Before we start this FPL Gameweek 15 preview, we want to emphasise that, at the moment of writing, two games of mid-week Gameweek 14 have not been played yet.

• Fulham v Brighton (Thursday, December 5^th, 19h30 UK time)
• Bournemouth v Spurs (Thursday, December 5^th, 20h15 UK time)

Considering the current form of some of the players involved in the games above plus the fact that Bournemouth (away at Ipswich Town) and Brighton (away at Leicester City) have relatively favourable fixtures this weekend, we recommend keeping an eye on these games and trying to postpone any transfers until after the final whistle tonight, at least.

The main fixtures to focus on from a fantasy point of view though, apart from the two mentioned above, are Liverpool’s visit to Everton for the Merseyside Derby at noon on Saturday, Manchester City’s visit to Crystal Palace and perhaps most of all, Aston Villa’s home game against Southampton. Also keep in mind that Gameweek 15 has a game on Monday night as well, between hot-and-cold West Ham whose manager is under the threat of the sack and Wolves (where West Ham’s manager was in charge previously) in London.

Don’t forget, the deadline for gameweek 15 is set at 11h00 (UK time) on Saturday, December 7^th, 2024. The free to play FPL or pay to play season/weekend/daily games like FanTeam are ideal ways of following the Premier League action.

Most transferred in/transferred out players (as per December 5^th, 2024)

Premium pick

While we think that, purely fixture-wise, Man City’s visit to Crystal Palace is slightly more favourable than Liverpool’s Merseyside Derby at Goodison Park, we currently just don’t see a way past Mohamed Salah (£13.2m). Where Erling Haaland, who would be the pick of the bunch at City in this category, has been underwhelming of late, Liverpool’s Egyptian talisman just kept on delivering. Salah has now returned at least one attacking return in each of his last eight Premier League games and he has blanked in only two league games so far, overall. He has collected 151 FPL points already, courtesy of 13 goals and 8 assists, which puts him on track for his best season ever. His best season so far? The 2017-2018 campaign when he scored 32 goals, gave 12 assists and amassed a record 303 FPL points. And while the upcoming game at Everton will be far from a walk in the park, we would not be surprised to see Salah record his fifth double-digit haul in a row at Goodison Park for the Gameweek 15 opener.

Non-premium pick

Aston Villa probably have the best fixture of Gameweek 15 on paper as they prepare for a visit to Saint Mary’s on Saturday afternoon. Southampton are dead last in the league at the moment of writing with just 5 points from their first 14 games although should have more players back than they had last night. Only Wolves have conceded more goals than them (30 goals conceded for Southampton vs. 36 for Wolves), while no team has scored as few goals as them (just 11 goals scored so far). The Saints are, in all honesty, looking a bit out of their depth in the Premier League this season and a visit to Villa Park this weekend is probably not going to make them feel much better. That’s why we have gone with Ollie Watkins (£9.0m) as our non-premium fantasy pick for Gameweek 15. The Villa forward is a reliable goalscorer who has not been overwhelming so far this season, but who has been ticking along nicely, nonetheless. With 7 goals and 3 assists from 14 league starts, including 1 goal and 1 assist versus Brentford in GW14, Watkins is once again a key player for his side. Southampton at home looks like the perfect opportunity for Villa to close in on the top four again and for Watkins to work on his tallies.

The budget enabler

Based on Villa’s favourable fixture for Gameweek 15, we are taking our budget fantasy pick of the week from the Villans roster as well. Of course, in the case of Morgan Rogers (£5.3m), it’s not just the fixture that makes him appealing, but his price tag and his hauls as well. At a bargain price of just £5.3m, the young winger has been delivering excellent value to the roughly 20% of fantasy managers who own him at the moment. A total of 4 goals and 2 assists from 14 league starts, including a goal against Brentford a few days ago, is nothing short of impressive for such a cheap attacker. And one that is classified as a midfielder in the official fantasy game, by the way. Rogers is a nailed-down part of Villa’s starting eleven and with Nottingham Forest away coming up after Saturday’s home encounter with Southampton, we can see him being one of the official game’s stand-out budget gems for some time to come.

The differential

Last Saturday, Justin Kluivert (£5.4m) became the first player ever to score a hattrick of penalties in a Premier League game. The oldest son of Ajax, Barcelona and Netherlands legend Patrick Kluivert converted three spot kicks against Wolves at Molineux to help his side to a precious 2-4 victory, raking a massive 20-point haul in the process for the roughly 2% of managers who owned him at that point. His inclusion in this article as our differential fantasy pick for Gameweek 15 comes with some additional risk though, as Bournemouth still need to play their GW14 game with Spurs tonight before starting their preparation for the visit to Ipswich Town on Sunday and will have their star player Semenyo back from suspension. We expect Kluivert to start both games, as he has done for the Cherries in the last five games, and we see potential for him in both. Against Spurs, he will be opposite attacking full-back Pedro Porro, while Ipswich have one of the leakiest defences in the league overall at the moment. With a current ownership of just 2.8%, Kluivert could be a real differential addition to your FPL squad, without having to break the bank.

The (vice-)captaincy

Mo Salah has no equal in the Premier League at this moment, at least not in terms of FPL. He is our captain for Liverpool’s visit to Goodison Park at noon on Saturday.

Despite not scoring in the 3-0 mid-week victory over Bournemouth, Erling Haaland remains a great alternative for the armband. Our second choice in Gameweek 15 would be Ollie Watkins or Morgan Rogers though, for Villa’s home encounter with Southampton. More differential captaincy picks include Bukayo Saka away at Fulham, Justin Kluivert away at Bournemouth and Jarrod Bowen at home to Wolves on Monday.

For further thoughts and discussions (including minleagues and side games) on the FPL season visit FISO’s FPL forum.

A sneak-peek of what’s about to come, that’s how we see Gameweek 14. In the middle of the regular Premier League schedule and European football obligations, we’ve got a midweek matchday on our hands, in preparation of the highly anticipated (and extremely fixture-congested) Christmas period. Just about 48 hours after the final whistle of GW13’s closing clash between Liverpool and Manchester City, Ipswich Town and Crystal Palace are set to kick off FPL GW14 at Portman Road.

Generally, when Manchester City play at home to Nottingham Forest, we would highlight that game as one to watch for fantasy managers. At the moment though, City are going through an unprecedented dip of form, while Forest are actually having one of the best season starts in their entire history. In other words, it’s 5th placed against 6th place at the Etihad on Saturday.

