The FPL Desk

Fantasy Premier League Player.

[The FPL Desk @TheFPLDesk]

@_alicejune_ That's a lot of players in away fixtures

[The FPL Desk @TheFPLDesk]

@OfficialFPL The goals are about to flood in 😇

[The FPL Desk @TheFPLDesk]

@FPLMate Garnacho 👋 Ødegaard 🤝

[The FPL Desk @TheFPLDesk]

✨

[The FPL Desk @TheFPLDesk]

🫡 Ødegaard 👋Garnacho

[The FPL Desk @TheFPLDesk]

🤩✨

[The FPL Desk @TheFPLDesk]

João Pedro, Maxence Lacroix… boys, you know what to do, bring the points home ✨✨✨

[The FPL Desk @TheFPLDesk]

Come on Garnacho, save my weekend, you got 4 + extra time 🙏✨

[The FPL Desk @TheFPLDesk]

@FPL_Gaurav Keeping

[The FPL Desk @TheFPLDesk]

Great morning for some football ✨

[The FPL Desk @TheFPLDesk]

Great line up of games today, and an early start this morning so shall be back in plenty of time for Brighton v Villa at 2pm ✨😎

[The FPL Desk @TheFPLDesk]

Everything is ok

[The FPL Desk @TheFPLDesk]

😂😭

[FPL Marcin @FPLMarcin]

When you realise you signed up for another 38 gameweeks of FPL misery

[FPL Marcin @FPLMarcin]

FPL managers who started with White, Calafiori and Tzolis

[The FPL Desk @TheFPLDesk]

@OfficialFPL Thanks for letting us know, ridiculous!

[⚡️🇧🇼 @Priceless_MCI]

Enjoying my last day of peace before 11 men who don’t know I exist determine my mental health for the next 9 months

[The FPL Desk @TheFPLDesk]

🥁✨

[The FPL Desk @TheFPLDesk]

New season starting, let’s go…

Here’s the squad. 3-5-2.
Captain B.Fernandes.
Vice Mbeumo. £99.5m
£0.5m still in the bank

Starting:
Raya; Davis, Calafiori, Lacroix; Szoboszlai, Garnacho, B.Fernandes, Yirenkyi, Mbeumo; Haaland, João Pedro.

Bench:
Verbruggen, van Ewijk, Amenda, Walle Egeli.

The midfield is the team, the defenders are the risk, but read on, logic to be found here.

I funded B.Fernandes and Haaland by putting promoted cheap seats everywhere else. Three of those cheap seats are not cheap in real life. FPL just priced them as unknowns, reason 👇👇👇

City looked a liability in the Community Shield. Haaland was taken off in the 53rd minute, but I am also not starting a season without last season’s two big scorers.

Wing-back heavy is our 3-5-2. Their clubs do not all play it that way. Davis is Ipswich’s inverted left-back in a four. van Ewijk is Coventry’s right-back in a four. Calafiori played left-back in the Community Shield. Lacroix is a centre-back.

Here is every name.

Raya, £6.0m, Arsenal v Coventry City tonight. 37 starts, 19 clean sheets. The number one. Easiest game on the board. If the clean sheet comes in week one, it comes in this shirt.

Davis, £4.0m, Ipswich Town v Sunderland. Official file: 0 Premier League starts. Official FPL has him second for Ipswich corners and free-kicks. East Anglian Daily Times: inverted full-back. He is the cheap left side who actually has a role. He is in so B.Fernandes and Haaland fit.

Calafiori, £5.5m, 22 starts, Arsenal v Coventry City. The other Arsenal defender. Premier League Scout: left-back in the Community Shield, scored, taken off on 59. Two Arsenal slots, not three. The third went into the midfield.

Lacroix, £6.0m, 35 starts, Fulham v Chelsea on Monday. BBC, 30 July 2026: Chelsea paid Crystal Palace £52m. Centre-back. Not a wing-back. Chelsea away is not a gift. He is in because 35 starts at £6.0m is how you fund a £12.0m mid.

