The Scout is helping Fantasy Premier League managers to build their 15-man squads ahead of Gameweek 1 with some ready-made solutions.
In this first part, you can see how to create a squad that features the two most-expensive players in 2024/25 Fantasy.
Picking Haaland AND Salah
The new rule change around the accumulation of free transfers will change the strategies of many managers this season. Whereas you could only have a maximum of TWO free transfers in previous campaigns, you can now accumulate up to FIVE.
See: How to capitalise on having five free transfers
By building a reliable squad that caters for the first five Gameweeks of 2024/25, managers would then be in the powerful position where they could alter a THIRD of their 15 players at any point without taking any points hits.
Unlike a host of other premium stars, Manchester City’s Erling Haaland (£15.0m) and Liverpool’s Mohamed Salah (£12.5m) were not involved in the summer international tournaments and will have a full pre-season behind them by the time the new campaign gets under way.
They immediately give you back-to-back captain picks against promoted Ipswich Town, with Salah visiting Kieran McKenna’s side in Gameweek 1 before Haaland’s home match against them in Gameweek 2.
As Haaland and Salah are the most-expensive players in their respective positions in 2024/25 Fantasy, owning them BOTH at the start means you avoid having to make huge changes to your squad if they start to deliver big early hauls.
Their inclusions here also help to give an indication of what you can and cannot do in terms of budget structure, if you decide to own both of them.
For example, Chelsea’s Cole Palmer (£10.5m) and Haaland’s Man City team-mate Phil Foden (£9.5m) cost exactly the same in total as Salah and Newcastle United‘s Anthony Gordon (£7.5m).
Pick rotation options in defence
Ideally, you want to be in a position where your transfers can be focused fully on your attack, as it’s the midfielders and forwards who are most likely to get big points hauls in Fantasy.
Arsenal’s William Saliba (£6.0m) is the most-secure and most-owned pick in the league’s best defence. By picking the Frenchman as a “set and forget” option at the back, managers can then assess the early fixtures to find good, cheap players who can be used in rotation pairings.
Brentford’s Mark Flekken and Chelsea’s Robert Sanchez (both £4.5m) are good examples of players to rotate.
According to the Fixture Difficulty Ratings (FDR), if you pick the goalkeeper who has the easier match in your starting line-up, while benching the other one, your starting goalkeeper would have a relatively easy fixture rated as only two in eight of their first 10 outings.
See: Fixture Difficulty Ratings for EVERY club
The remaining four defenders are also £4.5m and, like Flekken and Sanchez, have kind schedules well past the Gameweek 5 mark.
Aston Villa’s Pau Torres, Everton’s Vitalii Mykolenko, Fulham’s Antonee Robinson and Ipswich’s Leif Davis can all be rotated in the two spots alongside Saliba.
Find the mid-price value
Arsenal’s Kai Havertz (£8.0m) and Newcastle’s Gordon offer cost-effective routes into two of the league’s most potent attacks.
Havertz has home matches against Wolverhampton Wanderers and Brighton & Hove Albion over the first three Gameweeks, while Gordon faces Southampton and AFC Bournemouth.
At a combined price of £15.5m, Havertz and Gordon are £3.0m less expensive than Bukayo Saka (£10.0m) and Alexander Isak (£8.5m).
Managers should also look at the early fixtures when searching for value across the rest of their line-up.
The mid-price midfielder bracket looks likely to be one of the most competitive, with Nottingham Forest’s Morgan Gibbs-White and Chelsea’s Christopher Nkunku (both £6.5m) each having the fixtures to make a fast start to 2024/25.
Similarly, Fulham forward Rodrigo Muniz has one of the kindest opening runs of opponents and, at a mere £6.0m, can be a great budget option until the schedule turns against him in Gameweek 7.
Monitor pre-season for bargains
Aston Villa winger Morgan Rogers (£5.0m) has been one of the most-impressive budget midfielders in Fantasy across the early summer friendlies. Playing as a second striker, he has scored three goals and supplied an assist.
Chelsea’s matches under Enzo Maresca have also been helpful to managers in Fantasy. Nkunku has played as a No 8 and scored in both their summer friendlies. Sanchez, who has started both matches so far, is here as a placeholder for whoever secures the goalkeeper position for the Blues.