Premium Players in FPL

Fantasy Premier League has officially launched for its new season. This means we now have access to all of the player prices. So, for that reason, we take a look at the premium players in FPL, who they are and how they could affect our seasons.

Premium players in FPL are some of the most important assets in the game. They tend to be the most consistent and the most explosive which means we can end up relying on them the most, so, let’s dive in.

The Ultimate Premium

You can’t get more premium than this man. Erling Haaland comes into the new season with a staggering price-tag of £15m, making him the most expensive player in the history of FPL.

The Norwegian managed 200+ for a second successive season last campaign and it’s his consistency that has warranted his hefty new price-tag.

Although injured for some of last season Haaland still raked in 217 points, mostly due to his huge 27 goals and eight assists. He also dominated several key attacking metrics, including big chances total, total attempts on goal and total shots in the box.

The graphic above shows Manchester City’s first six fixtures of the new season. With games against Chelsea, Arsenal and Newcastle the Norwegian has a mixed start.

With the above and plenty of other pricey options elsewhere, we could see many within the community exclude Haaland from their Gameweek 1 teams.

Mohamed Salah

The second most expensive player in the game this season and truly earning his premium player status is Mohamed Salah. The Egyptian has been priced at £12.5m for 24/25. You’ll also notice the £2.5m gap between both himself and Erling Haaland, which is arguably too big.

The Liverpool star hit 200+ points again last season, cementing his position as the best ever FPL asset and of course justifying his big price-tag. A huge 18 goals and 12 assists made up the most of Salah’s 23/24 points.

In terms of statistics Salah was also amongst the best five players in the league for metrics like big chances total, total attempts on goal and total shots in the box, so the data also backed him.

There is much less debate around Mohamed Salah’s starting schedule. As we can see Liverpool face some of the worst defences in the league from last season. This includes a meeting with Manchester United who were at one point conceding 20 shots per game.

£9.5m-£10.5m Midfielders

Midfielders reigned superior last season as eight of them made their way into the top 10 highest scoring players. This could be the reason we have seen plenty of price lifts in that bracket and that suggests we could see some major competition between the £9.5m-£10.5m price-point.

The most expensive of the bunch is Cole Palmer (£10.5m) who earned the biggest price jump in FPL history after becoming the highest scoring player in the game last season. The Chelsea star bagged 22 goals and 13 assists last time out so his price is deserved.

As we can see, Palmer faces a torrid starting fixture against his former side Manchester City.

However, after Manchester City Palmer has some lovely fixtures against the likes of Wolves, Crystal Palace and Bournemouth. Many may even decide to bring him in and bench him for the opening round.

Four more players make up the £9.5m-£10.5m midfielder bracket. Bukayo Saka (£10m) is one of those players. Saka was one of the eight midfielders to manage more than 200 points last season due to 16 goals and 13 assists.

Similar to Cole Palmer Saka takes his sides penalties. However, his starting schedule is much tougher, with matches against Aston Villa, Brighton, Tottenham and Manchester City.

Another £10m penalty taker is Son Heung-Min. The Tottenham talisman banked 213 points in 23/24 with the help of 17 goals and 10 assists.

Son also has a tricky start to the season in terms of fixtures. Tottenham clash with Leicester but then face Everton who were second best defensively last season, Newcastle and Arsenal. Manchester United could pose as a challenge depending on their form.

Two more midfielders that squeeze into the £9.5m-£10.5m midfielder bracket are teammates Phil Foden (£9.5m) and Kevin De Bruyne (£9.5m).

Of the two Phil Foden was the only one to reach 200+ points. De Bruyne’s injury plagued season played a huge part in his price cut.

As shown with Haaland, Manchester City have some questionable starting fixtures. However, it is worth highlighting that they maintained some of the best underlying attacking metrics last season.

Those who do go without Haaland may decide to bring in one of Foden or De Bruyne as Manchester City attacking coverage.

Premium Defenders

There is more than just attackers amongst the premium players in FPL. This season we have a huge eight defenders priced at £6m-£7m.

Making up three of the eight £6m-£7m defenders is Ben White (£6.5m), Gabriel (£6m) and William Saliba (£6m) who all play for Arsenal.

Arsenal were the best defence in the league last season. Not only did they dominate in terms of clean sheets but they also sustained some elite underlying defensive data.

White became the highest scoring defender last season. His 182 points consisted of a huge 18 clean sheets, four goals and five assists. Saliba and Gabriel fell well short of their teammate with 164 and 149 respectively.

As we can see their fixtures above aren’t extremely convincing from a defensive perspective. But, you would still hope for at least three clean sheets, which is fair.

Another three of the £6m-£7m defenders play for Liverpool. Trent Alexander-Arnold (£7m) comes in as the most expensive defender in the game. Teammates Andy Robertson and Virgil Van Dijk both come in at £6m.

The Liverpool defence wasn’t as convincing as Arsenal’ last season – keeping eight less clean sheets. At that price you would expect much better numbers going into the new season.

What does make them tempting though is their great starting schedule. Not many would be surprised to see Liverpool keep four or more clean sheets in the run ahead. Pre-season could be key so keeping an eye on them defensively could be crucial.

The remaining two defenders are Josko Gvardiol (£6m) of Manchester City and Kieran Trippier (£6m) of Newcastle.

Both players offer potential at both ends of the pitch and so could be appealing. We have already seen the rough starting fixtures for Manchester City and Newcastle failed to convince last season defensively. With that in mind, similar to Liverpool it could be worth monitoring them during pre-season.