-2025 Europa League (against Manchester United in the final), thus qualifying for the Champions League Group Stage. Or what about Nottingham Forest qualifying for European football for the first time in 30 years, thanks to an impressive 7th-place finish?
In other words, it was a season full of ups and downs, spectacle and disappointment, but as the saying goes: we need to move on. The Premier League 2025-2026 is just a few weeks away at the time of writing, which means that FPL preparations are in full swing for millions of fantasy managers. And there are a few important changes to take into account, once again:
Chips: Fantasy managers will have four chips at their disposal this season, namely the Bench Boost, the Free Hit, the Triple Captain and the Wildcard. Last season’s Assistant Manager chip has been removed from the game. Instead, all four of the previously mentioned chips will be available twice this season: once in the first half of the season and once in the second half.
Defensive points: Outfield players will earn points for defensive actions this season. These include clearances, blocks, interceptions and tackles for defenders, while forwards and midfielders also get points for ball recoveries on top of that. A defender gets 2 extra FPL points for every 10 defensive actions, while forwards and midfielders get 2 extra FPL points for every 12 defensive actions.
Bonus Point System changes: This season, goalkeepers now get 3 (instead of 2) bonus points for saved shots from inside the box, while a penalty save is now worth 8 bonus system points (down from 9 bonus system points). A scored penalty is now worth 12 bonus system points for the scoring player, instead of 18 or 24. Goalline clearances from outfield players have gone up in worth, from 3 to 9 bonus points. Finally, every successful tackle is now worth 2 bonus points.
Assists: For assists that took a deflection off a defender, assists will now be awarded regardless of whether the assist reached its intended target, providing it only took one touch off a defender and was received by the goalscorer inside the penalty area. Unforced defensive errors will also now lead to an assist being given by the player whose pass led to it, as long as the defensive error in question is not a misplaced pass. Players will now also earn an assist if they earn a penalty or free-kick that is scored via a handball, regardless of whether it was forced or unforced.
AFCON transfers: The Africa Cup of Nations will take place between Gameweek 16 and Gameweek 22 of the 2025-2026 FPL season. Fantasy managers receive five free transfers at the start of Gameweek 16 to deal with that.
The Premier League 2025-2026 season is set to kick off on Friday, August 15th, at 20h00 (UK time), when champions Liverpool host Bournemouth at Anfield.
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 second part of our Season Preview series, we’re taking a look at Bournemouth and a Brentford side that only just missed out on European football.
BOURNEMOUTH – General preview for 2025/26
Bournemouth have been on the up and up since the appointment of Andoni Iraola early in the summer of 2023. The Spaniard succeeded Gary O’Neill, who was dismissed by the new owners, Black Knight Football Club, who purchased the club from previous owner Maxim Demin in December 2022. In the two seasons since Iraola’s arrival, the Cherries have achieved consecutive record-breaking points tallies in their own Premier League history.
After taking 48 points for a 12thplace finish at the end of 2023-2024 season, a Bournemouth record at the time, Iraola’s men shattered that record last season. A total of 56 points from 38 games and a finish in 9th place meant that they equalled the club’s best-ever finish in the Premier League. And not just that, because they managed to do so with entertaining football that at times seemed unnecessarily risky, but which also resulted in memorable victories over powerhouses like Arsenal and Manchester City.
The impact of Iraola on the Dorset-based club is only emphasised when looking at last season’s stats in a bit more detail. Not only did the Cherries managed to amass more points than ever in the club’s 126-year-long history, but they did also so by recording their most wins in single Premier League season (15 out of 38 games) and recording their fewest defeats (12). Bournemouth also scored more goals in a single season than they ever had up until that point (58) and conceded the fewest in their history as well (46). Unfortunately, it proved to just insufficient for a spot in Europe this season, so it will be interesting to see to what extent the Cherries can continue their upward trajectory in upcoming 2025-2026 season.
Bournemouth: Tactical preview 2025/26
As a defender, Iraola, who played 510 matches in more than 12 seasons for Athletic Bilbao, was known for his high energy, his combative mentality and his excellent passing skills. With that in mind, it’s not hard to see where Bournemouth’s energetic playing style is coming from. The Cherries like to employ an aggressive high press combined with quick transitions that favour their direct way of attacking. It seems risky at times, and it is, but Iraola seems to be able to drill the necessary tactical discipline and fitness into his players for it to work.
