Best midfielders to start the season with in FPL

The new Premier League campaign is edging closer and the fantasy game is live which means managers can now check out all of the player prices, build drafts and more. We focus on the pool of players available and pick out the best midfielders to start the season with in FPL.

Drafting teams ahead of the new season is a standard planning process within the FPL community. It gives us a great indication of how we want set-up and how we are going to spend our budget. Picking out the best midfielders to start the season with in FPL could be hugely beneficial to managers and a great starting point to building the rest of our squads.

The fixtures

The fixture ticker orders teams with the easiest matches at the top, all the way down to the teams with the toughest matches at the bottom. We can see that Arsenal, Manchester City, Chelsea, Luton and Brentford all rank amongst the top five teams with the best early fixtures.

Bukayo Saka

Arsenal claimed a second place finish after a fantastic campaign last season. One of their best traits was in attack. That statement can be backed up by their great underlying data. When compared every other team they ranked second for goals (88) and third for shots in the box (414).

The fixtures couldn’t be much better for the Arsenal. They sit top of the fixture list with games against Nottingham Forest, Crystal Palace, Fulham, Manchester United, Everton and Tottenham. For that reason, it could be hugely rewarding to invest in the Arsenal offensive line.

The best route into the Arsenal attack could be Bukayo Saka (£8.4m). Saka takes his sides penalties which is additional route to points and he also maintained some great stats last season. In fact, not only did he make it into the top six highest scoring players in FPL but amongst midfielders he also ranked third best for shots in the box (67).

Bryan Mbeumo

Brentford may have finished around mid-table last season but they were just short of a European spot. In terms of their attack ‘The Bees’ have had success – last season they ranked in the best eight sides for goals scored (58), shots in the box (50) and shots on target (155).

Brentford rank fifth on the ticker which suggests they have some of the easiest fixtures to start the season with. They face Tottenham, Fulham, Crystal Palace, Bournemouth, Newcastle and Everton in their first six matches.

The long term ban of Ivan Toney could mean a huge increase in appeal of Bryan Mbeumo (£6.5m). The winger is very likely to take the role of penalty taker which significantly boosts his appeal. Toney was one of the leading strikers for underlying stats last season so the potential is there for Mbeumo to step up and provide more than his 22/23 nine goals and eight assists.

Kaoru Mitoma

Brighton claimed a sixth place last season which meant they secured European football for the campaign ahead. Their brilliant season was largely due to their prowess in attack. When compered to every other team in the league they ranked fourth for goals (72), first for total attempts on goal (613) and first for shots on target (225).

It cold be a great start to the 23/24 campaign for Brighton – they have matches against Luton, Wolves, West Ham, Newcastle, Manchester United and Bournemouth. Both their 22/23 offensive data and fixtures suggest it could be wise to invest in their attack.

Brighton have a range of different midfielder options and all are very strong candidates. One of their several options in midfield is Kaoru Mitoma (£6.5m). Amongst all midfielders who played over 2000 minutes last season, per 90 minutes he sits third best for big chances total (0.62). He also bagged seven goals and five assists.

Mohamed Salah

Liverpool were nowhere near their usual high standard last season. The Reds finished fifth and whilst not enough to claim Champions League football, it was to secure a Europa League spot. That may be the case but they ranked third for goals (75), second for attempts on goal (605), first for shots in the box (432) and second for big chances total (125).

They sit seventh on the fixture ticker in the first six matches – with games against Chelsea, Bournemouth, Newcastle, Aston Villa, Wolves and West Ham. Liverpool have mixed fixtures but their underlying data from last season could suggest it be beneficial to buy into their frontline.

Mohamed Salah (£12.5m) could be one of the best assets to start season with. Amongst all midfielders last season the Egyptian ranked first for goals (19), first for attempts on goal (125) and first for shots in the box (104). Salah also takes his sides penalties which adds another potential route to points.

Other great midfielder options.

Pascal Groß (£6.5m) – Brighton maintained some fantastic stats last season and Pascal Groß lead their attackers for non-penalty expected goal involvement (14.19).

Gabriel Martinelli (£8m) and Martin Ødegaard (£8.5m) – Both attackers racked up at least 20 goal contributions for Arsenal last season whilst also finishing in the top six midfielders for non-penalty expected goal involvement.

Marcus Rashford (£9m) and Bruno Fernandes (£8.5m) – Both of the Manchester United attackers managed a non-penalty expected goal involvement of 18 or more last season – which placed them in the top four midfielders.