Can Salah do it again? Avoid Mbeumo & Cunha? Five key FPL questions

There is plenty to think about before the Fantasy Premier League returns today due to a new point-scoring system, price increases, and new clubs for some of the stars from the previous season.

Last year, Mohamed Salah broke the record for most FPL points with 28 goals and 19 assists, bringing in 344 total.

He’s now priced at £14.5m though, £2m more than last season, which makes him the most expensive midfielder of all time in FPL.

Gianni: I have no doubt that Salah is worth the high price tag because he serves as the talisman for the league’s best attack. Captaincy is a huge part of this game, and more often than not Salah will be the best option for the armband.

Holly: I’m not entirely convinced that Salah will have a stellar season like 2024-25, but I still think he’ll get a good start and justify his cost at the start of the campaign.

He has never blanked in gameweek one, scoring on average 12.25 points per game and Liverpool have strengthened their attack in this transfer window. However, the shortened season for the Africa Cup of Nations could cause his momentum to wane.

Pras: Liverpool have brought in some world-class reinforcements already in Florian Wirtz and Hugo Ekitike. Their attacking output this year can only be improved by this.

Even though there could be merits in spreading your cash, captaincy is such an important part of playing FPL.

Therefore, having access to Salah may still be necessary. In the first five gameweeks, I can see Salah being the top choice for captaincy in GW1 (Bournemouth at home), GW4 (Burnley away) and GW5 (Everton home).

I’d advise starting with Salah, and then moving forward with the team if the landscape changes and you can easily distribute the money to him later rather than trying to fit him in.

Heisenberg: I still expect him to have a stellar season and he doesn’t need to replicate what he did last year to make him an excellent FPL asset. I wouldn’t be surprised if I saw him again play the top point guard.

Last year, talismans for Brentford and Wolves were Bryan Mbeumo (236 points). But do they have any chance of repeating those numbers among Manchester United’s crowded FPL attacking options?

With Manchester United’s worldwide fanbase and Holly: Cunha and Mbeumo (both for £8m), they are unsurprisingly popular picks in the game because they fit into Ruben Amorim’s system for their challenging opening games.

I think Bruno Fernandes (£9m) remains the optimal midfield pick, with his set-piece responsibilities.

Pras and Pras both played for their clubs last year as penalty and set-piece takers, contributing significantly to the percentage of goals scored. This dynamic is unlikely to be replicated at United.

According to pre-season observations, Fernandes will continue to be the club’s principal chance creator and be accountable for penalties. Consequently, their FPL value may decline relative to their prior roles, rendering them potentially riskier selections at their current price points.

Heisenberg: Both a wait-and-see for me because the starting lineup for United is uncertain, but there are plenty of other fantastic options.

If I do have a United midfielder it’ll be Fernandes – penalties, assist threat, minutes guarantee and added bonus of being decent on the defensive contribution points.

Statman: For the first eight games, I prohibited touching them with a barge pole. This could be a crazy season – this could be either United sitting top after eight games or could be Ruben Amorim getting sacked after eight games.

Gianni: Both players will lose penalties, which lessens their appeal, but if and when United join forces, they will undoubtedly be valuable FPL assets. With tough fixtures to start the season and too many unknowns, it’s a wait and see for me.

Fernandes and Patrick Dorgu, both of whom I like best at United, cost me £4.5 million. Fernandes will probably have to play a bit deeper next season, but his potential for defensive contribution points could be key. He would have earned 22 more points last season than any other midfielder under the age of £5.5 million.

A total of 24 players started at least one game in that tournament, suggesting Pep Roulette could be in full swing.

Gianni: You can hardly guarantee starting for Manchester City’s top-rated attacker Erling Haaland (£14m) when he is fit. I would however consider Omar Marmoush (£8.5m) who is now reclassified as a midfielder.

Only Josko Gvardiol and the versatile attacker have started more league games since his arrival in Manchester, and the Egyptian has started 14 of his 16 league starts. Tijjani Reijnders at £5.5m is also worth consideration.

