The time for tinkering is almost up: Fantasy Premier League returns on Friday.
Crystal Palace and Arsenal will get the 2022-23 Premier League campaign underway on Friday night, a full 75 days after the final day of last season. Much has happened in the interim period; Chelsea are officially under new management, Nottingham Forest are back in the top flight after 23 years away and the 20 clubs have so far spent over £1bn in combined transfer fees. Oh, and the Lionesses only went and brought football home.
FPL managers are advised to brace themselves for what promises to be the most unique Premier League season to date with a World Cup (in)conveniently crowbarred into the calendar. Domestic football will be on hiatus for six weeks when the tournament takes place in November and December, while the re-introduction of the five substitutes rule is bound to lead to increased rotation.
As for the game itself, very little has changed. Managers will have two Wildcards to use over the course of the season – one before Boxing Day and one after it – as well as Triple Captain, Bench Boost, and Free Hit chips. A key difference this year, though, is that unlimited transfers are permitted while the World Cup is taking place, meaning FPL bosses will essentially have three Wildcards to play with.
More from Fantasy Football
As ever, i will be there every step of the way providing in-depth FPL content from Gameweek 1 to 38. Each week we will send out a dedicated Fantasy Football newsletter with transfer tips, captain picks, and up-to-date injury news, as well as the very best football coverage from our team of writers. You can sign up for our newsletter here and join our official FPL league using the code sztqv9.
Before every transfer deadline, we will assemble an all-star team of players to use your transfers on. But as it’s the new season, here is a full 15-man squad to pick from:
Alisson (Liverpool)
Could this be the season that premium goalkeepers come into fashion? FPL has reduced Alisson, Ederson, and Edouard Mendy’s price tags for 2022-23 which certainly enhances their appeal in FPL. Alisson racked up 18 points more than any of his rivals last time out and was also top of the charts for bonus points too, scooping 15 in total.
Price: £5.5m Points in 2021-22: 178 Gameweek 1 fixture: Fulham (a)
Trent Alexander-Arnold (Liverpool)
Trent Alexander-Arnold was one of only five players to surpass the 200-point mark in FPL last season – and the underlying data suggests he was unfortunate to not register more. Only Harry Kane (with 19) created more big chances – defined by Opta as ‘a situation where a player should reasonably be expected to score’ – than Alexander-Arnold (18). The right-back’s total was double that of any other defender.
Price: £7.5m Points in 2021-22: 208 Gameweek 1 fixture: Fulham (a)
Ivan Perisic (Spurs)
Ivan Perisic was injured upon joining Spurs from Inter but has gradually stepped up preparations for his debut campaign in English football, playing 75 minutes of Saturday’s pre-season game against Roma. The Croatian is expected to slot in at left wing-back in Antonio Conte’s 3-4-3 system and it was from that role that he supplied eight goals and seven assists in Serie A last season.
Price: £5.5m Points in 2021-22: N/A Gameweek 1 fixture: Southampton (h)
Kieran Trippier (Newcastle)
It’s a small sample size but Kieran Trippier averaged more FPL points per game (4.67) than Marcos Alonso, Matt Doherty, and Kyle Walker, amongst others, last season. The England international made an instant impact at Newcastle following his January move from Atletico Madrid, combining two goals with a clean sheet in six appearances and faces a new-look Nottingham Forest first up.
Price: £5.0m Points in 2021-22: 28 Gameweek 1 fixture: Nottingham Forest (h)
How to sign up for i‘s FPL newsletter
i has a dedicated Fantasy Football newsletter that you can sign up for to receive transfer tips, captain picks and injury updates direct to your inbox each week.
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Find which other newsletters i has on offer, including The Score, Daniel Storey’s comprehensive review of all 20 Premier League clubs’ performance each weekend, and Boxing Tonight here.
Joao Cancelo (Man City)
Along with Alexander-Arnold, Joao Cancelo was the only defender in the 200-point club last season after combining 12 attacking returns with 19 clean sheets. Cancelo started all but two of City’s Premier League games in 2021-22 and his starting place is even more secure given Oleksandr Zinchenko has joined Arsenal and a pursuit for Brighton’s Marc Cucurella appears to have hit a brick wall.