Fixture-wise, Gameweek 14 is looking tight overall, with Chelsea away at Southampton probably being the stand-out fixture from a fantasy point of view. Arsenal at home to Manchester United under their new manager will be interesting as well, as will Aston Villa at home to Brentford, both on Saturday. On Sunday, Brighton’s visit to Fulham and Spurs visit to Bournemouth look like they have some potential for goals.

Don’t forget, the deadline for gameweek 14 is set at 18h00 (UK time) on Tuesday, December 3^rd, 2024. The free to play FPL or pay to play season/weekend/daily games like FanTeam are ideal ways of following the Premier League action.

Most transferred in/transferred out players (as per December 2^nd, 2024)

Premium pick

In his current form, Mohamed Salah is always a good shout as premium fantasy, but based on fixtures (and to vary a bit), we’re going with Cole Palmer (£11.0m) for this midweek gameweek. Where Liverpool are visiting Newcastle in Gameweek 14, Chelsea are rolling up to Saint Mary’s to face Southampton. Palmer is coming off a match-winning performance against Aston Villa, in which he got 14 FPL points courtesy of a cracking goal, an assist and 3 bonus points, and the Saints boast one of the leakiest defences in the league. Only Wolves, West Ham United and Brentford have conceded more goals than Southampton (11) in front of their own fans so far, while only Wolves and Leicester City have conceded more goals overall (25). Chelsea, meanwhile, haven’t lost in five and are co-leading the chasing pack behind leaders Liverpool, while Palmer himself is showing that his impressive last season wasn’t a fluke. After scoring 22 goals and providing 13 assists last season, the England international already has 8 goals and 6 assists from 13 league starts to his name this season.

Non-premium pick

In the shadows of his playmaking teammate, Nicolas Jackson (£8.1m) has been ticking along nicely as well. As a matter of fact, while Palmer is top of most scouting lists thanks to his 8 goals and 6 assists from 12 starts, Jackson is flying considerably lower on the radar, despite also having 8 goals and 4 assists from 13 league starts to his name. The Colombia international scored twice and gave 1 assist in his last two games, and scored 4 goals and gave 1 assists over his last six games, which is showing good recent form as well. Like Palmer, Jackson also has Chelsea’s appealing set of fixtures to offer, with their next eleven Gameweeks including home games against Brentford, Fulham, Bournemouth and Wolves, and visits to Southampton, Everton, Ipswich Town and Crystal Palace. He has conquered a starting spot in manager Enzo Maresca’s starting eleven and we wouldn’t be surprised to see a few hauls from him between now and Gameweek 24.

The budget enabler

If you’re looking for a cheap forward to free up some budget, Liam Delap (£5.6m) could be a shrewd investment over the short to medium term. The former Manchester City youngster is having a great break-through season at Ipswich Town, scoring 6 goals and providing 1 assist in his first twelve league starts for the Tractor Boys. The best performance of his season so far came against Spurs back in GW11, when a goal and an assist were enough for a 1-2 victory, Ipswich’ only 3-pointer in the league so far this season. Delap did not manage to record any returns since then, though it should be mentioned that he faced Man United in GW12 and Nottingham Forest in GW13, but we see potential for points from his side over the coming gameweeks. Up next are Crystal Palace at home, followed by Bournemouth at home and then a visit to Wolves. Ipswich will be eyeing these fixtures to take some points from if they want to try and avoid being stuck in the relegation battle for the rest of the season.

The differential

These past two gameweeks, we might as well have called our differential fantasy pick category the “Get ‘m while it’s hot” category, as we’re including Martin Odegaard (£8.3m) here for the third gameweek in a row. The Arsenal captain returned from a long stint on the sidelines in Gameweek 11 and has been delivering ever since: 7 FPL points in GW 11 (1 assist), 6 FPL points in GW12 (1 assist) and 8 FPL points last weekend, thanks to his penalty against West Ham. Odegaard is a undisputed part of manager Mikel Arteta’s starting eleven, but his injury earlier this season has resulted in a current ownership of just 5.2%. This makes him one of the official fantasy game’s most under-owned (i.e. most differential) players at the moment of writing and we don’t expect him to be eligible for the differential fantasy pick category much longer. In all honestly, Arsenal’s next fixture is not the easiest as Man United visit the Emirates, but after that it’s Fulham away, Everton at home, Crystal Palace away, Ipswich Town home and Brentford away for the Gunners.

The (vice-)captaincy

For Gameweek 14, we are placing the armband on Cole Palmer for Chelsea’s visit to Southampton. If you don’t have Palmer or can’t bring him in, Mo Salah in his current form is the go-to captain this gameweek.

Other alternatives for the captaincy in Gameweek 14 are Erling Haaland at home to Nottingham Forest, Nicolas Jackson away at Southampton and Bukayo Saka at home to Manchester United. Riskier armband picks include Chris Wood against Man City’s shaky defensive centre and Liam Delap at home to Crystal Palace in the gameweek opener.

For further thoughts and discussions (including minleagues and side games) on the FPL season visit FISO’s FPL forum.

It’s probably a surprise that James Maddison recorded the highest score of the gameweek last weekend. In what can only be described as a demolition of the reigning champions, who are going through an unprecedented form dip at the moment, Spurs beat Manchester City 0-4 at the Etihad and Maddison was one of the big men for the visitors. Within 20 minutes, the England international had a brace to his name, scoring the 0-1 and 0-2, and bringing the roughly 7% who owned him a fantastic 16 FPL points.

Including the 4-1 defeat at the hands of Sporting Lisbon and the 3-3 draw with Feyenoord at home (after leading 3-0 in the 75^th minute) in the Champions League, Man City are now five games without a win, and in Gameweek 13, they’ve got a visit to Anfield coming up. It is, of course, still very early in the season, but considering the current 8-point gap between leaders Liverpool and 2nd placed Man City, we might carefully call this an all-or-nothing encounter for the Cityzens.

Liverpool v Man City is obviously the clash of the weekend for the neutral fans, but there is much more on offer for the fantasy managers amongst us. The GW13 opener between Brighton and Southampton, for example, should attract plenty of interest, as should Brentford (i.e. Bryan Mbeumo) at home to Leicester City and the surprise of the season so far Nottingham Forest at home to Ipswich Town, both on Saturday. On Sunday, Chelsea are hosting Aston Villa, Manchester United play at home against Everton and Spurs, coming off their impressive victory over Man City, welcome Fulham to North London.

