With a huge 814,606 Fantasy Premier League (FPL) managers using their Bench Boost in Gameweek 1, and lots planning a Gameweek 2 activation, there is particular interest in each position’s cheapest starters.
Here, we’ll look through the opening weekend’s lowest-priced individuals, likely unaffected by tonight’s Fulham v Chelsea clash.
£4.0M DEFENDERS
No £4.0m goalkeepers took part in Gameweek 1, unlike Martin Dubravka last year, so it’s straight onto defenders.
Each of Hull City’s back five kept a clean sheet against Manchester United, while Nobel Mendy and Semi Ajayi added a goal on top of it. But four of the five had to withdraw because of injury. Let’s see if Tuesday’s EFL Cup clash gives any clues on availability for their trip to Coventry City.
The Sky Blues lost to Arsenal at the Emirates Stadium. However, centre-back Bobby Thomas just about reached the defensive contributions (DefCon) threshold, as Ipswich Town captain Dara O’Shea did versus Sunderland.
Facing him, Luke O’Nien was the only non-promoted £4.0m defender to appear. But that seemed to be a one-off occasion due to Nordi Mukiele (£5.5m) and Omar Alderete‘s (£5.0m) fitness issues.
All hopes that a strong performance would keep him starting were likely dashed by a bunch of costly errors.
Off the bench came one-point cameos for Ipswich’s Abdoul Ouattara and Hull’s Cody Drameh, Paddy McNair, Matt Targett and Lucas Herrington.
£4.5M MIDFIELDERS
In midfield, the star of these five was Regan Slater, whose free-kick assisted Mendy. Post-match comments from his boss will encourage the FPL community.
“When I arrived here, Regan Slater was not a first-team player. I think he came on against Preston at home at half-time. He completely turned the game, and since then, he’s been a first XI player. He’s my first choice, always, and I like him a lot because every training session and every game, he’s 100 per cent.” – Sergej Jakirovic
Expect him and Matt Crooks to start in the short-to-medium term, and hopefully much longer in Slater’s case.
But it’s a guessing game for Aston Villa’s George Hemmings. He netted twice in a promising summer, but Unai Emery’s side were thrashed 4-0 at Brighton and Hove Albion. Throw in a few more incoming transfers, and it’s hard to say what the resulting shake-up does to Hemmings.
As for 11.7%-owned Will Hughes, he was an unused Crystal Palace substitute.
Notable £5.0m starters were goal scorers Vitaly Janelt and Nilson Angulo, plus assisters Diego Gomez, Sasa Lukic and Harrison Armstrong.
£4.5M + £5.0M FORWARDS
Up front, Ipswich’s Sindre Walle Egeli was the sole £4.5m option to appear, coming on in the 80th minute.
The arrival of Julio Enciso (£5.5m), plus the return to fitness of Abdul Fatawu (£5.0m), are a hammer blow to him. He should still hopefully get minutes, however.
At the £5.0m price point, only Coventry duo Ellis Simms and Brandon Thomas-Asante started, but Taiwo Awoniyi (£5.5m) looked lively upon his introduction, causing problems for defenders. It surely won’t be long until he’s challenging for a place in Frank Lampard’s lineup.
As for the other £5.5m options, it was a bit of a red-letter weekend. There were five starters, and four of them, Thierno Barry, Georginio Rutter, Emersonn and Oli McBurnie, delivered attacking returns. The other, Crystal Palace’s Eddie Nketiah, has the highest xGI of any forward in Gameweek 1 so far!