Szoboszlai, £7.0m, 36 starts, Newcastle v Liverpool. Official file has him first on corners and free-kicks, second on pens. That is the set-piece mid who plays every week. The fixture is not easy. The minutes are.

Garnacho, £6.0m, 14 starts, Brighton v Aston Villa. 0.6% owned. Premier League Scout: he missed Villa’s last three friendlies with a head injury. Official FPL news is empty. I am not calling him out. I am also not pretending he is nailed. If he sits, van Ewijk is the first outfield cover.

B.Fernandes, £12.0m, 35 starts, 9 goals, 24 assists, Hull City v Man Utd. Captain. First penalty, first corner, first free-kick in the official file. I paid the premium because I would not start the season without last season’s big mid scorer. If you move the armband, move it because you do not like the fixture. Do not move it because you are scared of the price.

Yirenkyi, £5.0m, Coventry City at Arsenal tonight. Official file: 0 Premier League starts. 0.3% owned. This is the World Cup cheap seat. BBC, 7 August 2026: Coventry’s club-record signing from Nordsjaelland, €27m (£23.1m) plus €3m add-ons. Athletic: all four World Cup games, three starts. FIFA: stoppage-time winner, 90+5, against Panama. He only signed on 7 August. If he blanks at the Emirates, I look stubborn. That was the deal to keep B.Fernandes and Haaland in the same squad.

Mbeumo, £8.0m, 31 starts, 11 goals, Hull City v Man Utd. Vice. Same fixture as the captain. Second penalty, second corner. £4.0m less than B.Fernandes, still in the attack. If the captain does not play, the armband stays in that United attack.

Haaland, £15.5m, 34 starts, 27 goals, first City penalty. 69.4% owned. Man City v Bournemouth at home. I have less faith in City than I did a week ago. I still cannot risk a week one without him. He is not captain. He is the other big scorer I refused to cut.

João Pedro, £7.5m, 31 starts, 15 goals, 9 assists. Fulham v Chelsea on Monday. 63.8% owned. Same Chelsea fixture as Lacroix. The cheap 9 is on the bench. This one has to play.

Subs this week.

Verbruggen, £4.5m, 38 starts, Brighton v Aston Villa. Played every minute last year. Second keeper. Not a second project.

van Ewijk, £4.0m, Coventry City at Arsenal. Official file: 0 Premier League starts. 14.1% owned. Right-back in a four, not a wing-back in our 3-5-2. Premier League Scout / Opta: 8 Championship assists. First outfield auto-sub. Same club night as Yirenkyi. He does not cover a Yirenkyi blank.

Amenda, £4.0m, Coventry City. Centre-back. Not a wing-back. Official file: 0 Premier League starts. 0.8% owned. BBC, 15 July 2026: £15.4m plus £1.7m add-ons from Eintracht Frankfurt. Third Coventry shirt. He does not start for us this week. He is the centre-back we bring in when the fixture is better.

Walle Egeli, £4.5m, Ipswich Town v Sunderland. Official file: 0 Premier League starts. BBC: £17.5m from Nordsjaelland. Guardian: 4 Championship goals in 18 starts. East Anglian Daily Times: left out of the last three. He does not start for us this week. He looks like the forward we rotate in for a home game or an easier fixture. Do not Bench Boost this week.

The thesis is simple.

🌟Strong midfield.
🌟Promoted prices on players who are not all promoted punts.

Yirenkyi scored at the World Cup and still costs £5.0m. Davis and van Ewijk are the attacking full-backs. Amenda and Walle Egeli do not start this week. They look like the important players we bring in when we rotate for a home game or when it feels right. City look a liability. We still cannot risk being without the two shirts that scored the points last season.

If you had to cut one of B.Fernandes or Haaland to get proper minutes on those cheap seats, which one actually goes?