Don’t forget, the deadline for gameweek 13 is set at 18h30 (UK time) on Friday, November 29^th, 2024. The free to play FPL or pay to play season/weekend/daily games like FanTeam are ideal ways of following the Premier League action.

Most transferred in/transferred out players (as per November 27^th, 2024)

Premium pick

“Well, we are almost in December and I haven’t received any offers yet to stay in the club. I’m probably more out than in”. Those were the words that dominated Scoucer media after Liverpool’s 2-3 Gameweek 12 victory over Southampton, spoken by none other than Mohamed Salah (£13.1m). Of course, we don’t know what’s playing behind the scenes at Anfield and we assume the management there will do everything possible to keep their star player at home, but it does seem unusual for a club to leave their talisman in uncertainty like that. It doesn’t seem to be affecting his performances though, as he is currently head and shoulders above any other player in the official fantasy game. Ten goals and 6 assists from twelve league starts have resulted in 120 FPL points, with Chelsea’s Cole Palmer closest behind him with 86 FPL points. In other words, if there is any player who can further immerse Manchester City in crisis, it’s Salah, when the Cityzens visit Anfield on Sunday afternoon.

Non-premium pick

With a home game against Leicester on the cards for Gameweek 13, we would ordinarily recommend Bryan Mbeumo as our recommended non-premium fantasy pick, but we have decided against that due to Brentford’s tough run of fixtures up until Gameweek 19. So instead, we have opted for the early-replacement move of the Cameroonian that millions of managers will likely need to make after Gameweek 13. Thanks to a very kind upcoming schedule on paper, our choice is Brighton’s Kaoru Mitoma (£6.4m), who is starting a run of seven appealing fixtures with a home game against Southampton on Friday. The Japanese winger got his second goal of the season last weekend at Bournemouth, bringing his totals for the season so far to 2 goals and 3 assists in 11 Premier League starts. On top of that, if you are one of the managers who would consider this move to replace Mbeumo, it’s also more than worth noting that it will free up a lovely £1.5m for your budget as a bonus.

The budget enabler

If Mitoma is not on your mind, but you do feel like investing in a Brighton asset to get in on their appealing run of upcoming fixtures, Georginio Rutter (£5.6m) looks great. Despite having worked himself into the starting eleven back in Gameweek 3, and scoring 2 goals and providing 4 assists since then, the 22-year-old has largely been flying under the radar so far. Those are excellent numbers for a £5.6m midfielder, but Rutter still sits in just 1.7% of all squads at the time of writing. As a matter of fact, striker Danny Welbeck (66) and the previously mentioned Kaoru Mitoma (47) are the only Brighton players to record more FPL points than Rutter’s 45 although talisman forward Jao Pedro has only recently returned from injury and is another option. The Frenchman also combines a promising run of fixtures with great current form, as he has blanked only twice since his goal at Stamford Bridge back in Gameweek 6. If you need to free up some budget, Rutter is your man, and if you’re doing good budget-wise, we recommend putting him high up on your scouting list for Gameweek 13 and beyond.

The differential

We recommended Martin Odegaard (£8.2m) as a stand-out differential fantasy pick last week and we are repeating that pick for Gameweek 13. The Norwegian playmaker and Arsenal captain missed about two months of Premier League action due to injury and came back into the Gunners’ starting eleven in Gameweek 11, where he immediately delivered the assist for the only goal against Chelsea in a 1-1 draw. Odegaard then repeated that feat last weekend for Arsenal’s 3-0 victory over Nottingham Forest as he set up the opening goal by Bukayo Saka. Up next are West Ham away, where we would not be surprised to see the Norwegian midfielder make it three consecutive Premier League games with at least one attacking return. The Hammers have already conceded 19 goals this season and their start to the 2024-2025 campaign has been underwhelming to say the least, with a 14^th place after twelve games. Odegaard is also a nice fantasy pick on the longer term, as Arsenal are facing Man United (home), Fulham (away), Everton (home), Crystal Palace (away) and Ipswich Town (home) after Gameweek 13.

The (vice-)captaincy

Liverpool are playing against the reigning champions Manchester City on Sunday, but the combination of Mo Salah’s form this season and Man City’s crisis at the moment makes us confident to put the armband on the Egyptian’s arm.

Decent alternatives for the captaincy in Gameweek 13 are Brentford’s Bryan Mbeumo at home to Leicester City on Saturday afternoon, Nottingham Forest striker Chris Wood at home to Ipswich Town at the same time, and Chelsea’s Cole Palmer at home to Aston on Sunday. Wolves forward Matheus Cunha at home to Bournemouth is our differential captaincy shout for GW13.

For further thoughts and discussions on the new FPL season visit FISO’s FPL forum.

As is usual after an international break, a big part of your preparation for the next gameweek should focus on following the injury and fitness news with regard to Premier League players. And as it stands, it looks like there’s plenty of it, unfortunately. A host of popular fantasy picks have come out of the international break with flags to their name in FPL the official fantasy game, including the likes of Chelsea’s Cole Palmer, Nottingham Forest’s Ola Aina and Brentford’s Bryan Mbeumo. Therefore, keep an eye on the press conferences in the build-up to the GW12 deadline on Saturday morning and try to postpone final transfer decisions as long as you can, within the context of your squad needs.

Fixture-wise, from an FPL point of view, gameweek 12 looks interesting. On paper, most of the teams in the current top four have an appealing fixture: Liverpool is visiting Southampton, Arsenal is hosting surprise-of-the-season-so-far Nottingham Forest and Chelsea are opening GW12 with a visit to Leicester City. Reigning champions Manchester City are playing at home, but they are facing Tottenham Hotspur, which in theory looks like the hardest fixture out of the four, especially considering their current dip in form.

Don’t forget, the deadline for gameweek 12 is set at 11h00 (UK time) on Saturday, November 23^rd, 2024. The free to play FPL or pay to play season/weekend/daily games like FanTeam are ideal ways of following the Premier League action.

Most transferred in/transferred out players (as per November 21^st, 2024)

Premium pick

Mohamed Salah (£12.9m) is at, at the moment of writing, the most-transferred-in midfielder and in fact, the most-transferred-in player overall in the official fantasy game. More than 386,000 managers have already brought in the Egyptian talisman for Liverpool’s Gameweek 12 encounter with Southampton and with good reason. Under new manager Arne Slot, he has simply gone on with what he had been doing for years under Jurgen Klopp: beating opponents, scoring goals and deciding games. Salah has 8 goals and 6 assists from eleven league starts so far this season, and no other player in the entire league beats his current 107 FPL points. In other words, how could we not recommend him as our stand-out premium fantasy pick for Gameweek 12 when he is about to face a Saints side that has already shipped 21 goals in eleven games?

