It's frustrating choosing a captain if you have both Haaland and Salah, but you can make it work. There are keepers and defenders at 4,5 who are good options. Same with midfielders between 6.5 and 7,5. As for your bench you want the players there to at least be stsrters. There are 4.0 keepers and defenders who will start and Marc Guiu could be your 4.5 forward. No 4.5 midfielder I believe will start, but plenty of 5.0 options.
Fantasy Premier League 25/26
- Thread starter Chipper
- Start date
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In the latest edition of the United Hour Podcast, Nik (@Rood) chats to author, Dan Williamson, about his new book 'If I Hadnt Seen Such Riches' which chronicles our 1990/91 European Cup Winners Cup victory, which is a trip down memory lane for those old enough to remember it and a vital history lesson for those who don't.
think I’ve find them
Sanchez
Diouf, Dorgu, De Cuyper, Truffet or VDV
Palmer, Gordon, Salah, Reijnders, Georgino Rutter
Haaland
Subs dubravka, Thiago, Esteve and Redmond
It covers Chelsea, Liverpool and Coty but It’s just not very inspiring and I’m torn to drop the big money and get a few more big names in there.
Arrrrggh hahaha
Salah and Haaland not for me, but maybe it's the pathway to success.
For the bench it's classic risk vs. reward. Spread around the wealth to cover yourself more in case of early injuries or unexpected players being benched , but you also might lose some points if it prevents you from getting some players into the starting XI that you'd have wanted and you just have too much money sitting there on the bench doing nothing.
There's certainly a balance to be found. Don't really want a bench exclusively made up of the cheapest players possible, but also don't want a 5m defender on there, or a 6.5m mid or fwd regularly twiddling his thumbs for you.
I don't mind taking a fair amount of risk on the bench early and trying micro manage things if needed. Team value should grow as the season progresses, and bargain players start to emerge at the same time so a weakish bench can be improved into a stronger all-around squad as we go. Gambling a little bit on the bench but not to an insane degree early on I see as a possible way to get ahead.
I think starting with Haaland/Salah has its benefits, as long as you are happy with 5/6 of your other choices.
That way, the risks that don’t come off can quickly be replaced by breaking whichever of them doesn’t start well down.
It’s much harder to build to one of them if you spread it out, it is really a wildcard thing then if both are going off.
Starting to come round to the idea of both, with 6/7 more starters I like regardless and then 3/4 cheap risks.
That way, you are only 3 transfers away from a “normal” team.
That way, the risks that don’t come off can quickly be replaced by breaking whichever of them doesn’t start well down.
It’s much harder to build to one of them if you spread it out, it is really a wildcard thing then if both are going off.
Starting to come round to the idea of both, with 6/7 more starters I like regardless and then 3/4 cheap risks.
That way, you are only 3 transfers away from a “normal” team.
Yeah that was just the sign I needed to keep him in the team haha
One glorified friendly and everyone's knees are jerking faster than Sigurdsson's driving past a playground. Mine included.
Classic FPL.
Classic FPL.
It’s been a bad 2025 to be fair for him. I do wonder if this is finally the decline. Sounds ridiculous after so many seasons, but it has to come sometime.
No Guiu at all for Sunderland this weekend as they played 2 friendlies.
I think he'll obviously start to get minutes at some point, and if I was putting him in he can be third sub - can sort of get away with a non-playing outfield sub for a little while at the start in the same way many held Barco or Quansah last season until first wildcard.
Still not great to see. Just got to make sure your other subs are definitely getting minutes the first week or two just in case.
I think he'll obviously start to get minutes at some point, and if I was putting him in he can be third sub - can sort of get away with a non-playing outfield sub for a little while at the start in the same way many held Barco or Quansah last season until first wildcard.
Still not great to see. Just got to make sure your other subs are definitely getting minutes the first week or two just in case.
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Really like Onana's (Villa one) profile as a 5.0
Just a shame transfer activity might limit his playing time.
Tielemans played as a pseudo #10 at times last season at times with Rogers moved wide right, Kamara and Onana deep. The Guessand signing and the re-emergence of Malen means the right side seems more comptetive so perhaps there's less desire from Emery to do that.
Most of the prediction sites now having Tielemans deeper at Onana's expense, Rogers locked into the #10 role and Malen/Guessand competing on the right. Assuming Rogers is fit of course.
