Fantasy Premier League managers have been handed some major dilemmas ahead of gameweek 1 thanks to the game’s pricing this season.
There are several premium priced players to pick from this year, making it impossible to fit all the best assets into your FPL team.
And to be honest, that’s a good thing. Last term it all felt a bit homogenous and boring; it was too difficult to set yourself apart as everyone could afford the very best players in the league.
In 2024/25 we are going to see a lot of variation across fantasy teams, in large part due to Erling Haaland being valued at £15m. The Manchester City striker might well be the greatest FPL player we’ve ever seen, so it’s hard to argue with that price.
What it means in practical terms, though, is that the Norwegian is not an automatic pick anymore, whereas he was in around 90 percent of teams at one point last season. At the time of writing he’s in fewer than half.
????Haaland approaching 50% ownership
24 hours left for GW1 deadline⏳
His ownership was 30.8% (One day after launch)#FPL #FPLCommunity pic.twitter.com/T8kU584Ugr
— ALLABOUTFPL (@allaboutfpl) August 15, 2024
The choice is clear: select him and make sacrifices elsewhere, or leave him out and spread the funds around.
For those who have decided to go with the latter, then Mo Salah (£12.5m) is a certainty. But is it possible to fit both superstars in your team and still have a strong XI? That’s what we are here to find out.
FPL Gameweek 1 deadline: Friday, 16 August, 6.30pm BST
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Fantasy Premier League: The best Haaland and Salah FPL team
Goalkeepers
If you want to go as cheap as possible in nets, then a West Ham double up of Alphonse Areola (£4.5m) and Lukasz Fabianski (£4m) is the most viable route. This way, if the Frenchman is out with an injury, his backup comes straight into your team.
My personal preference is to go with a £4.5m pairing of two goalies like Dean Henderson and Mark Flekken. The other options in this bracket are not terribly inspiring, unless Aaron Ramsdale joins another Premier League club.
The other alternative is going with David Raya (£5.5m) and a £4m keeper, whom you’ll never start anyway. The Arsenal shot stopper is virtually guaranteed to start every week, and he’s a relatively cheap route into a stout Gunners backline. I might be persuaded to go this way before the deadline.
Fantasy Premier League – The best goalkeepers to choose from in FPL
Defenders
If you really want Haaland and Salah, then you’re going to have to go bargain hunting in defence. Luckily, there’s plenty of options here.
You’ll need 2-3 defenders who are priced at £4.5m, with Antonee Robinson, Joachim Andersen, Murillo, Viktor Mykolenko, Ezri Konsa and Dan Burn the best picks in this writer’s opinion.
You will need at least one £4m defender, with Brighton’s Valentin Barco the standout option. He’s impressed in pre-season and seems to be on a lot of set pieces. Wout Faes, Taylor Harwood-Bellis or Ben Johnson could also fill out your bench and should start every game, but don’t expect many points from them.
There should be room for at least one £5m defender, such as Ian Maatsen or Daniel Munoz. But it’s going to be extremely difficult to fit in any premium players in this position.
Fantasy Premier League – The best bargain defenders in FPL in 2024/25
Midfielders
With Salah taking up 12.5 percent of the transfer budget, there isn’t much room for more premium midfielders. You’ll have to pick one of Bukayo Saka (£10m), Cole Palmer (£10.5m) or Son Heung-min (£10m), although Kevin De Bruyne represents good value at £9.5m.
Alternatively, you could downgrade them to a £6.5m midfielder such as Christopher Nkunku, Jeremy Doku, Alejandro Garnacho, Leon Bailey or Mohammed Kudus. This is obviously riskier in terms of expected minutes and consistency, but it would allow you to upgrade one of your defenders to Pedro Porro (£5.5m), who will get attacking returns.
Two absolute must-haves in the mid-priced bracket are Anthony Gordon (£7.5m) and Eberechi Eze (£7m), who offer great value at their respective prices. Diogo Jota (£7.5m) is a little bit of a punt, but a good pick if you fancy doubling up on the Liverpool attack.
Lastly, you’ll need a dirt cheap midfielder. Aston Villa’s Morgan Rogers (£5m) might be the best option here. There’s no guarantee he will be a great long-term asset, but he’s been good in pre-season and the sale of Moussa Diaby paves the way for him to get plenty of minutes this season.
Morgan Rogers:
-Likely to start GW1
-Highest pre-season mins among all Villa players
-No stand out £5.5m mid appeals
-Will rocket in price if he scores in GW1/2
-Question mark over his mins long term
-A better pick for early WCers
-Too risky as a 7th attacker, better as the 8th pic.twitter.com/fojpR86jIZ— AbuBakar Siddiq (@BigManBakar) August 11, 2024
Fabio Carvalho at the same price has the potential to be a solid pick after swapping Liverpool for Brentford, while Harry Winks (£4.5m) is a regular starter at Leicester City but won’t return many FPL points. Man City’s Oscar Bobb (£5m) has unfortunately been ruled out through injury.
If you decide to go without a second premium midfielder, you can upgrade that fifth spot to someone in the £5.5m bracket, like Emile Smith-Rowe, Yankuba Minteh, Callum Hudson-Odoi (Nottingham Forest’s first few fixtures look great on paper) or Ben Brereton-Diaz.
Fantasy Premier League – The five best forwards to choose from in FPL
Forwards
An essential striker to put alongside Haaland this season is Alexander Isak (£8.5m), who offers possibly the best value in FPL. He registered 25 goal involvements in 27 starts in 2023/24, which is a phenomenal return. Little wonder he’s the most highly-owned player in the game.
Your final pick depends on how much budget you have leftover. Unfortunately you’re going to have to forget the likes of Ollie Watkins (£9m), Kai Havertz (£8m) and Dominic Solanke (£7.5m), and look for alternatives in the category below them.
PL: GW1 player goal projections
Top projected goalscorers for the first round of PL games, via spread betting markets pic.twitter.com/6uLuhIKCeM
— Rob T (@robtFPL) August 15, 2024
Joao Pedro being priced at £5.5m feels like an undervaluation, with just under 19 percent of fantasy managers currently owning the Brighton attacker. At £6m, Rodrigo Muniz and Chris Wood are both decent options, while Dominic Calvert-Lewin is a differential worth considering.
If you’re priced out of those guys, then you’re going to have to settle for a £4.5m striker who is going to occupy the third seat on your bench every gameweek, such as Bournemouth‘s Daniel Jebbison or Nathan Fraser of Wolves.
So there you have it. Those are the ingredients for an optimised Haaland and Salah build in FPL. The major drawback is a lack of flexibility given the number of low-cost players, but you do have two of the best captaincy picks for the opening month of the new season.
Fantasy Premier League Haaland and Salah team draft 1:
Fantasy Premier League Haaland and Salah team draft 2:
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