The Premier League returned this weekend and so did Fantasy Premier League — we always get a few surprises in Gameweek 1 and this year is no different.
We still have one game to go in the form of Leicester City vs Tottenham Hotspur later today (Monday), but while we wait for that, let’s go through the main talking points of the actions in the other nine fixtures from an FPL perspective.
Fernandes owners unfortunate
Manchester United kicked off the season on Friday with a narrow 1-0 home win against Fulham. Alejandro Garnacho (£6.5m) was the surprise omission from the starting lineup as Amad (£5.0m) was preferred. The Argentinian came on for him after an hour, though, and set up the decisive late goal for Joshua Zirkzee (£7.0m).
Bruno Fernandes (£8.5m) was, as expected, the brightest spark in the United team and unfortunate to come away with no attacking returns. Playing as the No 9 in the absence of an injured Rasmus Hojlund (£7.0m), he missed two big chances and registered an unbelievable individual expected goals (xG) figure of 1.19 for the night.
Fernandes’ owners should count themselves unlucky but it’s a good sign he was so involved and attacking returns for him surely aren’t far away.
Where does this leave Quansah?
Life without Jurgen Klopp for Liverpool started with a 2-0 away win against newly-promoted Ipswich Town — and it looks the same-old same-old in terms of their best FPL assets.
Mohamed Salah (£12.5m) and Trent Alexander-Arnold (£7.0m) were in the points and both looked great. Diogo Jota (£7.5m) started up top and rewarded those managers who took the plunge with him.
His performance and goal would have done him plenty of favours but with Darwin Nunez (£7.5m) and Cody Gakpo (£7.5m) in the picture, Jota is a minutes-risk long-term. He’s an obvious hold for his owners but Gameweek 1 was the the time to start with him and I wouldn’t look to transfer him in now.
Jarell Quansah (£4.5m) owners will be anxious about his prospects. The 21-year-old central defender was substituted at half-time for Ibrahima Konate (£5.0m). Head coach Arne Slot’s reasons for taking him off were not too encouraging either. He stated Quansah lost too many duels and therefore Liverpool could not control the game.
I would hang fire if you own Quansah as he is only £4.5m and, with a decent fixture at home against Brentford next, we can give me one more week. Despite Slot’s comments, it’s not a guarantee that Konate immediately ousts him from the starting line-up.
Will you stick with Jarell Quansah? (Marc Atkins/Getty Images)
Injury concern for Minteh
Brighton lived up to the pre-season hype with a 3-0 away win against Everton. Sean Dyche’s team played the last 25 minutes with 10 men after Ashley Young (£4.5m) was sent off but were second-best even when it was 11 vs 11.
New signing Yankuba Minteh (£5.5m) assisted the opener for fellow winger Kaoru Mitoma (£6.5m) but was taken off just before half-time with a possible concussion. Coach Fabian Hurzeler’s update on the Minteh was positive, however: “I am quite confident he will be back next week,” he said.
Brighton have so many good attacking options and they will no doubt share minutes as the season unfolds. However, I think Minteh, when fit, will start the vast majority of games and he looks fantastic value at his price.
One of the game’s most popular £4.0m defenders, Valentin Barco, was left out of the starting XI and didn’t play a minute. This was surprising seeing he had performed well in pre-season and Pervis Estupinan (£5.0m) still is not fit enough to play following the ankle injury that ended his 2023-24 season in April.
If you own Barco and he is your fifth defender, you are best keeping him as it isn’t worth using a transfer in that position at this early stage.
Rogers one to watch for Villa
Ollie Watkins (£9.0m) started for Aston Villa in their 2-0 away victory against West Ham United. He was subbed off around the hour mark, although this wasn’t surprising as he played no minutes during pre-season after joining up late having helped England get to the final of Euro 2024. This isn’t likely to be a regular occurrence. We can expect he will play the majority of Villa’s minutes as the season goes along.
Morgan Rogers (£5.0m) started as expected, and the fact he got the full 90 minutes is significant. John McGinn (£5.5m) and Leon Bailey (£6.5m) being taken off rather than him is brilliant news for those managers who went for the 20-year-old. If this is a sign of things to come, Rogers is going to be one of the best-value players in the whole game.
I would look at Villa assets after they face visitors Arsenal in Gameweek 2 though, as their fixtures improve massively.
No Toney, no problem for Brentford
Ivan Toney (£7.5m) was left out of the Brentford squad to play Crystal Palace on Sunday and the reason coach Thomas Frank gave for his exclusion has big implications FPL-wise. Frank said pre-match when quizzed about his striker’s absence: “A lot of things going on. There is some transfer interest.’’
If Toney leaves before the August 30 deadline, it increases the appeal of Bryan Mbeumo (£7.0m) massively. Not only will it increase his expected minutes but he’s also likely to replace Toney on Brentford’s penalties. We saw what he did in the first half of last season when Toney was serving his ban for breaching gambling rules, scoring seven goals and making three assists in his first 15 games before then suffering an ankle injury which kept him out until Gameweek 29.
It’s one to keep an eye on for now, as a) Toney might end up staying and b) Brentford go to both Liverpool and Manchester City in their next three matches, but from Gameweek 6, they go on a plum run of fixtures all the way into December.
(Henry Nicholls/AFP via Getty Images)
Business as usual for Guardiola
Manchester City won and kept a clean sheet away against Chelsea, despite a slightly weakened starting XI, and it was no surprise Erling Haaland (£15.0m) got on the scoresheet.
To many FPL managers’ despair, Christopher Nkunku (£6.5m) was taken off for Pedro Neto (£6.5m) just before the hour for the home side and only managed one point. This was a lot earlier than his owners would have had hoped to see the French midfielder depart.
If you own Nkunku, I would give him a few more games at least as Chelsea’s fixtures are now good until Gameweek 7: Wolves (A), Palace (H), Bournemouth (A), West Ham (A), Brighton (H) and Nottingham Forest (H).
I would imagine he will get more minutes than that during what look like some easier fixtures than when tackling the four-in-a-row champions, so we can reassess him over the next few gameweeks.
(Top photos: Getty Images)
