FPL: The BEST midfield and forward picks for your GW1 squads
Best Fantasy Premier League midfield and forward picks for your GW1 squads: Erling Haaland is a must-have, Brentford has the pick of the value midfielders – and Mo Salah is finally a differential!
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Whether you’ve been tinkering for weeks or just logged on to the FPL site for the first time, we all have one thing in common: Friday’s deadline.
Gameweek 1 is fast approaching and that means there’s little time left to finalise the perfect team ahead of the Premier League curtain-raiser.
So, if you’re still chopping and changing with your eight-man attack, Mail Sport has taken a look at the best midfielders and forwards on offer this season.
Midfielders
Midfielders are the meat of your FPL sandwich. They pick up an extra point for goals, an extra point for clean sheets and you can have five of them!
So getting your midfield right from the get-go is incredibly important. With hybrid forwards like Mohamed Salah and Marcus Rashford disguising themselves as midfielders in FPL, it’s easy to target out-and-out goalscorers in your engine room.
Mail Sport has taken a look at the best midfield and forward options on offer this season
Marcus Rashford was one of the standout players last season and is still only £9.0m in FPL
Unless you want to watch matches from behind your sofa, Erling Haaland must be in your team
Meanwhile, as fantastic as defensive midfielders like Rodri and Casemiro are in real life, they’re often too far away from the action to pick up goals and assists. With no tackling or interception points on offer in this game, they ought to be avoided at all costs.
Erling Haaland‘s 36-goal tally left Salah somewhat in the shadows last season, but the Egyptian still scored a whopping 239 points at Liverpool. And now finally he’s a differential, with only 24% ownership.
In my opinion, he’s the best player FPL has ever produced and little has changed there. Since his 303-point total in 2017-18, he’s scored 259, 233, 231, 265 and 239.
The main question this season is whether Salah is worth £12.5m when players like Bruno Fernandes and Bukayo Saka are priced £4m cheaper. The £8.5m midfielders will probably offer better value, unless Salah is selected regularly as your captain.
Top midfielders
Premium (£10.0m – £12.5m)
Salah, LIV (£12.5m)
Mid-price (£7.0m – £9.5m)
Rashford, MUN (£9.0m)
Saka/Odegaard, ARS (£8.5m)
Fernandes, MUN (£8.5m)
Martinelli, ARS (£8.0m)
Richarlison, TOT (£7.0m.)
Maddison, TOT (£7.5m)
Son, TOT (£9.0m)
Grealish, MCI (£7.5m)
Sterling, CHE (£7.5m)
Bowen, WHU (£7.0m)
Value (£5.0m – £6.5m)
Mbeumo, BRE (£6.5m)
Mitoma/March, BHA (£6.5m)
Diaby, AVL (£6.5m)
Eze, CRY (£6.5m)
Mudryk, CHE (£6.5m)
Bench (£4.5m)
Anderson, NEW (£4.5m)
Nakamba, LUT (£4.5m)
Chukwuemeka, CHE (£4.5m)
And herein lies the issue. Salah is phenomenal and should be considered, but only if he’s captained in rotation with Haaland.
Plan to captain Haaland every week without fail, and it’s likely the Liverpool hitman won’t be worth his price tag.
I almost did a spit-take when I saw how cheaply Rashford, Saka and Martin Odegaard were valued this season.
All three racked up over 200 points last campaign and could easily come in at the £10.0m mark, so starting with at least two of these three is a no-brainer, in my opinion.
For just £8.0m, Gabriel Martinelli has every chance of matching the other Arsenal attackers too if he continues to nail down that left-wing slot.
He’s set to start the season and will likely remain first choice, but Leandro Trossard and Emile Smith-Rowe could occasionally take minutes away from him. I’m not too concerned by this threat, mind.
If you’re new to FPL, you may be wondering: how on earth have we not mentioned Man City’s midfielders yet? Surely we need a midfielder from the best team in the league?
The problem can be summed up in two words: Pep Roulette. Aside from perhaps Haaland and Kevin de Bruyne, Guardiola loves to rotate his squad and this leads to headaches every weekend for FPL managers.
If he plays regularly, Phil Foden is the pick of the bunch at £7.5m, but otherwise Jack Grealish is the favoured choice.
Grealish seems to have locked down the left-wing spot at the Etihad and should start more often than not.
Ange Postecoglou’s arrival in north London could throw Tottenham’s assets back into our thinking. The Australian is an attack-minded manager unlike Jose Mourinho and Antonio Conte, which bodes well for FPL.
Former Golden Boot winner Son Heung-min has been slashed in price to £9.0m while James Maddison, a reliable points scorer at Leicester previously, is only £7.5m following his move to Spurs.
Richarlison cannot be overlooked now either at £7.0m. With Harry Kane seemingly heading for an exit to Bayern Munich, the Brazilian will likely lead the line under Postecoglou.
While it’s probably a wait and see for me, some FPL managers may wish to get out ahead and take a gamble on the Tottenham midfielders.
At only £8.5m, Arsenal main man Bukayo Saka is arguably the best value pick in the game
Premier League champions Man City and Arsenal were the two best attacks last season, but Liverpool, Newcastle, Brighton and Man United also had very high xG (expected goals)
Winger Moussa Diaby arrives at Aston Villa with bags of potential and is only priced at £6.5m
There’s an exciting pool of talent at £6.5m, and it couldn’t hurt to start with at least one of these midfielders.
