FPL First Draft: FPLFamily Sam

During the period of time between game launch and the Gameweek 1 deadline FPL managers will be creating multiple drafts. Here Sam from FPLFamily talks us through her FPL First Draft. She shares who’s a lock and who isn’t, as well as who she wants but isn’t in the 15 man squad yet.

Building my first draft is one of my favourite days of the year. I always start with the must have’s in each position, these are usually the three premium picks. This season it was Erling Haaland (£14.0m) and Trent Alexander-Arnold (£8.0m) who went in first. Once I had added them I turned my attention to the midfield.

Usually Mo Salah (£12.5m) is an easy add as my premium in midfield. However, with him and Harry Kane (£12.5m) priced the same in the game this year I was torn over which I preferred to have, if either.

The reason I normally like a premium in every position is this allows maximum flexibility across the squad. It is easy to move around once the season starts if you have the most expensive player in every position.

Midfield conundrum

When I looked at the list of potential options in midfield for this season I could have filled by five slots, twice over. Bukayo Saka‘s (£8.5m) performances last season made him a must own for me heading in to the new campaign. Bruno Fernandes (£8.5m) seems to offer exceptional value for money in having dropped in price for the new season. When adding these two picks to Haaland and Alexander-Arnold it became clear that adding another £12.5m player might make it hard to balance the FPL budget.

With Kane looking hard to budget for James Maddison (£7.5m) seemed the perfect option. He allows me to invest in a Spurs team who I am expecting to be more forward thinking under new manager Ange Postecoglou. Maddison will also have set-piece responsibilities and should be able to improve on his underlying stats from last season.

I also really like Bryan Mbeumo (£6.5m) as an option. His underlying stats without Ivan Toney (£8.0m) at the end of last season were excellent. He also seems to have penalty responsibilities whilst Toney is unavailable too. This additional route to points makes him highly attractive. It also gives me three penalty takers across my midfield.

Morgan Gibbs-White (£6.0m) and Nottingham Forest have a horrible run of fixtures to start the season. Therefore, his position is still one that could change. There are plenty of other options who could still have this spot. Jarrod Bowen (£7.0m) has impressed in pre-season so if I can find the additional budget he might be one I look at. In addition Bowen’s Lucas Paqueta (£6.0m) could be a good option for £1.0m less than Bowen and the same price as Gibbs-White. I have also considered dropping Gibbs-White to the likes of Justin Kluivert (£5.0m) or Shandon Baptiste (£4.5m) to free up additional budget. This does feel a waste of a midfielder slot however, especially when there are so many attractively priced midfielders this season.

Definite Defenders

Alexander-Arnold’s position in the team is non-negotiable. With him looking increasingly likely to play in the midfield role we saw at the back end of last season, he looks an important own.

After adding the Liverpool man I then looked to cover all of the price points. I went with a pick at £5.5m, £5.0m, £4.5m and £4.0m. Doing this gives plenty of opportunity to move around the players in each price point. That flexibility is something that I really value in the opening weeks of a Premier League season.

William Saliba (£5.0m) was a player I never owned in the 22/23 season. Having had the likes of Ben White (£5.5m) and Gabriel (£5.0m) at different points the Arsenal defensive served me well. However, Saliba was always a player that I look wistfully at. Injury meant that he missed the last 11 gameweeks of last season. I think had he been fit he would have been the highest FPL points scoring Arsenal defender in the game, and would likely have cost £0.5m more in the game this year. He’s pretty much locked in my team barring injury in pre-season.

I currently have Reece James (£5.5m) in my team. This is a position I am very unsure on. He could also be Ben Chilwell (£5.5m), John Stones (£5.5m) or Luke Shaw (£5.5m) if I want to stick in the £5.5m bracket. However, I also like the look of players like Pedro Porro (£5.0m) and potentially Pervis Estupinan (£5.0m) if I want to save some budget.

Luton’s Amari’i Bell (£4.0m) started almost every game in the Championship for Play Off Winners last season. This makes him an attractive option at £4.0m for security of starts, especially as he is likely to spend most of the season sitting on my bench. Knowing that he is likely to start makes having him very reassuring.

Connor Roberts (£4.5m) had good attacking threat for Burnley last season. However he could still be Jordan Beyer (£4.0m) to save that all important £0.5m if it enables me to make a third premium pick work.

MIA Forwards

Picking three forwards almost broke me. Haaland was a non-negotiable in my mind, even at his £14.0m price tag. This meant affording Kane was almost impossible. With compromises else where it is doable, but I like the balance of this team without that third premium.

Whilst there were many midfielders I could have picked this year, there were far less forwards that I was interested in. Maybe they will be less MIA as pre-season goes on and they start to stand out more.

Many may think I have gone mad with my second forward, especially after owning him for so much of his difficult first season. However, Darwin Nunez (£8.0m) now wears the number 9 shirt at Liverpool and I think will be better during his second season at the club. With no Salah I wanted to have a Liverpool attacker as I do think that they will be better during the course of the 23/24 season. This spot is very much open for debate during pre-season however. If Cody Gakpo (£7.5m) gets more minutes he could take it. I would be also open to swapping him for Gabriel Jesus (£8.0m) if I can squeeze in a Liverpool midfielder.

The third forward spot is currently occupied by Joao Pedro (£5.5m). If he gets minutes in pre-season for Brighton as their record signing I think he could be a good diferential. However he could easily be Callum Morris (£5.5m) or someone like Cameron Archer (£4.5m) to free up budget.

Even now, looking at a front three without Kane looks horrible. It’s not something that I like and it’s not something I am sure I can live with. There will likely be multiple drafts trying to squeeze in Kane – if he remains a Spurs player closer to Gameweek 1.

Rotating goalies

For me I can go either way with goalkeepers. I have been known to go with the likes of Alisson (£5.5m) or Ederson (£5.5m) as a premium set and forget option. However, Jordan Pickford (£4.5m) and Bernd Leno (£4.5m) rotate so nicely right through to the Gameweek 9 Wildcard window that this strategy makes sense. Last season both were also good for the additional save points too which is an added advantage of this double up.

The most owned goalkeeper in the game is Alphonse Areola (£4.0m). The West Ham goalkeeper is owned by 29.3% of managers. At £4.0m he is great for freeing up budget however, he is not currently West Ham’s first choice goalkeeper. If that changes his appeal in my eyes will increase. Right now I would rather pay £0.5m more and know I have the security of two playing goalies.

First Draft Squad

There are a few players here who I consider locks. Alexander-Arnold, Saliba, Saka, Maddison and Haaland all fall in that camp. Other players like Bruno, Leno, Pickford and Mbeumo I am fairly certain will still be in my squad come Gameweek 1.

Kane is the main missing player that I really would like to rectify. Over the next few weeks I will build hundreds of drafts in PlanFPL, but this team will likely stay as is until August.