Non-premium pick

Up until Gameweek 9, Bruno Fernandes (£8.4m) had just two measly assists to his name, despite starting in in every league game. The Portuguese playmakers was definitely dragged down with the rest of the team in a season that was perhaps one season too many for former manager Erik ten Hag at the Man United helm. Since the Dutchman was replaced by interim manager (and club legend) Ruud van Nistelrooy and now by Sporting Lisbon manager Ruben Amorim, Bruno has been on fire, though. In Gameweek 10, he scored the only goal for his side in a 1-1 draw with Chelsea at Old Trafford and in Gameweek 11, he grabbed a goal and 2 assists against Leicester at home. Up next is Ipswich Town away on Sunday, followed by Everton at home in Gameweek 13. Bruno played just one game over the international break as well, getting a goal against Poland on November 15^th, which will only have been good for both his confidence and his fitness. We don’t want to speak of a bandwagon yet, but now could be a very good moment to get on the Portuguese playmaker.

The budget enabler

By now, almost 22% of FPL managers have discovered Morgan Rogers (£5.4m), who is exploding onto the Premier League scene for Aston Villa this season. His current price tag still very much qualifies him for our budget fantasy pick category though, which is great, especially when looking at Villa’s upcoming schedule. On Saturday, they are playing at home to Crystal Palace, followed by Chelsea away in GW13, Brentford and Southampton (both home) in GW14 and GW15 respectively, and Nottingham Forest away in GW16. Rogers has conquered a starting spot in Villa’s starting eleven and currently has 3 goals and 2 assists to show for it, which is a great return when you consider his current price tag. In our opinion, if your squad is in need of a fifth (or even a fourth) midfielder due to budget constraints, there are few options better than Rogers.

The differential

After two impressive seasons as Arsenal captain, with 15 goals and 8 assists in the 2022-23 season and 8 goals and 11 assists in the 2023-24 season, it’s strange to see Martin Odegaard (£8.2m) in our differential fantasy pick category. The reason for it is simple though, because the Norwegian has been out injured since Gameweek 4. He returned to the fold in Gameweek 11 though, and immediately made an impact as he provided the assist for his side’s only goal in the 1-1 draw at Stamford Bridge. As he completed the 90 minutes and collected 2 bonus points as well, he returned 7 FPL points on his return to Premier League action. You can expect Odegaard to be part of manager Mikel Arteta’s starting eleven going forward, as he is not just Arsenal’s captain but also their creative brain, starting with the upcoming home game against Nottingham Forest. The Tricky Trees are having a fantastic start to the season and form goes a long way, but we are still counting on Arsenal to take the three points here. How else are the expecting to fight for the title again this season?

The (vice-)captaincy

As far as we are concerned, Mohamed Salah is the stand-out captain for Gameweek 12. Liverpool are visiting Southampton on Sunday and the Saints are currently bottom of the table. Only Wolves (27) and Ipswich Town (22) have conceded more goals than Southampton (21) so far, and we don’t think their goal difference will be much better after this Gameweek.

Good alternatives to Salah, who is currently owned by about 51% of all FPL managers, are Ollie Watkins at home to Crystal Palace, Bruno Fernandes for Man United’s visit to Ipswich and Alexander Isak at home to West Ham on Monday night.

For further thoughts and discussions on the new FPL season visit FISO’s FPL forum.

So, Nottingham Forest are in third place after ten gameweeks. The Crazy Trees, who only barely managed to secure their Premier League status for at least one more season at the end of last season, booked their fifth victory of the current season last weekend by convincingly dispatching of West Ham United in front of their own fans. It’s therefore no surprise that yet again a Forest player was amongst the best-performing players in the official Fantasy Premier League game in Gameweek 10. Only Dominik Solanke (16 FPL points) managed to outscore Forest full-back Ola Aina, who recorded 15 FPL points, courtesy of a clean sheet and a goal. Fulham midfielder Harry Wilson completed the GW10 podium with a 13-pointer after his two injury time goals from the subs bench, while Callum Hudson-Odoi was the second Forest player to make it into last weekend’s Team of the Week (10 points).

It will be interesting to see to what extent Nottingham Forest will be able to continue their excellent form at home against Newcastle on Sunday. Despite their performances so far, we think that many managers will still be opting for other players mostly in Gameweek 11. From a fantasy perspective, the encounter between Spurs and Ipswich Town in London stands out especially, while Manchester United versus Leicester at Old Trafford could also bring the home side some goals. Leaders Liverpool host Aston Villa, which automatically brings Reds assets into the mix as well. The big clashes of the week take place on Saturday evening (Brighton vs. Manchester City) and Sunday evening (Chelsea vs. Arsenal).

Don’t forget, the deadline for gameweek 11 is set at 13h30 (UK time) on Saturday, November 9^th, 2024. The free to play FPL or pay to play season/weekend/daily games like FanTeam are ideal ways of following the Premier League action.

Most transferred in/transferred out players (as per November 7^th, 2024)

Premium pick

Aston Villa are having a decent season so far, taking 18 points from the first ten league games and currently finding themselves in 6^th place, just off the top four on goal difference. At the same time, the Villans did already concede 15 goals as well, which is not a crazy amount, but it doesn’t exactly say “impenetrable fortress” either. And any team that can’t say that about themselves is potentially in trouble when they are about to visit Liverpool, which is the case this weekend. We are therefore going with Mohamed Salah (£12.8m) as our premium fantasy pick for Gameweek 11, when the Reds host Aston Villa on Saturday night. As for Salah, the numbers really kind of speak for themselves. The Egyptian talisman already has 7 goals and 5 assists to his name, including 4 goals and an assist in his last five league outings. Liverpool have come out of the starting blocks extremely strong in their first season under Dutch manager Arne Slot, leading both the Premier League and the Champions League, and we expect them to continue this form on Saturday, hopefully with a main role for Mo Salah.

Non-premium pick

Are we chasing the points by recommending Dominic Solanke (£7.7m) as our non-premium fantasy pick for Gameweek 11? Perhaps. Can the former Bournemouth star repeat his performance from last week against Ipswich Town at home this weekend, though? Same answer. The forward, who moved to London for about £65 million, has had a bit of an up-and-down start to life at Spurs, in part due to an injury earlier this season, but overall, it hasn’t been as bad as some people make it out to be. Solanke has scored 4 goals and provided 2 assists in eight league starts already, with the highlight of his season so far coming in Gameweek 10. With a brace and one assist, he helped his side to book a resounding 4-1 win over Aston Villa. He is now up against an injury-plagued Ipswich defence, and we feel confident that Solanke can make it back-to-back games with at least one attacking return for the second time this season.

