Undervalued FPL assets from each team

With the new season now just a few weeks away – we take a look at an undervalued asset from each club worth considering for your FPL team!

Arsenal

Takehiro Tomiyasu – Defender – £4.5m

Arsenal finished the 21/22 campaign ranked 5th for clean sheets with 13 – 9 of which were kept in the 20 games that Tomiyasu started. With a 45% clean sheet record with Tomiyasu in the team compared to 22% clean sheet rate without, it’s clear to see the Gunners are a stronger defensive unit when the Japanese international starts the game. Although he only provided one assist last time out, Tomiyasu looks comfortable in the final third and the introduction of Gabriel Jesus could see him bag a few more assists and make his £4.5m price tag look like a bargain. He’s injured going into the new season but one to monitor as the weeks go by.

Aston Villa

Leon Bailey – Midfield – £5.0m

Bailey joined the Villains in August 2021, following an excellent campaign with Bayer Leverkusen where he scored 9 goals and provided 8 assists. 21/22 was an injury-plagued season for the Jamaican international, but he certainly passed the eye test when he was on the pitch. Bailey scored one goal and provided 3 assists in his inaugural season in the Premier League, and if he can keep his fitness and secure his spot in the starting lineup, it would be no surprise to see him build on those numbers. Villa begin the campaign with a trip to Bournemouth, followed by a home game against Everton and a visit to Crystal Palace. At £5.0m, Bailey is likely to play as a winger and offers a cheap route into the Villa attack.

Bournemouth

Dominic Solanke – Forward – £6.0m

He may be the most expensive FPL asset in the Bournemouth team this season, but that isn’t without good reason. Another product of Chelsea’s youth academy, Dominic Solanke took a couple of seasons to find his feet. Now 23 years old, the striker proved fundamental in Bournemouth’s promotion from the Championship last season scoring 29 goals and providing 7 assists in the league. The previous season Solanke was directly involved in 26 goals, scoring 15 and providing 11 assists. Having already spent a season in the Premier League with Liverpool, Solanke now looks a much more complete striker and at just £6.0m could make a huge impression on the top flight this time out.

Brentford

Yoane Wissa – Midfield – £5.5m

After a successful spell at FC Lorient helping the team to promotion, Yoane Wissa looked more than comfortable in his one season in Ligue 1 – scoring 10 goals and providing 5 assists while featuring in every game during the campaign. Since his arrival at Brentford in August 2021, the DR Congo international found himself somewhat struggling for minutes. Although Wissa played in 30 games last season he only managed 1273 minutes (average 42 per game), however he still scored 7 goals and provided 2 assists – a goal involvement every 141 minutes. If Wissa can nail down his spot in the starting lineup he is very likely to outscore last season’s points haul and at £5.5m he may slot in well in the fourth or fifth midfielder spot.

Brighton

Lewis Dunk – Defender – £4.5m

The 6ft4 centre back has been a fixture in the Seagulls’ backline for more than a decade and his guaranteed starting spot makes him one to consider going into the new season. For a £4.5m defender, you can’t ask for much better value than Lewis Dunk given his presence in the box from set pieces and Brighton’s 12 clean sheets last season. The 30 year old defender scored one goal in the last campaign, however had an xG of 2.2 so we’ll expect to see him improve on this next season. In the previous campaign Dunk scored 5 goals so there’s always the potential he can repeat those numbers, however in the same season he had 2 red cards, so you may want to bench him for those tougher away fixtures.

Chelsea

Edouard Mendy – Goalkeeper – £5.0m

After keeping 14 clean sheets in 34 appearances last time out Edouard Mendy looks set to continue as the Blues’ first choice keeper and at £5.0m he looks like a bargain. Third highest among goalkeepers for clean sheets in 21/22 – bettered only by Ederson and Alisson – it would have been no surprise to see the Senegalese stopper priced at £5.5m. Being in the same price bracket as the likes of Nick Pope, David De Gea and Lukasz Fabianski, Mendy looks excellent value at £5.0m and if he can match his clean sheet returns of either of the previous 2 seasons (16 clean sheets in 2020/21) then he’ll prove a worthwhile investment for your team. 

Crystal Palace

Michael Olise – Midfield – £5.5m

Olise is one that definitely passed the eye test in his first season at Selhurst Park. In 26 appearances last season (14 from the bench) he scored 2 goals and provided 6 assists. The main issue for the 20 year old Englishman is avoiding injury – he managed just 1207 minutes in the last campaign, but with a goal involvement every 150 minutes he’ll be looking to cement his spot in the starting lineup going into the new season and improve on these numbers. At £5.5m he may be worth a punt when fit.