Price: £7.0m Points in 2021-22: 201
Mo Salah (Liverpool)
Mo Salah has been the top-scoring player in FPL in four of his five seasons at Liverpool and ended second by a single point (to Kevin De Bruyne in 2019-20) on the other occasion. Historically, he starts off as he means to go on, recording scores of 11, eight, 12, 20, and 17 points in Gameweek 1 during his time as a Liverpool player. All the best, Fulham…
Price: £13.0m Points in 2021-22: 265 Gameweek 1 fixture: Fulham (a)
Mason Mount (Chelsea)
There are seven midfielders priced at £8.0m and they all have the potential to be great FPL options: Bukayo Saka, Mason Mount, James Maddison, Phil Foden, Riyad Mahrez, Luis Diaz, and Dejan Kulusevski are in that price category. Mount just gets the nod in our Gameweek 1 team for Chelsea’s opening game against Everton, in part due to speculation over Maddison’s future. Mount was the Blues’ top-scoring FPL asset last season.
Price: £8.0m Points in 2021-22: 169 Gameweek 1 fixture: Everton (a)
Wilfried Zaha (Crystal Palace)
For much of his Crystal Palace career, Wilfried Zaha has had to shoulder the creative responsibility almost single-handedly, but that is no longer the case with the exciting duo of Michael Olise and Ebere Eze there to help him out. That is perhaps why Zaha managed his top-scoring Premier League season in 2021-22 with 14 goals and he has looked sharp in pre-season ahead of Palace’s curtain-raiser against Arsenal.
Price: £7.0m Points in 2021-22: 150 Gameweek 1 fixture: Arsenal (h)
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Leon Bailey (Aston Villa)
Picked partly due to budget constraints but also off the back of some impressive performances in pre-season. Leon Bailey endured an injury-hit first season in English football but has caught Steven Gerrard’s eye over the summer by combining three goals with two assists. At just £5.0m, the Jamaican winger is worth taking a punt on in the opening weeks given Villa’s fixtures.
Price: £5.0m Points in 2021-22: 37 Gameweek 1 fixture: Bournemouth (a)
More Fantasy Premier League
- 50 funny Fantasy Premier League names for the 2022-23 season
- The best 5 goalkeepers to buy in FPL this season, from Alisson to Henderson
- The 10 best defenders to buy for your FPL team, from Alexander-Arnold to Perisic
- The 10 best midfielders to sign for your FPL team, from Son to Sterling
- The 7 best forwards to sign for your FPL team, from Kane to Jesus
- The 9 best players from newly-promoted clubs to sign, from Lingard to Mitrovic
- The 10 best budget-friendly players to buy in FPL with defenders for £4.5m and under
Harry Kane (Spurs)
Unless you can find a way to fit both in, FPL managers might have to adopt a rotation policy with Harry Kane and Erling Haaland this season: both forwards are priced up at £11.5m. Kane looks to have the pick of the opening day fixtures against Southampton, while Haaland has the better fixture in Gameweek 2 when newly-promoted Bournemouth visit the Etihad.
Price: £11.5m Points in 2021-22: 192 Gameweek 1 fixture: Southampton (h)
Gabriel Jesus (Arsenal)
We’re rapidly approaching the stage where going without Gabriel Jesus in Gameweek 1 is a major risk: the Brazilian is by far the most-owned player in the game with an ownership of 71.6 per cent, at the time of writing. Jesus scored seven goals in pre-season including a hat-trick during last weekend’s 6-0 rout of Sevilla and is considerably cheaper than Kane or Haaland.
Price: £8.0m Points in 2021-22: 120 Gameweek 1 fixture: Crystal Palace (a)
Subs
Danny Ward (Leicester)
Starting goalkeepers priced at only £4m are worth their weight in gold and FPL managers could have one on their hands with Danny Ward set to become Leicester’s No 1 following Kasper Schmeichel’s move to Nice.
Price: £4.0m Points in 2021-22: 3 Gameweek 1 fixture: Brentford (h)
Neco Williams (Nottingham Forest)
The timing of Neco Williams’ move from Liverpool to Nottingham Forest has greatly benefited FPL managers: had it been confirmed before FPL was launched, the Welshman would surely have cost at least £0.5m more than he currently does.
Price: £4.0m Points in 2021-22: 4 Gameweek 1 fixture: Newcastle (a)
Andreas Pereira (Fulham)
A similar case to Williams in that he was listed as a Manchester United player rather than a Fulham one when FPL rebooted. The Brazilian has played as a No 10 during pre-season.
Price: £4.5m Points in 2021-22: N/A Gameweek 1 fixture: Liverpool (h)
Cameron Archer (Aston Villa)
Gerrard’s comments that Cameron Archer will stay at Villa rather than go out on loan means he just edges out Luke Plange (Crystal Palace) and Sam Greenwood (Leeds) as the third substitute in our squad.
Price: £4.5m Points in 2021-22: N/A Gameweek 1 fixture: Bournemouth (a)
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