The budget enabler

Now, we mentioned earlier on in this piece that many fantasy managers will likely look past Nottingham Forest assets this week as the Crazy Trees prepare to host Newcastle United, but that doesn’t mean that we will. They find themselves in third place currently and while the offensive players have taken much of the spotlight (read: Chris Wood), Forest actually boast an impressive defence as well. In ten league games so far, they have conceded just seven goals; only leaders Liverpool do better with 6 conceded goals. We are therefore taking the opportunity to include a goalkeeper in our gameweek preview, something we don’t do very often. Matz Sels (£4.6m) has been phenomenal of late though, especially considering his price tag. The Belgian shot stopper collected 22 FPL points over the last three gameweeks, courtesy of 2 clean sheets, 8 saves, 3 bonus points and 1 assist. He is leading a defence that has already recorded four clean sheets this season and a fifth one might just be on the way. Newcastle are visiting the City Ground on Sunday afternoon and the Magpies have scored 10 goals in their first ten league games of the season. They do, of course, have the phenomenal Alexander Isak back up front, but if you’re looking for a good budget addition to your squad, Forest goalkeeper Sels looks like a great pick.

The differential

Life is not calm at Old Trafford at the moment and plenty has been said about their bad start to the season, which culminated in the sacking of manager Erik ten Hag. Under interim manager Ruud van Nistelrooy, the Red Devils have shown very clear attacking intent, seemingly at the cost of some defensive stability (as far as United has had any stability so far this season). This could be an interesting situation for Bruno Fernandes (£8.2m), as he has returned handsomely in the first two games under Van the Man. He scored a brace in the League Cup versus Leicester and then scored against Chelsea in the Premier League as well. United now have Leicester City at home again, this time in the Prem, followed by Ipswich away in Gameweek 12 and Everton at home in Gameweek 13. In other words, if you’re looking for a differential with a considerable ceiling, Fernandes could be your man, on the short to medium term at least. The Portuguese playmaker currently sits in 7.9% of all teams, but if he delivers a couple more attacking returns over that run, he might very well cross the 10% threshold soon and no longer be considered a true differential fantasy pick.

The (vice-)captaincy

Our captain for Gameweek 11 is Mohamed Salah as 1st placed Liverpool host Aston Villa, the current number eight in the table.

Interesting alternatives for the armband include the on-fire Bryan Mbeumo at home to Bournemouth, Bruno Fernandes at home to Leicester and Dominic Solanke at home to Ipswich Town. There is also, of course, Erling Haaland for Manchester City’s visit to Brighton, but the Norwegian’s goal-scoring mania has cooled down considerably over the past few gameweeks.

For further thoughts and discussions on the new FPL season visit FISO’s FPL forum.

Not to toot our own horn (too much), but two of our Gameweek 9 fantasy picks earned themselves a spot in the Team of the Week last weekend. Brentford’s Bryan Mbeumo, our recommended fantasy pick in the non-premium budget category even managed to grab the Player of the Week award by scoring a brace against Ipswich Town for 15 FPL points. Chris Wood, who we mentioned as a potentially rewarding budget fantasy pick, scored a brace as well, at the King Power Stadium in his case, for 13 FPL points. The third spot on the podium was reserved for Fulham’s Alex Iwobi and Ipswich Town’s George Hirst, who both brought home 11 FPL points.

At first glance, the fixtures in Gameweek 10 don’t look as clear cut as those in Gameweek 9 did. For FPL managers, Manchester City’s visit to Bournemouth on Saturday looks enticing, as does Liverpool’s home game against Brighton, though the Seagulls are in excellent form at the moment. Then again, the Reds did just eliminate them from the League Cup (3-2). Gameweek 10 looks more like one for the neutral viewers with high-profile clashes between Newcastle and Arsenal (to kick off GW10), Spurs and Aston Villa (as opening fixture on Sunday) and Manchester United at home to Chelsea on Sunday afternoon.

Don’t forget, the deadline for gameweek 10 is set at 11h00 (UK time) on Saturday, November 2^nd, 2024. The free to play FPL or pay to play season/weekend/daily games like FanTeam are ideal ways of following the Premier League action.

Most transferred in/transferred out players (as per October 31^st, 2024)

Premium pick

Once again, there is very little between the two giants of the Fantasy Premier League, Mo Salah and Erling Haaland (£15.4m) this weekend. The former is playing at home against Brighton, but got about 20 minutes in the League Cup Round of 16 a few days ago, while the latter is visiting Bournemouth after not playing in the League Cup at all this week. Besides that, the other two fantasy assets priced £10m or more at this moment, Cole Palmer and Bukayo Saka, have Man United away and Newcastle away, respectively. Considering all of the above, we have decided to go with Haaland as our premium fantasy pick for Gameweek 10. He will be fresh and rested, and facing a team that has had a decent start to the season so far, but that should concede versus City as well. The Cherries have conceded 11 goals in 9 games and managed just one clean sheet, back in GW8 at home to Arsenal. We don’t expect this one to be a walk in the park for Manchester City, but we definitely see chances here for Haaland to work on his current numbers: 11 goals in ten league starts.

Non-premium pick

On Thursday (October 31^st), Nottingham Forest boss Nuno Espirito Santo said the following: “Morgan [Gibbs-White] is one of the players inside that group that we have to assess and see how he is. Chris [Wood] also, and Elliot [Anderson] and Jota [Silva]. They have knocks”. The reason we are quoting the Forest manager here is because we have decided to move Chris Wood (£6.4m) from the budget fantasy pick category to the non-premium fantasy pick category after his brace at Leicester City last weekend. Not because £6.4m is not great value for the Kiwi striker in his current form (because it is), but because there are plenty of other even cheaper budget enablers who also deserve a shout. Wood is currently flagged in the official fantasy game though, with a 75% chance of playing and we personally think that he will be present by the time Forest kick off against West Ham on Saturday. The forward has now returned in three consecutive league games and sits on 7 goals from nine league starts in total. As we said before, at his current price, that’s excellent value for money.

