My Fantasy Premier League team planner for Gameweek 1, including formation, squad structure and the thinking behind the picks.
With the new Fantasy Premier League season approaching, this is my current FPL team reveal for 2026/27.
It isn’t supposed to be the definitive “best Fantasy Premier League team”, mainly because I don't think there is one, especially before a ball has been kicked (and you can't really go on pre-season games). Instead, this is the structure I’m currently working with and the reasoning behind it.
I’ve played FPL since 2009/10 and generally do reasonably well in my mini-leagues. My last two overall finishes have been in the top 4% and top 3%, and eight of my last ten seasons have ended inside the top 10%.
So my squad building, transfers and Captain decisions generally goes alright.
Playing my chips at the right time? Less impressive.
And my FPL Cup history is probably best left unexamined.
My FPL team for Gameweek 1
This is the current draft rather than a locked team. Pre-season injuries, transfers and starting roles could still change a few names before the Gameweek 1 deadline.
The structure, though, is becoming fairly settled.
Why I'm starting with 3-5-2
My preferred FPL formation for the opening Gameweeks is 3-5-2, I've used this for years now and it works for me.
The main reason is to give me a solid midfield.
Midfielders receive five points for scoring compared with four for forwards, while also collecting a point for a clean sheet. More importantly, several of this season's most interesting midfield options effectively play as attackers anyway.
I'd therefore rather start five strong midfielders than spend heavily on a 3rd forward.
It also means I can keep defence fairly inexpensive, another tactic I've used in the last couple of seasons.
My basic FPL team planner looks like this:
2 budget goalkeepers
3 starting defenders + 2 cheap bench defenders
5 starting midfielders
Haaland + one value forward
One cheap 3rd forward
The money is going into the players I expect to produce most of the goals and assists.
Building the team around midfield
The midfield is currently the part of the squad I like most:
Bruno Fernandes
Bryan Mbeumo
Antoine Semenyo
Florian Wirtz
Bruno Guimarães
It's an expensive five, but if I'm gunning for another top 4% finish, it needs to be.
Bruno Fernandes gives me a premium midfielder, penalties, set pieces and an alternative captain to Haaland.
Mbeumo interests me because of how advanced his role could be. If he's regularly operating around the striker rather than playing as a conventional midfielder, his £8m price becomes very attractive. I think for the majority of the season these two will be a great pair in my team as they hopefully will be on the field.
Semenyo is another player I'm increasingly keen on after his pre-season performances. Manchester City inevitably bring rotation risk, but I'm willing to accept some uncertainty for a midfielder with genuine explosive potential.
Wirtz might be my favourite gamble of the group. If he settles into Liverpool's attack and continues playing centrally behind the evolving strikers, £7.5m could prove to be a very useful starting price.
Then there's Bruno Guimarães.
His move to Arsenal makes him particularly interesting at £7m, but his position will be important. If he's playing as an attacking No.8 and regularly getting towards the penalty area, I like him a lot.
If Arsenal use him primarily as a deeper midfielder, I'll probably look elsewhere.
Haaland is still the captaincy anchor
Spending £43m in midfield obviously means compromises elsewhere, but Haaland remains in the squad.
At £15.5m he's a huge chunk of the FPL budget, but he also removes a lot of captaincy decisions (with Fernandes)
Most Gameweeks I can simply captain Haaland and move on.
Bruno Fernandes then gives me another strong option when Manchester United have the better fixture.
I'd rather have those two premium anchors than spread the money across several expensive players I'm less confident captaining.
Keeping defence cheap
I'm deliberately avoiding a premium defence, this is the first season I've done this.
There will undoubtedly be defenders capable of scoring 150-200 points, but I really wanted an incredibly strong midfield this season.
My plan is to find three defenders who are reasonably secure starters with some attacking, clean-sheet or defensive-contribution potential.
The final two defensive positions can then be filled with £4m players who might actually get some minutes.
But mostly they just need to sit on my bench without consuming too much of my budget.
My starting defence has cost me £22n this season, usually I would spend alot more, I was tempted by Gabriel and van Dijk, I do like them as Fantasy defenders, but I prefer the savings even more!
Goalkeeper - fairly easy choice
I've gone for Kinsky here, at £4.5m, I think he's a solid pick, I've also gone for Verbruggen and anther £4.5m pick, I've probably saved myself £1m on players I would usually go for, which with my defensive savings, helped my get the Midfield in that I wanted.Planning for transfers
One thing I want from my FPL starting squad is an easy route out of bad decisions.
It's August. Some of these picks will be wrong.
That's inevitable.
What I don't want is to discover the £8m midfielder everyone suddenly wants and realise that reaching him requires three transfers.
My midfield deliberately contains several useful price points.
Bruno occupies the premium bracket. Semenyo and Mbeumo sit around £8m. Wirtz and Bruno Guimarães occupy the £7m area.
If an obvious player emerges during the opening Gameweeks, there should usually be a simple route towards him.
I'd much rather bank early transfers and make one or two deliberate changes than start rebuilding the squad after Gameweek 2.
What I'm watching before Gameweek 1
There are still a few things that could change this FPL team before the deadline.
The biggest ones are the roles of Bruno Guimarães, Mbeumo and Wirtz, along with Manchester City's attacking rotation.
I'll also be watching for genuine £4m defenders and whether a better cheap forward emerges.
The temptation will be to react to every pre-season goal, assist and clean sheet.
I'm trying not to.
This squad isn't about predicting exactly who scores in Gameweek 1. It's about putting together a team with good players, favourable early fixtures and enough flexibility to react once we've seen some competitive football.
The plan
So, for now:
Formation: 3-5-2
Premiums: Haaland + Bruno Fernandes
Strategy: spend heavily in midfield, minimise defensive spend and maintain useful transfer price points.
Then comes the difficult bit, not ruining a perfectly decent FPL season by firing using my Chips at the wrong time again!
I'll keep updating this page as the squad changes through pre-season and the opening Gameweeks.
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