Fantasy Premier League Draft Blog
Expert FPL Draft analysis, gameweek previews, and strategy guides to help you dominate your Fantasy Premier League draft league.
Hull City - 26/27 Draft FPL Pre-Season Thoughts
Promoted via a 95th-minute Wembley winner, up the hard way on one of the lowest budgets in the Championship, and most people's favourites for the drop. The draft menu is thin but not empty: McBurnie is the one real option - safe minutes, probable pens, low ceiling - while Butland behind a barrage of shots is quietly the save-points play and Lundstram could be the defcon lottery ticket. The third-toughest opening run rules out everyone else.
Crystal Palace - 26/27 Draft FPL Pre-Season Thoughts
Conference League winners, Europa League bound - and plundered for 2 windows running, with a new manager whose back line could reshape the value of half this squad. Sarr is the headline asset, Wharton's defcon-plus-deliveries profile is also interesting, but could he be off too? The wing-backs carry a system asterisk until we see Sage's shape, and the third-softest opening run makes the rebuilt forward line worth some late picks.
Ipswich - 26/27 Draft FPL Pre-Season Thoughts
Straight back up at the first attempt - then McKenna walked and Gary O'Neil arrives to install a new system in a single pre-season. Every draftable role here is currently unverifiable: the keeper spot is open, the set-piece duties are TBD, and record-buy Emersonn could be the focal point or a project. My framework is simple: avoid them early, let me monitor them hard and we'll pull any out that we need.
Fulham - 26/27 Draft FPL Pre-Season Thoughts
One of the most under-discussed upheaval in the league. Silva's gone to Benfica, Arbeloa is a first-time Premier League boss, and the past 12 months have stripped out the entire dead-ball portfolio plus the No.9 - Pereira, Traore, Wilson and now Jimenez, all departed. Penalties, free-kicks and corners are open and whoever collects them gets a hidden value bump. Almost nothing to discuss for draft day. Fulham need signings ASAP!
Arsenal - 26/27 Draft FPL Pre-Season Thoughts
Reigning champions, best defence again and a 22-year drought finally put to bed - so what actually shifts on draft day? I make the case for Declan Rice as a first-round pick, flag Gabriel's set-piece reliance, weigh the Saka reliability question after a long World Cup summer and explain why the Bruno Guimarães rumours could jam the midfield. Plus the softest opening 6 in the league, and why that lifts fringe names like Eze and Madueke early doors.
Liverpool - 26/27 Draft FPL Pre-Season Thoughts
The most disrupted club in the league: Slot sacked, Iraola in, Salah gone from the Premier League entirely and a few question marks across the squad2. The whole draft puzzle turns on one question - who takes the penalties? If pre-season hands them to Szoboszlai, he rockets into my top 7. Thoughts on Isak, Wirtz's sophomore season, the Gakpo situation, Gravenberch's defcon rebound and an opening run that demands patience.
Manchester City - 26/27 Draft FPL Pre-Season Thoughts
Pep's gone, Maresca's in, yet City might be the least disrupted of the 7 clubs under new management. Haaland remains the obvious first pick - the interesting questions sit below him. Is £116m Elliot Anderson a league-winner or a rotation trap? Why the data says Semenyo's City form is worse than you think, why Guehi isn't nailed and the breakout case for Nico O'Reilly. Plus the opening run and the issue with City defenders every draft manager should consider.
Bournemouth - 26/27 Draft FPL Pre-Season Thoughts
Sixth place, European football - and then Liverpool took the manager. This is the textbook club whose numbers belong to the old boss, and it comes with the toughest opening 6 fixtures in the league on top. So why does our model rate Marcus Tavernier as one of the highest-projected players anywhere? Thoughts on that, superstar teenagers, the Evanilson puzzle (unlucky AND capped), James Hill's defcon surge and why the fringe is a hard fade early doors.
Leeds - 26/27 Draft FPL Pre-Season Thoughts
Survival banked, Farke backed and 4 or 5 signings likely incoming - which makes the draft board unstable, because the incumbents we've just learned to trust are the ones at risk. Calvert-Lewin's 14-goal season has regression written all over it, while Stach and Ampadu are the quiet convictions and Harry Wilson walks into the XI with regression demons of his own. Three favourable opening fixtures make the Leeds fringe a proper late-round draft play.
Manchester United - 26/27 Draft FPL Pre-Season Thoughts
Our model has Bruno Fernandes as the No.1 player in the league - above Haaland - and the case is stronger than you'd think, with one big assist-regression caveat. Carrick's calm rebuild means last season's numbers under-rate the front 4: Sesko should improve, Mbeumo is value wherever you take him and Cunha is a nice H2H floor piece. Add the longest soft opening run in the league and United's fringe becomes genuinely draftable too.
Nottingham Forest - 26/27 Draft FPL Pre-Season Thoughts
Five managers inside 13 months - Pereira sacked in pre-season and Oliver Glasner walking into the City Ground - plus the £116m Anderson exit makes Forest's data the noisiest on the board. Glasner's 3-4-2-1 might be the best thing to happen to this squad's fantasy value: wing-backs become points engines, Gibbs-White is tailor-made for a number 10 role and the defensive core arguably improves. The reinvestment is where we need to pay closest attention.
Sunderland - 26/27 Draft FPL Pre-Season Thoughts
Seventh, a Europa League place, but the fairytale is over - now comes the hard part. Xhaka is the banker: every minute, the dead balls and all the tackles. Roefs was my keeper of the year behind Raya, which is exactly why Chelsea and Liverpool are circling. But the defence overachieved and Europe brings rotation, so I'm fading the back line slightly - while the 3 soft opening fixtures make Sunderland's fringe a cheeky 3-week draft-day option.