⚽ FPL 2023/24 PRE-SEASON: What's the latest?

👋 Hello 👋

It’s been a while but with just a week left until the Gameweek 1 deadline, I thought I better get writing again.

In this one we’ll go through the latest goings on in FPL, before getting back to the regular content every single Gameweek from next week.

 🙌 My Current Draft 🙌

We’re starting to get to a point where I’m happy with most of my picks and don’t really see them changing. Worth noting that I’m just like your typical FPL manager though - I will panic at some point, and I wouldn’t rule out a heap of last minute changes!

Erling Haaland (£14.0m) is just too good, and too scary to go against. At the time of writing he’s owned by 86.6% of ALL FPL managers.

Bukayo Saka (8.5m) has been in since day one as well, nailed, great minutes and presumably still on penalties. When you couple that with good opening fixtures, it’s hard to go against him.

Ben Chilwell (£5.5m) is someone that has impressed me during pre-season, he looks back to his best. Importantly he’s showing signs of being fully fit, he’s had a good amount of minutes so far.

Players that aren’t included - Mohamed Salah (£12.5m) and Trent Alexander-Arnold (£8.0m). I’ve been debating whether to include them throughout pre-season and I’m leaning towards going without. It’s not that I think they’re bad players, far from it - they’re fantastic! But not owning either means your money goes further, and although Salah plays Bournemouth (h) in Gameweek 2, I’m probably not brave enough to go against Haaland with Newcastle (h) and his quite ridiculous ownership.

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🤕 No forwards left 🤕

Mikel Arteta has confirmed that Gabriel Jesus (£8.0m) will be out for “a few weeks” which means he’s very likely to miss the start of the season. Meanwhile Christopher Nkunku (£7.5m) went off with an injury during Chelsea’s last friendly and we are still waiting on an update.

Outside of Haaland and Harry Kane (£12.5m) who are much more expensive, it’s starting to look like the “obvious” choice to go to is Ollie Watkins (£8.0m). The opening six games for Aston Villa aren’t easy, in fact they play all of Newcastle (a), Liverpool (a) and Chelsea (a) in that time. But they also have Everton (h), Burnley (a) and Palace (h).

The good thing about Watkins is you never have to worry about his place in the team, and his minutes are great. There’s maybe some questions marks over whether he’ll keep penalties, but even if he doesn’t he’s probably worth having.

With Nkunku potentially not an option, I’d probably swerve the other £7.5m and £8.0m forwards. Darwin Núñez (£7.5m) and Cody Gakpo (£7.5m) are both competing for the same spot and there’s bound to be some rotation. Meanwhile Alexander Isak (£7.5m) and Callum Wilson (£8.0m) are in a similar position - I don’t think we’ll see Isak on the left very often which might mean shared minutes as the no.9.

Nicolas Jackson (£7.0m) is worth considering. Liverpool (h) isn’t a fixture to be afraid of and after that Chelsea’s fixtures quickly turn for the better. The concern would be that if Nkunku is missing Chelsea will be a little weaker, and if he’s fit he’s probably the better option in terms of minutes. But with no other forwards signed yet, Jackson’s minutes should be pretty good. Just keep an eye on the transfer market, there’s rumours Dušan Vlahović might be close to signing.

⏱️ Added time, added points? ⏱️

For this season the injury time in games will be similar to that of the World Cup where we saw some games play on until about 100 minutes!

For what it’s worth, I don’t think this makes a massive change to the way we play the game, but there might be some small things to think about.

Players that are rarely subbed, and often get to 90 minutes will get a bit longer to get points - which we like!

The names that spring to mind are players like Bruno Fernandes (£8.5m) and Watkins.

The reason I say it makes only a small difference is because those players that play longer are already the type of players we want. It’s better to minimize those that are a bit of a headache when it comes to game time.

It may also have a small negative affect on defenders because there’s more time for goals to be scored and clean sheets might be harder to come by. Again though, we want players from better defences and that can provide us attacking returns - I don’t think these changes really make me think differently about who I’m picking.

📈 Who’s popular 📈

As it stands the template is looking pretty strong, but that’s to be expected with so much knowledge within the community coupled with some very generous pricing from FPL.