The budget enabler

If you come into the Premier League as a regular starter for the first time, for a side that has just been promoted and that boasts the smallest budget in the league, and you sit on 5 goals after nine league games; hats off. This has been a very brief resumé of Liam Delap’s (£5.7m) so far, after moving from the Manchester City U21s to Ipswich Town last summer for about £20 million. The 21-year-old has needed no time to get used to his new club or to being a Premier League regular, having already collected 38 FPL points in the first nine games of the current season. The Tractor Boys are now preparing for a home game against Leicester City, who have already conceded 17 goals so far, followed by two difficult games against Spurs (away) and Manchester United (home). After that though, it’s Nottingham Forest away, Crystal Palace at home, Bournemouth at home and Wolves away for the new boys. Like the rest of his team mates, Delap is surely looking at that run as well to score a few goals and collect a few more points before the schedule turns more complicated again.

The differential

If we’re talking about the biggest disappointments of the 2024-25 Premier League campaign so far, Wolves are probably around the top of the list. The West Midlands club had a horrid start to the season, in big part thanks to their incredibly tough opening schedule, which explains why not a lot of their players have featured in our FPL Gameweek previews. They currently find themselves in 19^th place in the league with just 2 points from the first nine games, but if it’s up to Matheus Cunha (£6.5m), that won’t be for much longer. The 25-year-old attacker is getting into goal-scoring, having scored 3 goals in the last five games. It’s therefore no wonder that he is the highest-scoring Wolves player in the official fantasy game at the moment. That’s not all though, because Cunha also leads his teammates in goals scored (4), total shots (27), total shots in the box (19) and key passes (15). In other words, the Wolves attack ticks around the Brazilian and with the fixture schedule finally clearing up for Wolves, we suspect that he could represent considerable differential value (he’s currently owned by 3.8% of fantasy managers) all the way up to and including Gameweek 17.

The (vice-)captaincy

As far as we are concerned, the captaincy is once again a bit of a coin toss between Mohamed Salah and Erling Haaland. We are going with the latter, but to be honest, the former is just as a good pick for the armband in Gameweek 10.

If you want to move away from the Haaland-Salah debate, Gameweek 10 offers a few high-risk-high-reward options as well, including Chris Wood at home to West Ham United, Bukayo Saka away at Newcastle and Raul Jimenez at home to Brentford.

For further thoughts and discussions on the new FPL season visit FISO’s FPL forum.

Besides all the usual elements to take into account as preparation for a new FPL gameweek, European football is also a major factor this week. No less than seven teams are active in either the Champions League, the Europa League or the Conference League, and those seven teams represent a whole bunch of popular and potentially interesting fantasy assets. At the moment of writing, Arsenal, Aston Villa, Liverpool and Man City have so far played their European game this week, winning 1-0 (vs. Shaktar Donetsk), 2-0 (vs. Bologna), 0-1 (at RB Leipzig) and 5-0 (vs Sparta Prague) respectively.

As for the upcoming Gameweek 9, there is plenty on the agenda as well. Two of the sides active in Europe this week, Manchester City (at home vs Southampton) and Aston Villa (at home vs Bournemouth), have a favourable fixture this weekend. Brentford’s home game against Ipswich Town stands out as well, as does Brighton’s home game against Wolves. The major clashes take place on Sunday though, when Chelsea host Newcastle in the first game of the day and Arsenal welcome Liverpool to the Emirates for the closing fixture of the day (and the gameweek).

Don’t forget, the deadline for gameweek 9 is set at 18h30 (UK time) on Friday, October 25^th, 2024. The free to play FPL or pay to play season/weekend/daily games like FanTeam are ideal ways of following the Premier League action.

Most transferred in/transferred out players (as per October 23^rd, 2024)

Premium pick

It feels a bit strange writing this, but Erling Haaland (£15.4m) has not scored or assisted in his last three league games. The cannons of the man who scored 10 goals in the first five league games of the season seems to have dried up a bit, for the moment that is. This is still Erling Haaland we are talking about and it’s not like he did not get any chances in the past few games. Also, the Man City forward did get on the scoresheet in the Champions League (a double last night v Sparta Prague and against Slovan Bratislava earlier this month) and for Norway in the UEFA Nations League. During the last international break, Haaland scored a brace in the game versus Slovenia. In other words, we’re not worried and with Mo Salah visiting Arsenal on Sunday, the Norwegian looks like the stand-out premium fantasy pick for Gameweek 9. Especially when you know that Manchester City welcome 2nd bottom Southampton to the Etihad on Saturday afternoon.

Non-premium pick

If you are amongst the roughly 70% of FPL managers who don’t own Bryan Mbeumo (£7.6m) at this moment, then we recommend you consider bringing him in finally. The Cameroon international already featured in our FPL Gameweek Previews a few times already and he has been steadily delivering meanwhile. The Brentford attacker, who is listed as a midfielder in the official fantasy game, currently represents about everything you want from a fantasy asset: excellent form (6 goals in eight league starts), a key role in his team, a favourable run of fixtures, set-piece duties including penalties, and as a cherry on top, an affordable price tag. This weekend’s game at home to Ipswich is followed by Fulham away, Bournemouth (home), Everton (away) and Leicester (home) for Brentford. If you’re looking for a fairly priced midfielder with serious points potential and even alternative captaincy appeal over the coming few weeks, Mbeumo should probably be around the top of your list.

The budget enabler

Looking at the table, probably the biggest surprise of the 2024-25 Premier League season so far is Nottingham Forest. The Crazy Trees have taken an impressive 13 points from the first eight league games, positioning themselves in 8^th place in the process. One of the reasons why the form and results of Forest are great news for fantasy managers is that their roster is full of interesting budget options. For Gameweek 9, we have not looked much further than their highest-scoring player at this moment, Chris Wood (£6.3m). The New Zealand international leads the line for Forest and does so successfully, having scored 5 goals already. That’s exactly 62.5% of all goals scored by the entire side. In Gameweek 9, Forest are travelling to the King Power Stadium in Leicester. The local FC has already conceded 14 goals this season, though it should be said that just four of those were conceded in front of their own fans. Don’t expect Nottingham Forest to walk over Leicester here, as the Foxes have certainly circled this encounter as a must-win in their agendas as well, but currently, we consider the visitors slight favourites here.

