Best players for Gameweek 1 - Fantasy Football Community

The new round of Premier League is ahead. With that in mind and with the help of Fantasy Football Scout, we have dug into the data and plucked out some of best player v team stats to reveal the best players for Gameweek 1.

Taking a look back at the head-to-head data to find some of the best players for Gameweek 1 could be really helpful to managers. Picking out assets who have great records against their upcoming opponent can help with transfers, captaincy and even chip strategy.

Ollie Watkins v Newcastle

Aston Villa face a tough Gameweek 1 match against one of last season’ best defences in the league, Newcastle. With the injuries to Arsenal’ Gabriel Jesus (£8m) and fellow striker Christopher Nkunku of Chelsea (£7.5m) managers are scrambling for another forward option.

One striker worth considering is Ollie Watkins (£8m). Although Newcastle looks tough on paper, the Englishman has a great recent record against them. When looking at the graphic below, Watkins managed to return twice in three games against Newcastle between 2020-2021. In addition, last season in the two games Watkins played against them he accumulated 17 points consisting of two goals and one assist.

Erling Haaland v Burnley

Manchester City start their 22/23 campaign off against Burnley in the first round. Burnley blitzed the Championship last season and broke records on the way. However, Manchester City could pose a step too far for the promoted side, especially one man in particular.

Erling Haaland amassed more points than any other player in FPL last season. A large proportion of his points came against promoted sides. As we can see from the table below the Norwegian managed a huge 47 points against them – those points consisted of six goals, two assists and three double digit hauls.

Kevin De Bruyne v Burnley

The Manchester City assets could find plenty of success in Gameweek 1. Another player who could have bags of potential is Kevin De Bruyne (£10.5m). As you can see in the 16 matches the Belgian played against promoted teams between 2018-2021 he managed a huge six goals and 11 assists.

Mohamed Salah v Chelsea

Liverpool come into the new season with many managers overlooking their assets potentially due to other options with better starting fixtures. The Reds face a tough first match against Chelsea who have shown huge progress in pre-season under new manager Mauricio Pochettino.

Although that may be the case Mohamed Salah has a very good record against the Blues prior to last season. In the 10 matches the Egyptian played against Chelsea between 2017-2021 he bagged a return in six of them. His returns consisted of four goals and two assists.

Eberechi Eze v Sheffield United

Crystal Palace find themselves having a matchup against newly promoted side Sheffield United in Gameweek 1. ‘The Blades’ may have gained automatic promotion but there are question marks over their summer purchases and if they can have the quality to survive this season.

There have been major improvements under Roy Hodgson and Eberechi Eze has reaped the rewards. As we can see in the six matches Eze played against promoted sides last season he racked up a cool 34 points. His returns consisted of three goals and one assist.