Alphonse Areola (£4.0m) is the highest owned goalkeeper. Lots of people think that he might take over the number one shirt at West Ham. I don’t disagree that it will happen at some point, but it’s more hope than anything else that it happens for Gameweek 1. That being said, there’s no other playing £4.0m goalkeepers yet, so no harm in having Areola.

André Onana (£5.0m) is next in line with 22.9% ownership. If you want to cover the Man United defence he’s a £0.5m cheaper way of doing it over Luke Shaw (£5.5m) and as you’ve seen, Onana is in my draft.

The most popular defender is Pervis Estupiñán (£5.0m) at a massive 50.8% ownership. Brighton still don’t have another natural left back so his minutes look good. In the opening six Gameweeks it’s only Man United (a) in Gameweek 5 I’d be concerned about, and even then Estupiñán is so attacking it might not matter.

Second is Kieran Trippier (£6.5m). This is an interesting one for me because within the FPL community on Twitter and YouTube he barely features or gets talked about at all. Mostly due to the fixtures Newcastle have between Gameweek 2-4: Man City (a), Liverpool (h), Brighton (a).

Because of that I don’t think it’s worth starting with him, but there’s no harm in having a plan about how to get him in later, especially from Gameweek 5.

In midfield it’s no surprise to see that Saka is the most popular player. When he’s only £0.5m more or the same price as other Arsenal attackers, it’s a bit of a no brainer.

Second is Marcus Rashford (£9.0m) just behind at 42.2%. In the opening three fixtures United get to play both Wolves (h) and Nottingham Forest (h) - it’s hard to turn that down. Outside of that it’s a bit trickier but with Rashford’s minutes and goal threat he’s still a great option.

Can you guess who the most popular forward is? Yeah, obviously…

Behind him it’s actually Jesus and Nkunku followed by Watkins. I think they’re all good options when fit and available but as already mentioned, it’s possible Jesus and Nkunku won’t be ready for Gameweek 1.

💰 The best £6.5m midfielder 💰 

This season we’re blessed with a host of options for £6.5m in midfield. Before the Jesus injury I even had two of them in my draft. Here’s how I’d rank them:

Right now Bryan Mbeumo (£6.5m) is my favourite. Brentford have a great start to the season fixture wise and with Ivan Toney (£8.0m) not available, Mbeumo should be on penalties. Brentford also have no Europe to contend with and the Cameroon forward should get decent minutes.

In second place I’ve gone with Kaoru Mitoma (£6.5m). Just like last season it’s difficult to differentiate between him and Solly March (£6.5m), but the latter hasn’t featured much in pre-season so far.

Brighton open with Luton (h) in Gameweek 1 which is extremely enticing and should continue where they left off last season - scoring plenty of goals. The only slight concern would be European matches they didn’t have last year, and the wealth of attacking options Roberto De Zerbi has at his disposal, it could mean slightly reduced minutes for MItoma at times.

Taking the bronze medal is Eberechi Eze (£6.5m). I must admit, I’m doubting my order of picks here, especially with all the chat about Eze within the community. He was never substitued when Roy Hodgson took charge again last season, and like Mbeumo there’s no European games to worry about. With Wilfried Zaha out of the picture the assumption is that Eze will be on penalties as well.

My only slight worry is his underlying stats. He was at 0.22 xG and 0.19 xA per 90 minutes last season according to Fantasy Football Hub. For comparison, Mbeumo was 0.33 xG, 0.28 xA with Mitoma at 0.35 xG, 0.26 xA.

It’s not a deal breaker, his minutes and penalties definitely compensates for this a bit. But I’m just not sure if he’ll get better this year generally, and Crystal Palace haven’t exactly invested much in their squad.

The other two to look at are Mykhailo Mudryk (£6.5m) and Moussa Diaby (£6.5m).

It looks like Mudryk may get pretty decent minutes early on but I wouldn’t say it’s a guarantee. Couple that with the fact he still looks very raw in terms of end product, he’d probably be an avoid for me early on.

Diaby is a bit more exciting, with 17 attacking returns for Leverkusen last season. He should be fairly nailed on for Aston Villa. They’re another team that has European matches to contend with this year so I’d maybe see how they get on before committing, but if you want someone new and exciting, Diaby could be the one to go for.

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