Bournemouth under Iraola generally tend to line up in a 4-2-3-1 formation, which lends itself perfectly for the kind of direct offensive play the manager wants to see from his side. Think high pressing, quick counter attacks and (attacking) players interchanging positions regularly. It is no surprise that quick, technical attackers like Justin Kluivert and Evanilson thrived under Iraola last season. Combine that with a physically strong and tactically disciplined double pivot in midfield and attack-minded fullbacks, and you get a team that is difficult to play against for any side in the Prem.
BOURNEMOUTH – Potential FPL picks
With visits to Liverpool and Spurs, and home games against Brighton and Newcastle, in their first five fixtures of the 2025-2026 season, Bournemouth have not exactly been given an easy start this year. Justin Kluivert (£7.0m) nevertheless features in about 5% of all squads at the time of writing and for good reason. With Bournemouth, one of the surprise packages of last season, the Dutch attacking midfielder was one of their driving forces. He scored 12 goals and provided 6 assists, representing a direct involvement in 31% of Bournemouth’s goals in the Premier League. As a result, we don’t see any reason why Kluivert would not be as nailed-on in the starting eleven this season as he was last season. It should be noted that no less than 6 of his 12 goals came from the penalty spot, though that is not necessarily a bad thing either, as it confirms the Dutchman as Bournemouth’s penalty taker par excellence.
Despite scoring one goal less (but also providing one more assist) than Kluivert, it was Antoine Semenyo (£7.0m) who finished last season as Bournemouth’s highest points-scorer in FPL. He collected 165 FPL points, 7 more than the Dutchman, which was a simply magnificent return for a player who started last season with a £5.5m price tag. Semenyo’s price was increased to £7.0m for the 2025-2026 campaign, which can still represent excellent value if he manages to replicate his performance from last season. One of the main selling points for the Ghana international is that he often plays up front for the Cherries, while being classified as a midfielder in the official fantasy game. This means extra points for goals and clean sheets. On top of that, when looking at last season’s underlying statistics, only Liverpool’s Mohamed Salah and Chelsea’s Cole Palmer registered more attempts on goal than the Bournemouth forward. He is therefore an interesting option for any squad, particularly after Bournemouth’s initial difficult run of fixtures is behind them.
Bournemouth boasted one of the best defences in the league last season, conceding just 46 goals in 38 games. This resulted in the high-profile departures of two of their star men in the back though, left-back Milos Kerkez and central defender Dean Huijsen, for respectively £40 million (to Liverpool) and £50 million (to Real Madrid). As a result, we opted for a careful stance with regard to fantasy assets from the Cherry defence and went for a third attacking option. Evanilson (£7.0) was a fixed feature in Iraola’s starting lineup, which resulted in 28 league starts. In those 28 league starts, he managed 10 goals and 5 assists for a total of 128 FPL points. To be honest, and keeping Bournemouth’s complicated set of opening fixtures in mind, we see a few good alternatives for Evanilson in his current price bracket, but if you are set on picking three Cherries for your Gameweek 1 squad, the Brazilian could be a smart fantasy pick.
BRENTFORD – General preview for 2025/26
The 2025-2026 season represents a fresh start for Brentford in at last one big way. Manager Thomas Frank was replaced by Keith Andrews, after the former expressed his desire to continue his career at Tottenham Hotspur. The Danish manager had been at the head of the Bees since 2018, when he was promoted from assistant coach (which he had been since 2016) to head coach after the departure of Dean Smith. What followed was one of the most successful periods in the club’s history, with promotion to the Premier League in 2021 as the highlight. Frank then managed 13th place, 9th place and 16th place in the club’s first three years after returning to the Prem after a 74-year absence, and finished in 10th place last season.
In many ways, last season was a season of extremes for Brentford. The Bees were entertaining, but unpredictable, and they flirted with European football for large parts of the season, only to fall short in the final stretch. Attack-wise, Brentford was simply a pleasure to watch: 66 goals scored in 38 league games, a tally only surpassed by Liverpool, Manchester City, Arsenal and Newcastle. Defensively though, only relegated Southampton and Ipswich Town conceded more goals at home than the Bees: 35 goals in 18 home games.