The differential

Another forward as our differential fantasy pick for Gameweek 9 in the person of Raul Jimenez (£5.7m). Fantasy managers with some seasons under their belt already will light up when they hear this name, as the Mexican was a menace for most of the 2018-19 and 2019-20 season. Unfortunately, a serious head injury prevented Jimenez from keeping up the extraordinary performances from those seasons, but it looks like he is finding back some of his killer instinct this season. In the shirt of Fulham, who paid Wolves around £5.5 million for his services last summer, he is now on five straight league games with an attacking return: 4 goals and 1 assist for a total of 36 FPL points. And that’s not even the best yet, from a fantasy perspective at least, because you might still be on time to catch the Jimenez train. His ownership in the official fantasy game currently sits around 8% and Fulham have got a nice schedule coming up: Everton away this weekend, followed by Brentford (home), Palace (away) and Wolves (home). Don’t expect Jimenez to bring in back-to-back double-digit hauls, it was never his style, but we can easily see him add a few more attacking returns over the coming few gameweeks.

The (vice-)captaincy

Despite Mo Salah bringing in 25 FPL points over the last three league games, the same period of time over which Erling Haaland did not register a single attacking return, we are slapping the armband on the latter. The Norwegian is playing Southampton at home, while the Egyptian is playing Arsenal away from home.

Gameweek 9 is offering us a few very interesting alternative captaincy options though, especially for those who want to move away from the Haaland v Salah decision. Bryan Mbeumo at home to Ipswich Town and Ollie Watkins at home to Bournemouth look like solid FPL captains this weekend, while Chris Wood (at Leicester City) should have some appeal for the punters amongst us.

For further thoughts and discussions on the new FPL season visit FISO’s FPL forum.

Just before going into the second international break of the 2024-25 Premier League season, a familiar fantasy name took the spotlight quite unexpectedly. Michael Antonio, who has been part of the official fantasy game for ten seasons already, got a direct involvement in all four of West Ham’s goals against Ipswich Town (1 goal, 3 assists) for an 18-point haul. Arsenal’s Bukayo Saka managed to stay in Antonio’s tracks with 16 FPL points, thanks to a goal and 2 assists against Southampton, followed by Man City’s Mateo Kovacic and Everton’s Jordan Pickford with 15 FPL points each.

Time to look forward though, which is always a bit more challenging after an international break. The previously mentioned Saka, for example, came back from England duty with a possible hamstring injury, as did Man United’s Alejandro Garnacho (with Argentina) and Noussair Mazraoui (with Morocco), to name a few. The Man United uncertainties are particularly annoying, as the Reds have a home game against Brentford, though they are far from reliable at the moment. Other fixtures to look forward to from a fantasy perspective are Arsenal’s visit to Bournemouth on Saturday evening and Manchester City’s visit to Wolves a day later. Sunday afternoon has been reserved for Liverpool versus Chelsea at Anfield.

Don’t forget, the deadline for gameweek 8 is set at 11h00 (UK time) on Saturday, October 19^th, 2024. The free to play FPL or pay to play season/weekend/daily games like FanTeam are ideal ways of following the Premier League action.

Most transferred in/transferred out players (as per October 17^th, 2024)

Premium pick

In order to be considered for our premium fantasy pick category, a player needs to be priced £10m or more. As Mo Salah is visiting Chelsea, Cole Palmer is hosting Liverpool and Bukayo Saka is a possible injury doubt, the choice for Erling Haaland (£15.4m) as our premium fantasy pick for gameweek 8 was easy. Or perhaps we should say, even easier than usual, because Haaland for Man City’s visit to Molineux is not only a tap-in, so to speak, but captaincy material as well. The Wolverhampton Wanderers have managed just a single point so far this season, so it’s not surprising to see them bottom of the table, together with Southampton. The Saints are currently in 19^th place though, due to Wolves’ terrible defensive record: 21 goals conceded, more than any other side at the moment. Haaland, on the other hand, has 10 goals from seven league starts and well… you know where we’re going with this.

Non-premium pick

So far this season, we have not featured a whole lot of Spurs players in our FPL gameweek previews, and perhaps undeservedly so. The fact that they find themselves in ninth place at the moment definitely has to do with that, but that is more due to their defensive stability (or lack thereof) than of their attacking prowess. Actually, only Man City, Chelsea and Arsenal have scored more goals than Ange Postecoglou’s men in the first seven gameweeks. And for the stats mongers: they also boast the best Expected Goal ratio in the entire league. Therefore, enter Dominic Solanke (£7.6m), for Tottenham’s upcoming home game against West Ham. The former Bournemouth striker, who was brought in for £65 million this summer, had a bit of a slow start in North London (in part due to an injury), but seems to have found his feet of late. In his last three league games, Solanke scored 2 goals and gave 1 assist for a total of 17 FPL points over that period. This weekend’s opponents West Ham have already conceded 11 goals in seven games, while Spurs have already scored 7 in front of their own fans. It’s true that the Hammers play more defensively on the road, but we feel a couple of goals coming Tottenham’s way on Saturday.

The budget enabler

We’re repeating ourselves, we know, but there are simply not many better budget fantasy options at the moment than Dwight McNeil (£5.7m). we highlighted the Everton playmaker in preparation of gameweeks 4 and 5 as well, and with the Newcastle game from GW7 now behind him, his appeal has only increased further. As far as we are concerned, at least. Everton’s upcoming Premier League schedule reads as following: Ipswich Town away, Fulham at home, Southampton and West Ham away, Brentford at home, Man United away and Wolves at home. That’s a “sea of green” for the Toffees right down to gameweek 14. McNeil is their most valuable player by some distance at this points, having scored 3 goals and provided 2 assists already, including two double-digit hauls in the last four league outings. He is now preparing for a visit to Portman Road on Saturday, where Ipswich Town have already conceded 5 goals in three league games. With McNeil on basically all set-pieces as well, we wouldn’t be surprised if he records another attacking return (or two) in gameweek 8.

The differential

In the four seasons between 2020-21 and 2023-24, Bruno Fernandes (£8.2m) scored at least 151 FPL points, with his 244 FPL points in the 2020-21 season a positive outlier. Going by his first seven league games this season though, we doubt whether he will be able to make it five consecutive seasons with at least 151 points. Like the rest of Manchester United, the Portuguese playmaker is having a rather terrible start to the season, which has resulted in just a single assist so far. In all fairness, if we go by the Expected Goal Involvement ratio, Bruno is currently underperforming by about 3 goals and/or assists, which suggests that attacking returns are lurking. Therefore, with Man United facing Brentford (home), West Ham (away), Chelsea, Leicester (both home), Ipswich away and Everton at home in the next six, we believe he could be an interesting differential fantasy pick. Bruno sits, after all, in just 6.8% of all FPL squads at the moment. Do keep in mind that this is for a reason, especially at his relatively price of £8.2m, because Manchester United are in bad form.