Heisenberg: I don’t anticipate starting the season with any City assistants, but I do like the prospect of Marmoush. Should Haaland pick up an injury then you could get an £8.5m midfielder playing centre-forward.

It’s probably best to wait and see how they all fit in because the City’s midfielders might rotate and be given minutes-sharing.

Holly: This is one of my biggest dilemmas going into gameweek one. With the addition of attacking options coming in this window, Guardiola is known for rotating his squad, making the likes of Marmoush and Phil Foden riskier choices.

Haaland is in less than a fifth of teams and shouldn’t be ignored as an option, netting over seven goal involvements in the opening four gameweeks of the season on average. Along with Salah, he creates my most recent draft.

With two home games against Crystal Palace and Fulham in their first three games, it’s difficult to ignore their assets. I’m backing goalkeeper Robert Sanchez (£5m) to avoid fatigue, and talisman Cole Palmer (£10.5m) to ride the wave of being player of the tournament when Chelsea won the Club World Cup.

Gianni: I don’t worry much about the pre-season, and Enzo Maresca’s men, who were quick out of the blocks last time out, might have a quick start with the momentum from the Club World Cup. Palmer, Pedro Neto, Joao Pedro and Enzo Fernandez are all attackers to consider.

Pras: Chelsea has a consistent run of positive medium-term matches, which is unusual for the top six teams. Despite the fatigue from the Club World Cup, it is a team very much on the up.

Maresca appears to have finally discovered how to introduce Palmer to the areas where he excelled in the tournament in order to unlock his potential. He is very likely to make my team in week one. Given Liam Delap’s ($6.5 million) and Striker Joao Pedro’s ($7.5 million) odds of being the first choice, I am more cautious with him given that he faces a challenge from another newcomer ($6.5 million).

Between gameweeks 27-38 of last season, no team conceded fewer expected goals (xGC) or kept more clean sheets. Therefore, I would be very inclined to pick just one defensive player. It could be Marc Cucurella (£6m) or Sanchez in goal.

The main change for this season is that outfield players now receive two bonus points for each defensive play they take in a single game.

FPL managers now also get double the amount of chips – two Free Hits, two Wildcards, two Bench Boosts and two Triple Captains.

Before the Africa Cup of Nations in January, managers will have a five-transfer bonus.

Full details here.

Pras: Picking reliable players with good minutes, primarily centre-backs and defensive midfielders, has become much more affordable. A two-point return is almost as good as a three-point assist.

We will also need to think about our bench players differently. In more difficult matches, players are more likely to accumulate these two-pointers. So is Everton’s James Tarkowski (£5.5m) away to Chelsea as bad a fixture as before? Not likely, though.

Holly: Defensive contribution points give extra utility to centre-backs and we could see a rise in managers opting to play 4-4-2 or 4-3-3.

FPL managers should embrace the value of defensive midfielders like Moises Caicedo ($5.5 million) and Carlos Baleba ($5 million) for their fourth or fifth midfielder positions.

Statman: You’ve got to remember that these defensive contribution numbers are only there if you’ve picked that player every single game through the season.

For instance, you need to go through those games against Liverpool and Manchester City, those games against which Everton are not favorites, to really balance out the opposition and whether you believe they will take defensive steps.

One team I’m really excited about for defensive contributions is Tottenham under Thomas Frank, because the numbers should shoot up for a number of their players and they’ve got a lot of £4.5m defenders.

Bruno Fernandes is one of the players in the middle of the park that really shines. He would have got 22 extra points last season.

Manchester United’s debut season was terrible, but he still made a lot of ball recoveries and made a lot of tackles for his position.

Heisenberg: The FPL rule changes shift gameplay significantly.

A fascinating change is to switch up to two sets of chips. We’ll see greater variety in chip usage in the first half of the season, with no double gameweeks around.