He (Onana) has been getting plenty of minutes in pre-season but it's too much of a risk for me.
Just a shame transfer activity might limit his playing time.
Tielemans played as a pseudo #10 at times last season at times with Rogers moved wide right, Kamara and Onana deep. The Guessand signing and the re-emergence of Malen means the right side seems more comptetive so perhaps there's less desire from Emery to do that.
Most of the prediction sites now having Tielemans deeper at Onana's expense, Rogers locked into the #10 role and Malen/Guessand competing on the right. Assuming Rogers is fit of course.
He (Onana) has been getting plenty of minutes in pre-season but it's too much of a risk for me.
I’ve gone Haaland & Salah together last szn and TRUST ME when I tell you it’s not worth it!
In the long run you have to understand that even if they both do get you points, are the points enough to make them worth the price?
Because they need to consistently get more than just a goal/assist to make it worth it.
Otherwise if it’s just a goal or assist then your total team points tally won’t be enough to compete with those who have a better balanced squad and accumulate a higher aggregate points tally every week by having most or all of the 11 getting points.
Whereas in your starting 11, the weaker players will always be a higher risk and let’s be honest they won’t perform consistently all season.
So I’ve learnt it the hard way and it’s better to pick one of them. I’m betting on Haaland to make a comeback this season and go crazy like season before last.
For Liverpool I’ve picked Wirtz who will have a monstrous season most likely and he’s cheap right now.
I’ve even brought in Ekitike in place of Bowen/Pedro because Liverpool bench is so weak now. They’ve lost 3 attackers. Ekitike will play a lot.
It also makes sense why they’re willing to splash the cash on Isak because they’re not just investing in his talent, they literally need more players because they’re just an injury or 2 away from crisis and Isak can give them guaranteed output of almost 2 players.
I’ve moved away from Salah and brought in Haaland, not set on that yet but I think that’s what I’ll go with.
Honest question to all who are picking Wirtz (this includes me in my most recent draft since dropping Salah yesterday)
Wirtz has looked decent in pre season. Not lights out but decent. He still hasn't kicked a ball in a proper premier league match.
We have proven PL goal scorers available in Cunha and Mbeumo for .500 less money and yet we are still choosing Wirtz ? Why. Liverpools fixtures aren't any better than United's. This seems like more of an emotional decision than a logical one.
There's a negative aura around United from the bad finish last year. And a positive aura around Liverpool so everyone's choosing Wirtz. If United signed Wirtz for 120 million and Liverpool signed Mbeumo for 70 million , everyone would be choosing Mbeumo and avoiding Wirtz.
(as for knee jerking Salah. Even if he is a top 5 scorerer this year, he is not going to live up to his 14.5 price. He's 14.5 because he got 300+ points last year.)
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Fair point and issue with manutd forwards currently is that we are not clicking. Our attack is not the most fluid and not likely to score that many.
Nearly fell into a bit of a Chalobah trap. Still might go for him, but he's more a 3 week pick rather than a mainstay after correcting an error.
Had him down for his season long DC points of 0.82 per 90. Overlooked that at Palace it was 1.02 per 90 and back at Chelsea 0.59.
Still makes him Chelsea's leader in that when it comes to defenders and far from an awful pick. It does knock him down a notch though. Trying to cheapen up the defence and go for 1-2 mainstays instead of 3-4 and feed some rotation options in there in an attempt to free up a little bit of cash.
Gameweeks 4-7 sees a drop in Chelsea's clean sheet chances after a solid start on that front. Still not awful in 4-6, but with his DC rate lowered he doesn't quite cut it for me to hold permanantly.
Had him down for his season long DC points of 0.82 per 90. Overlooked that at Palace it was 1.02 per 90 and back at Chelsea 0.59.
Still makes him Chelsea's leader in that when it comes to defenders and far from an awful pick. It does knock him down a notch though. Trying to cheapen up the defence and go for 1-2 mainstays instead of 3-4 and feed some rotation options in there in an attempt to free up a little bit of cash.
Gameweeks 4-7 sees a drop in Chelsea's clean sheet chances after a solid start on that front. Still not awful in 4-6, but with his DC rate lowered he doesn't quite cut it for me to hold permanantly.
Agree completely re Wirtz - I’ve seen all their pre season matches and he’s done nothing of note, more so yesterday against Palace where I thought he was pretty anonymous. And no way am I splurging 14.5 on Salah when you can have Palmer for 10.5.