Everton

Nathan Patterson – Defender – £4.0m

Since Patterson’s arrival from Rangers in January he’s found minutes hard to come by in what was a disappointing season overall for the Toffees. After also facing a spell on the sidelines through injury, Patterson found himself back in the Scotland team and will hope that the upcoming campaign will be where he makes his mark at Goodison. Priced at just £4.0m, if the 20 year old right back can keep Seamus Coleman out of the team then he’ll be the perfect option for that fifth defender slot. He’s already shown he can provide goals and assists from defence with the national side, scoring 1 goal and providing 3 assists so far this year and if he can secure his spot in the starting lineup he could prove to be a fantastic option for your team!

Fulham

Andreas Pereira – Midfield – £4.5m

At just 26 years old we’ve already seen Andreas Pereira play regularly for Manchester United, Valencia, Lazio and most recently Flamengo. Now returning to the Premier League with Fulham, Pereira will hope to get settled in quickly and at just £4.5m could prove to be an ideal bench player for your FPL team. The Brazilian midfielder had 5 goal involvements (3 goals and 2 assists) for Flamengo last season with 6 goal involvements in 18 games the previous year. Not staggering numbers, but given his cheap price and potential for goals and assists it’s no surprise to see him as the current highest owned £4.5m midfielder. Definitely one to watch going into the new season, but with Fulham facing Liverpool on the opening weekend it’s probably worth waiting until gameweek 2. 

Leeds

Rodrigo – Midfield – £6.0m

It was a disappointing 2021/22 campaign for Leeds narrowly avoiding relegation. However, looking ahead to Jesse Marsch’s first full season in charge at Elland Road the White’s have already added depth to their midfield with the acquisitions of Tyler Adams, Luis Sinisterra and Brendan Aaronson. With the inevitable departure of Raphinha, it’s likely we’ll see more of Leeds’ attacks come through Rodrigo and with his new FPL position as a midfielder he’ll pick up those handy clean sheet points, however rare they are. After 6 goals and 2 assists in the last campaign, the 31 year old Spaniard will look to improve on these numbers and secure his spot in the national team ahead of the World Cup. With 8 of Leeds’ first 10 games boasting a Fixture Difficulty Rating of 2, he’s certainly worth a look going into the new season.

Leicester

Ricardo Pereira – Defender – £4.5m

Clean sheets proved hard to come by last season for Leicester, with injury having a constant effect on their backline throughout the campaign. However, with only 998 minutes of football for Ricardo Pereira he managed 1 goal and 3 assists. With the returns of Wesley Fofana and Jonny Evans towards the end of the campaign, we could see a stronger defensive unit for the Foxes going into the new season. Capable of playing as a wing back or winger, we could see the 28 year old deployed in a more advanced role throughout the year and build on his 4 attacking returns last time out. At £4.5m he offers potential returns at both ends of the pitch and is one to keep an eye on should he secure his place in the starting lineup.

Liverpool

Luis Diaz – Midfield – £8.0m

Since joining the Reds from Porto in January this year, Luis Diaz has looked right at home playing Premier League football. The Columbian winger scored 4 goals and provided 3 assists in his 13 appearances last season. With the departure of Sadio Mane we’ll likely see Diaz play primarily on the left, and the incoming target man Darwin Nunez could provide the Columbian with the opportunity to build on his 3 assists last time out. With more reliance on Diaz and a full pre-season under Jurgen Klopp I expect him to build on his xGI of 0.55 per 90 and if he can hit the ground running in his first full season he’ll make his £8.0m price tag look like a bargain. 

Manchester City

Julian Alvarez – Forward – £6.5m

With the departures of Raheem Sterling and Gabriel Jesus and the acquisition of Norwegian sensation Erling Halaand, we could see City adjust their formation and play with an out and out striker. Comfortable playing as a number 9 or a winger, the versatility and energy of Julian Alavarez could see him bag more minutes than expected throughout the campaign. After scoring 18 goals and providing 7 assists for River Plate in the Argentinian league in 2021, it’s no surprise that Pep would rather have the 22 year old at his disposal. At £6.5m he offers a cheap route into the City attack, however as is the case with most City attackers you’ll need to be wary of Pep roulette.

