After tinkering for quite some time since FPL was released, I’ve come up with my favourite draft to start the season with, as long as there are no more major transfers.

I will go through each player below and explain the reasoning for getting them.

Structure

The structure of my team is something I’ve thought a lot about so far this season. There are many more premiums in the game this year, with the price rise of Son and the signing of Haaland. Therefore I think team structure is important in case you want to amend your premiums during the season.

The ideal scenario would be to have a premium defender, midfielder and forward, which is definitely achievable and what I have done below. So if, for example, Haaland was to go off form or get injured, I could replace him with Kane or Ronaldo with 1 transfer. Same goes with Salah, being able to replace him with De Bruyne or Son.

That’s the reason I have a premium in each position, and although I’ve liked a few drafts I’ve made with only 1 premium, due to the high number of great 6-8m players, this is the format I’ve settled on.

Formation

I’ve decided to go 442 for the time being because again, it is the safest formation in my opinion.

It enables me to have 1 player benched from each position, again, keeping balance throughout positions.

This will probably adapt throughout the season, but I believe 442 is a great way to balance your team for GW1.

Goalkeepers

Starting with goalkeepers, we seem to have seen a drop in price this season. Most noticeably Alisson and Ederson by 0.5. Therefore, it’s easier to now fit a premium goal keeper in.

Mendy (£5.0m)

At £5.0m, I think Mendy is too good of a price to ignore. Playing for Chelsea who can be great at the back (most of the time) he got 14 clean sheets last season and Chelsea conceded the 3rd least amount of goals.

One of the reasons I didn’t go for Alisson or Ederson is due to only having 3 player slots per team. I’d rather keep those Man City and Liverpool slots open for outfield players for both teams.

Will Dennis (£4.0m)

I can’t see a £4.0m goal keeper that is going to play this season, so Dennis is just a random selection from the £4.0m goal keepers available as I’ll be relying on Mendy so want to keep as much budget free as possible.

Defenders

I’ve gone big at the back this season as it worked so well last season.

I believe most full backs are massively undervalued as they are a major part of some team’s attack (Liverpool & Spurs), so are involved in plenty of goals and assists, but are also eligible to pick up clean sheet points.

Trent Alexander Arnold (£7.5m)

£7.5m for the 3rd highest point scorer last season and one of the most creative full backs in the world is an obvious choice for me. With the addition of 6’2 Darwin Nunez up-front for Liverpool, I’d expect Alexander-Arnold (and Robertson) to up their assist tallies even further this season, especially from crosses, now that the have a target man to aim for.

Joao Cancelo (£7.0m)

Again, £7.0m for the 5th highest point scorer last season seems like a no-brainer to me. He’s in a Man City back line which kept 20 clean sheets last season and he still pops up with plenty of attacking returns.

His attacking returns could’ve been better last season had it matched the chances he created, but nevertheless, these created chances converted into bonus points for Cancelo.