I'm at the same spot a couple days after thinking I could set and forget until after the first week.
Not even looked at a Haaland draft yet so suppose that's the task for today
What are people's thoughts on Caicedo? Seems like he'll pick up some defensive points, whilst also getting forward at least slightly to not be a complete no chance in terms of attacking returns.
I have my mates Fantasy Draft Tonight.
Anyone found a decent resource of what players to try and target early for it?
Feel I’ve been honed in on our and bitter rivals transfer dealings - but out of the loop on the rest.
Anyone found a decent resource of what players to try and target early for it?
Feel I’ve been honed in on our and bitter rivals transfer dealings - but out of the loop on the rest.
I still can't fathom how bad the desktop-version of FPL is UI-wise.
It's a total shitshow. Everytime I go to the web-version, I find myself thinking NOT THIS SHIT and pulling out my mobile phone for a better version (still not that good).
It's a total shitshow. Everytime I go to the web-version, I find myself thinking NOT THIS SHIT and pulling out my mobile phone for a better version (still not that good).
Not looked at FPL since the end of season - just getting my head around all the changes, defensive contributions? Double chips?
Why do they feck with the format every year now?!
Anything else I missed ?
Why do they feck with the format every year now?!
Anything else I missed ?
Have no idea what to do this season.
Feels like some teams could look much better than last season like Spurs and United so it's tempting to go for some of those players but at the same time it's hard to trust that they will!
Feels like some teams could look much better than last season like Spurs and United so it's tempting to go for some of those players but at the same time it's hard to trust that they will!
Think I’m going to start with Salah/Haaland too.
There are more routes to points, so having a cheap midfielder or 2 that should pick up some DC points could be a good way to balance out the points. Haaland/caicedo is the same price as Watkins/Palmer. Ordinarily, you’d say it made sense to go Watkins/Palmer, but this year, with someone like Caicedo being a DC magnet, it might be worth the trade off.
Anyway, it’s not a long term strategy, but I think if I start with both Salah and Haaland and one of them underperforms after the first few game weeks, it’s easy with free transfers to spread the cash from one of them to any other players that are in form.
There are more routes to points, so having a cheap midfielder or 2 that should pick up some DC points could be a good way to balance out the points. Haaland/caicedo is the same price as Watkins/Palmer. Ordinarily, you’d say it made sense to go Watkins/Palmer, but this year, with someone like Caicedo being a DC magnet, it might be worth the trade off.
Anyway, it’s not a long term strategy, but I think if I start with both Salah and Haaland and one of them underperforms after the first few game weeks, it’s easy with free transfers to spread the cash from one of them to any other players that are in form.
What players are tipped to load up on the defensive points?
How many points are these worth? Sorry a bit out of the loop!
How many points are these worth? Sorry a bit out of the loop!
Thinking of taking a punt on Lewis-Potter at 5m. He's listed as a defender but he's been playing on the wing all preseason. Only 0.5% ownership though - is that because everyone expects Brentford to struggle?
Anyone interested in grealish at everton?
Yes, got him in instead of Wirtz now.
I'm debating him or sav, now that sav is off to spurs
Yeah the fixture's are not nice, and not a clinical striker up front with Wissa not playing. Thiago's only scored 1 goal in pre season.
Feels too much like Robinson at Fulham last year. He was good at getting assists in the early stages but they only kept five clean sheets, so it was either boom or bust and by the end of the year ended up feeling like a liability.
I expect Brentford will get a similar return in terms of clean sheets, so I'd rather put in players who are more likely to get clean sheets (e.g. Everton, Palace players) and hope they contribute attacking-wise.
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Pep on Rodri:
"Rodri is getting better but he had a big injury in the last game against Al-Hilal," Guardiola said.
"He has trained better in the last few days. Hopefully after the international break, he will be really fit.
"Hopefully in these games, he can play some minutes, but what is important is that he doesn't have pain because we don't want Rodri coming back injured. We will try desperately to avoid that.
Sounds like 3 first games for Reijnders (5.5). That's probably a chance I'm willing to take.
"Rodri is getting better but he had a big injury in the last game against Al-Hilal," Guardiola said.
"He has trained better in the last few days. Hopefully after the international break, he will be really fit.