Manchester United

Marcus Rashford – Midfield – £6.5m

It was a disappointing campaign last time out for Marcus Rashford, but the same can be said for almost everyone at Manchester United. With the introduction of Erik Ten Hag we could see a serious change of pace at Old Trafford and with Rashford likely to hold down the left wing spot he’ll be looking to return to his form of the previous campaign scoring 11 goals and providing 11 assists while bagging 13 clean sheet points. If the 24 year old Englishman can reach anything close to those numbers he’ll prove fantastic value at £6.5m and with Brighton and Brentford as United’s first two fixtures he’s definitely one to consider going into the new season.

Newcastle

Bruno Guimaraes – Midfield – £6.0m

Having only joined the Magpies in January this year, the 24 year old Brazilian slotted right into the team and scored the most goals (5) among Newcastle midfielders for the season, while providing 1 assist and earning 4 clean sheet points in the process. With a home game to newly promoted Nottingham Forest in the first game of the season, Guimaraes will look to continue where he left off, and the arrivals of Nick Pope and Sven Botman point to more clean sheet points for Newcastle this season. It’s likely we’ll also see the Toon Army recruit in the attacking positions this summer, which could provide higher assist potential for the midfielder going forward. At £6.0m he may be worth a look for your team!

Nottingham Forest

Neco Williams – Defender – £4.0m

Although yet to fully prove himself in the top flight, 21 year old Neco Williams looked more than comfortable in a dominant Fulham side in the Championship last season, scoring 2 goals and providing 2 assists during his loan spell with the Cottagers. After his permanent move to Forest this Summer we’ll likely see Williams secure the right back spot and at £4.0m he could be a perfect fifth defender for your team this season. Nottingham Forest kept 18 clean sheets in the Championship last year, and with the arrivals of Williams, Omar Richards and Dean Henderson they’re as well set up as any newcomer to have a secure back line going into the new campaign and earn those clean sheet points.

Southampton

Adam Armstrong – Forward – £5.5m

After a promising start it turned out to be an underwhelming first season in the top flight for Adam Armstrong, scoring 2 goals and providing 3 assists in 2021/22. However, with the departure of Armando Broja returning to his parent club Chelsea, Armstrong could find himself back in the Southampton attack partnering Scotland international Che Adams. The 25 year old has proven he has an eye for goal, scoring 28 goals in his last season in the Championship with Blackburn in 2020/21. If Armstrong can secure his spot in the starting lineup and improve on last season’s contributions, he’ll fit in nicely as a third striker option. However, with some tricky fixtures to navigate in the opening weeks you’ll likely want to wait until gameweek 6 before seriously considering the English striker.

Spurs

Matt Doherty – Defender – £5.0m

It’s fair to say that when Matt Doherty was on the pitch last season we saw what he can really bring to the Spurs side. Although he managed just 15 appearances (6 from the bench), the wingback scored 2 goals and provided 5 assists. Back from the injury he picked up towards the end of the campaign, I expect Doherty to slot straight back into the starting lineup and continue to provide a goal threat going into the new season. With an xGI per 90 only bettered by Trent Alexander-Arnold last season, £5.0m is a steal for the Irishman if he can hold down his spot in the team. With a full pre-season under Antonio Conte and the additions of Yves Bissouma and Clement Lenglet, it’s likely we’ll also see Spurs build on their 16 clean sheets last time out. 

West Ham

Said Benrahma – Midfield – £6.0m

Benrahma’s 21/22 performance went somewhat under the radar with the exceptional returns from Jarrod Bowen being the main talking point from a Hammers point of view. However, with 8 goals and 6 assists from Benrahma last time out the Algerian has shown he’s worth considering from an FPL perspective. With a goal contribution every 156 minutes last season and a price tag of £6.0m, Benrahma offers a cheaper route into the West Ham attack than his teammate Bowen (£8.5m). Comfortable in a variety of positions, the versatility of Benrahma should show him plenty of minutes going into the new campaign and with 0.33 goals per 90 last season you’re unlikely to have to wait too long before basking in his attacking returns.

Wolves

Pedro Neto – Midfield – £5.5m

Now 22 years old and going into his fourth season at the Molineux, Pedro Neto will be hoping to return to his form in the 2020/21 campaign following an injury that kept him out most of last season. The Portuguese attacker did manage 1 goal and 1 assist in his 13 appearances last year, however the previous season he was much more active – making 30 appearances, scoring 5 goals and providing 8 assists in the process. If Neto can stay fit, he’s sure to secure his spot in the starting lineup and at £5.5m could fit perfectly as a fourth midfielder in your team. With games against Leeds and Fulham to start the season, he’s one that could make an impression right from the start.