The big challenge for Brentford this season will be to try and match last season’s performance, despite the ups and downs. The Bees did not only lose their head coach, but also three key players. Star player and topscorer Bryan Mbeumo moved to Manchester United for £65 million, holding midfielder Christian Norgaard was brought in by Arsenal for £10 million and goalkeeper Mark Flekken left to Bayer Leverkusen for approximately £8 million. The latter was replaced with Liverpool’s Caoimhin Keller, while the young Antony Milambo was brought in from Feyenoord to boast the attack. The main transfer up until this point might well be Jordan Henderson though, who was brought in from Ajax Amsterdam on a free.
Brentford: Tactical preview 2025/26
As we wrote before, Brentford go into the 2025-2026 campaign with a new manager in the person of Keith Andrews. It therefore remains to be seen how the Bees will exactly line up come Gameweek 1. Having said that, the expectation that he will largely build on what was left behind by Frank, as Andrews has been involved with Brentford as a set-piece coach since last summer.
This means that we do not expect the Bees to suddenly turn into a dull side full of machines executing their tasks mechanically. Andrews has built a reputation as a tactically astute and flexible manager with a talent for set-piece creativity. We expect improved defensive solidity under the Irish manager, which is necessary after last season but which also might impact their attacking patterns a bit. At the same time, the Bees are likely to maintain their aggressive type of play, pressing all over the pitch and getting balls into the danger areas as soon as possible. It will also be interesting to see if he manages to continue the club’s reputation for developing young players into world-class footballers, especially considering the departure of their best attacker, Bryan Mbeumo.
BRENTFORD – Potential FPL picks
Those fantasy managers who want to bring in a Brentford player into their Gameweek 1 squad can hardly look past Yoane Wissa (£7.5m). In the shadow of Bryan Mbeumo, Wissa had a fantastic 2024-2025 Premier League campaign, scoring 18 goals and providing 6 assists for a total of 185 FPL points. Like Mbeumo did after the departure of star striker Ivan Toney, Wissa will be expected to step up now that Mbeumo has left for Old Trafford. This also explains why the DR Congo international currently sits in around 8% of all Gameweek 1 squads. If he manages to match or even surpass his performance from last season, his £7.5m starting price tag will represent a bargain, despite the heavy competition amongst forwards in the mid-price bracket.
Rather surprisingly perhaps, newly brought in goalkeeper Caoimhin Keller (£4.5m) is currently the most-selected goalkeeper in the official fantasy game and by quite a mile. As we write this, the former Liverpool goalie, who moved to Brentford for around £12.5 million this summer, sits pretty in over 31% of all Gameweek 1 squads. Considering the fact that the Irishman started just 10 league games for the Reds last season, that shows how highly many fantasy managers rate him. To get a bit of a better idea of his FPL potential, it is also interesting to look at how his predecessor Mark Flekken fared under former manager Thomas Frank. As a result of their playing style, the Bees conceded the second-most overall shots of all teams in the Prem, but allowed only the seventh-fewest big chances. In other words, there were plenty of save points for Flekken to gather. If last season is anything to go by for the upcoming season, that would benefit Keller’s Fantasy Premier League fantasy potential as well, especially as a budget-friendly goalkeeper.
Besides Wissa and Keller, we personally do not see any really attractive fantasy assets on the Brentford roster, especially not with their so-so opening set of fixtures. Having said that, if you are looking for a differential pick for your Gameweek 1 squad, Mikkel Damsgaard (£6.0m) could be worth a gander. The Danish midfielder scored 2 goals last season, which is not a lot, but he also gave 11 assists. Only Liverpool’s Mohamed Salah (18 assists) and Newcastle’s Jacob Murphy (12) managed more throughout the 2024-2025 campaign. On top of that, Damsgaard was also amongst the ten best players in the entire league in terms of chance creation, with 63 created chances. We therefore expect him to be one of the players new manager Keith Andrews will look to when it comes to absorbing the loss of Bryan Mbeumo this season.
For further discussions have a look at FISO’s FPL forum.