"Hopefully in these games, he can play some minutes, but what is important is that he doesn't have pain because we don't want Rodri coming back injured. We will try desperately to avoid that.
Sounds like 3 first games for Reijnders (5.5). That's probably a chance I'm willing to take.
Current draft and strategy:
GW1: 3-5-2
Sels - Dubravka
De Ven - Diouf - Williams - Dorgu - Tosin
Sarr - Salah (c) - Reijnders - Palmer - Amad
Haaland - Joao Pedro - Guiu
GW2: 3-4-3: -4 hit
Sels - Dubravka
De Ven - Diouf - Williams - Dorgu - Tosin
Sarr - Saka (c) - Reijnders - Palmer - Amad
Haaland - Joao Pedro - Gyokeres
Unless Salah scores big in GW1, then I'll probably do a -4 and go Saka (c) + Gyokeres for Salah+Guiu in GW2 against Leeds.
Then if all the planets align, transfer in Bruno or Sesko for a GW3 bench boost for Saka/Gyokeres. Would be fun to sort of dead end the squad in GW3 too and then Wildcard in GW4 during the international break. Also at that point Reijnders and Sarr + a lot of Chelsea/United might not make sense. And Isak might be at Liverpool.
GW1: 3-5-2
Sels - Dubravka
De Ven - Diouf - Williams - Dorgu - Tosin
Sarr - Salah (c) - Reijnders - Palmer - Amad
Haaland - Joao Pedro - Guiu
GW2: 3-4-3: -4 hit
Sels - Dubravka
De Ven - Diouf - Williams - Dorgu - Tosin
Sarr - Saka (c) - Reijnders - Palmer - Amad
Haaland - Joao Pedro - Gyokeres
Unless Salah scores big in GW1, then I'll probably do a -4 and go Saka (c) + Gyokeres for Salah+Guiu in GW2 against Leeds.
Then if all the planets align, transfer in Bruno or Sesko for a GW3 bench boost for Saka/Gyokeres. Would be fun to sort of dead end the squad in GW3 too and then Wildcard in GW4 during the international break. Also at that point Reijnders and Sarr + a lot of Chelsea/United might not make sense. And Isak might be at Liverpool.
Grealish might be a good option now.
Sanchez is best path to Celski defence. You pick him and forget on him. All others are huge rotation risk. Not to mention that i have no idea what is Celski's first defensive pair now
Got mine tonight as well. How many people are you playing with? That really changes how valuable certain players are. Best thing to do is target forwards early and do some research on who would probably be a nailed on starter. I always try to prepare myself but once that clock starts ticking I'm usually just winging it
Dropping Salah enables so much better teams imo, with the ever so slight downside that... you don't have Salah.
Sanchez (Dubravka)
AWB Tarkowski VDV (Dorgu, Estève)
Anderson Rogers Saka Palmer (Baleba)
João Pedro Ekitiké Haaland
Is what I'm currently on. Debating on a few other choices (Cunha or Wirtz instead of Saka) but like that team.AWB Tarkowski VDV (Dorgu, Estève)
Anderson Rogers Saka Palmer (Baleba)
João Pedro Ekitiké Haaland
We need one or two more for redcafe draft. Anyone? @Dirty Schwein you were interested last year.
Feels like he's probably a bit of a trap. He was never a massive G/A guy even at Villa, and I can't see him performing that well even if he isn't completely unmotivated/unprofessional/falls out with Moyes etc.
Who is this Gudmundson from Leeds? Is he a starter? If Rogers is fit i will be 0.5 mil short and i really want him in my team so trying to find another 4.5 mil defender except Esteve.
I can drop Sanchez to Kelleher but in reality......what Kelleher can offer? He will barely have a clean sheet this year in Brentford.
I can drop Sanchez to Kelleher but in reality......what Kelleher can offer? He will barely have a clean sheet this year in Brentford.
I'd be up for it if there's still space
Like a total dork I downloaded all the stats off FPL and chucked it into Claude AI to do an analysis. Then after a bit of honing, got it to suggest the most likely teams assuming 8 players.
Long story short, I have an incredibly average/borderline shite team. No amount of prep can stop seemingly kneejerk decisions plus AI can't predict how dumb your friends are.
Final team is:
Vicario
Kerkez---White---Senesi
Salah---Cunha---Zubimendi---Elanga---Amad
Ekitike---Evanilson
Trafford---Delap---Mazroui---Guehi