The (vice-)captaincy

Our captain in gameweek 8 is Erling Haaland for Manchester City’s visit to Wolves.

Interesting alternatives to the Norwegian top scorer are Heung-Min Son and his teammate Dominic Solanke at home to West Ham. More differential captaincy picks for gameweek 8 include defender Gabriel Magelhaes at home to Southampton, Dwight McNeil for Everton’s visit to Ipswich Town and Bryan Mbeumo for Brentford’s visit to Old Trafford.

For further thoughts and discussions on the new FPL season visit FISO’s FPL forum.

Most of those who were still doubting that last season was perhaps an anomaly for Cole Palmer will have had to revise their views after last weekend. The Chelsea star bagged a cool 25 FPL points as a result of becoming the first player in Premier League history to score four goals in the first half. More about Ice Cold Palmer later though, because he wasn’t the only one to shine in gameweek 6. Dwight McNeil, who we tipped as a differential FPL pick for GW5 due to a good run of 10 consecutive GW fixtures, finally managed to express his importance to Everton with a brace against Crystal Palace (15 FPL points), while, for the first time in a long time, we found Gabriel Martinelli in the Team of the Week as well, thanks to a goal and an assist against Leicester, good for 13 FPL points.

When it comes to the fixtures for gameweek 7, we admit that we were a bit surprised to see so many Liverpool players amongst the most-transferred-out assets so far this week. The Reds are in good form, full of confidence and facing Crystal Palace at Selhurst Park on Saturday. Right afterwards, Arsenal are kicking off at home against Southampton, which will undoubtedly attract plenty of interest from fantasy managers as well, as will Manchester City’s home game against Fulham. Sunday offers just three games, but great ones at that: Aston Villa hosting an under-pressure Manchester United side, Chelsea at home to Nottingham Forest and finally, Brighton versus Tottenham Hotspur at the AmEx.

Don’t forget, the deadline for gameweek 7 is set at 11h00 (UK time) on Saturday, October 5^th, 2024. The free to play FPL or pay to play season/weekend/daily games like FanTeam are ideal ways of following the Premier League action.

Most transferred in/transferred out players (as per October 3^rd, 2024)

Premium pick

We opened this piece with Cole Palmer (£10.7m) and said that we would get back to him later on, so here we are. In a Chelsea side that seems to be picking up some steam of late, the former Man City youngster is simply irreplaceable. Before gameweek 6, he already had 2 goals and 4 assists, which was a decent return from five league games, but perhaps slightly below what you’d expect for pick worth £10.5m+. Well, after gameweek 6, those numbers suddenly read 6 goals and 4 assists from 6 league games, thanks to an unprecedented 4 goals in one half versus Brighton. And suddenly, Palmer’s back up there with the official fantasy game’s very best, much like last season. It makes sense to put him on top of your watchlist, especially with Nottingham Forest coming to Stamford Bridge on Sunday, but that’s not at all. Cole Palmer, after all, has not been registered for European football by Chelsea this first half of the season, which means that the ice-cold man on fire will have a full week’s rest in the build-up to GW7.

Non-premium pick

With an ownership above 22%, Bryan Mbeumo (£7.4m) is not exactly an uncovered gem anymore. It took fantasy managers a moment as well to get on the Mbeumo train, which explains why his price has already risen by £0.4m this season. The Brentford man has more than deserved that price rise though, as he has been instrumental to a Brentford side that has had a bit of a difficult start to the 2024-25 campaign. It should be noted though, that in their first six games, the Bees did face Liverpool, Man City and Spurs (all away). Those three game were lost, but from the remaining three, Brentford took 7 points and Mbeumo has been ticking along nicely all that time. At the moment of writing, the Cameroon international sits on 5 goals, including a goal in each of the last two gameweeks. Next up are Wolves and what better opponent to make it three in a row for Mbeumo? Wolves, after all, have conceded the most goals out of all teams in the Premier League so far (16). On top of that, Mbeumo is on penalties, which is always a nice bonus in FPL.

The budget enabler

If we can call Brentford’s start to the season “a bit difficult”, then what should we call Everton’s start of the campaign? While a few bookmakers even started paying out bets on the club’s relegation already, the Toffees have been giving some signs of life lately. After a draw at Leicester in gameweek 5, Everton finally booked the first victory of their 2024-2025 Premier League campaign at home against Crystal Palace last weekend. The big man on Everton side? Dwight McNeil (£5.6m), who you might have read about as our differential in a couple of our gameweek previews earlier this season as well. The former Burnley star scored both of Everton’s goals for a 15-point haul, making it 3 goals and 2 assists from six league starts this season. The moment to bring him in was back in the build-up to GW4, when he grabbed a goal and an assist versus Villa, but it’s still not too late. McNeil is still very affordable and even though this week’s opponent are Newcastle, he has a sea of green fixtures to look forward after that. That includes games against Ipswich, Fulham, Southampton and Wolves between now and GW14. He is the main man when it comes to attacking moves and set-pieces in this Everton side, and at just £5.6m, he looks like an ideal fifth or even fourth midfielder in any squad.

The differential

A player who has been ticking along quite nicely in the relative FPL shadows so far is Gabriel Martinelli (£6.9m). It’s true that the Brazilian winger had a slow start to the season with his first attacking return only coming in gameweek 5 at Manchester City, but it’s slightly surprising to see Arsenal’s starting left winger with a current ownership of just 3.5%, nonetheless. On top of that, he has started five of the six league games so far this season and he played 90 minutes in the Champions League versus Atalanta on Wednesday as well. We feel two whole days of rest should be enough for Martinelli to be fit and raring to go again on Saturday afternoon, when Southampton visits the Emirates Stadium. The Saints are yet to keep a clean sheet this season and start to look more and more like the weakest of the promoted sides. Martinelli could be the differential to take full advantage of that situation this weekend.

The (vice-)captaincy

Another interesting captaincy debate this weekend, with Erling Haaland playing Fulham at home, Mo Salah visiting Crystal Palace, Cole Palmer hosting Nottingham Forest and Arsenal playing at home to Southampton. Still, if you have Haaland, we recommend slapping the armband on him. We are, anyway.

All of the previously mentioned players are excellent alternatives, though. That includes the likes of Bukayo Saka and Kai Havertz at home to Southampton. More differential captain picks include Bryan Mbeumo against Wolves at home, Jarrod Bowen at home to Ipswich Town and Ollie Watkins at home to Manchester United.

For further thoughts and discussions on the new FPL season visit FISO’s FPL forum.