Bryan Mbeumo, who is back in training after picking up a minor knock, is my pick of the players in this bracket, having taken on penalty responsibility in Ivan Toney‘s absence. He’ll lead the line alongside Yoane Wissa and has superb fixtures after facing Tottenham in GW1.
Meanwhile, Brighton duo Solly March and Kaoru Mitoma, Crystal Palace’s Eberechi Eze and Aston Villa’s Moussa Diaby are all great picks at £6.5m and have the potential to perform well above their price tags.
Starting the season with Chelsea attackers is perhaps a slight risk considering they face Liverpool first and are finding their feet under Mauricio Pochettino, but keep a watchful eye on Raheem Sterling (£7.0m) and Mykhailo Mudryk (£6.5m) early on in the season.
The Blues pair are set to start out wide for the new manager, who enjoys playing attacking and free-flowing football.
Finally, if you need a £4.5m midfielder to warm your bench, there are three players to consider: Marvelous Nakamba, Carney Chukwuemeka and Elliot Anderson.
If you want a solid, run-of-the-mill player who will keep his place throughout the season, go with Luton’s Nakamba. He won’t get many attacking returns but he’ll be good for a reliable 2-pointer throughout the season if called upon.
Meanwhile, Anderson and Chukwuemeka have impressed in preseason and could get plenty of minutes early on, but they’re unlikely to be first-choice. They’ll provide much better goal and assist threat at the £4.5m bracket than Nakamba, but expect the duo to come off the bench in most matches.
For the same price, you can also get new Manchester United captain Bruno Fernandes in your midfield – the Portuguese international bagged 244 points during the 2020-21 campaign
Liverpool created almost as many big chances as Manchester City last season but failed to put them away. Jurgen Klopp’s side could be due a few extra goals if they find their scoring touch
Carney Chukwuemeka (£4.5m) could start for Chelsea in Christopher Nkunku’s absence
Forwards
Haaland’s magnificence since joining City has almost taken a decision out of FPL managers’ hands. He’s so destructive that he’s pretty much the best captaincy option every week – and for that you need him despite the £14.0m price tag.
Top forwards
Premium (£10m-£12.5m)
Haaland, MCI (£12.5m)
Mid-priced (£7.0m – £9.0m)
Watkins, AVL (£8.0m)
Jackson, CHE (£7.0m)
Wilson, NEW (£8.0m)
Isak, NEW (£7.0m)
Value (£5.0m – £6.5m)
Wissa, BRE (£6.0m)
Pedro, BHA (£5.5m)
Calvert-Lewin, EVE (£6.0m)
Solanke, BOU (£6.5m)
Bench (£4.5m)
Mubama, BUR (£4.5m)
Osula, SHU (£4.5m)
Archer, AVL (£4.5m)
Bayern Munich have agreed a deal for Kane, meaning the Tottenham hitman is pretty much off the table.
There’s a case to be made for Kane at £12.5m if he remains in north London, as he’s averaged 233 points across the last three seasons, but he’s definitely one to avoid for GW1 until we know more.
Injuries to Gabriel Jesus (£8.0m) and Christopher Nkunku (£7.5m) have narrowed the field in attack somewhat, and now Ollie Watkins looks the best forward in this price range. He’s been on fire since Unai Emery has taken over at Aston Villa and bagged 23 goal contributions last term.
Just like with Man City’s midfielders, it’s probably wise to give Liverpool’s attackers a wide berth.
Forwards Darwin Nunez and Cody Gakpo and midfielders Luis Diaz and Diogo Jota are all competing for a place in the Liverpool front three and, presuming Salah continues to start every match at right wing, there are only two spots up for grabs.
Chelsea newcomer Nicolas Jackson has looked red-hot in preseason and could hit the ground running at Stamford Bridge.
As Newcastle’s fixtures are poor early on, with Man City in GW2 and Liverpool in GW3, I prefer £7.0m Jackson to the likes of Alexander Isak and Callum Wilson, especially if Chelsea fail to bring in another striker.
At £6.0m, Wissa is set for an extended run in the Brentford first team and could be well worth his price in attack.
Meanwhile, Brighton’s new man Joao Pedro has the potential to break the game at £5.5m if he holds down a regular first team place.
The Brazilian took a penalty in preseason and has lined up just behind the target forward during matches. With that, he should partner either Danny Welbeck or Evan Ferguson in attack and will likely have just Julio Enciso for competition at No 10.
He’s a slight rotation risk, but Brighton striker Joao Pedro is definitely one to watch at £5.5m
No team took more shots from outside the box per match than Manchester United last campaign, while Liverpool, Newcastle and Arsenal had the most shots inside the penalty area
Bayern Munich have agreed a deal with Tottenham for Harry Kane, so he’s an avoid at £12.5m
West Ham’s £4.5m forward Divin Mubama has also impressed in preseason and could profit from the exit of Gianluca Scamacca to Atalanta.
He’s unlikely to start often, with Danny Ings and Michail Antonio still at the club, but may earn some handy cameos off the bench.
Villa youngster Cameron Archer is in a similar boat. There’s no way he starts above Watkins under Emery, but he’ll likely win the odd appearance off the bench at £4.5m.
Finally, William Osula started often for Sheffield United in preseason and may be the pick of the many Blades forwards. Don’t expect the £4.5m forward to score may goals, though.
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