Fantasy Premier League 2025-26: Lots to digest

I realise I'm deviating from my usual protocol of writing before the season begins. It's been a busy summer. 

I finally carved out some time to make my FPL team last-minute, catch up on all the transfer news and have a look at the newly promoted teams - Leeds, Sunderland, and Burnley. To say the least, it's been a lot to digest for me. I'm going to write about the 2 key decisions that I predict to play a key role in FPL team selections this season. 

Choice of Forward

We're back to a season with plenty of Forward options and combinations to pick and choose from. You can stick with the ones that performed well last season, or try out new entrants (think Eketike, Gyokeres).  At the same time, some have or are trying to move around (Wissa, Isak, Dominic-Calvert Lewin). Even Manchester United has a couple of good options this season to choose from. Hence, it's quite a difficult selection to navigate. Teams that will time the rotation of their front 3 well should score plenty this way. 

On a personal note, I haven't spent a great deal on my front 3 at the moment. I've chosen value options in Joao Pedro, Beto and Bowen for the moment. I'm just waiting for the transfer window to settle down and will then reassess my forward line-up. 

Newly Promoted teams

This is just a personal item for me. The news and selection choice debates are usually dominated by picking from the top-performing players of the top clubs of the league. However, I always have a look at the roster of the newly promoted teams. There are usually some good value players to be found there. I like to pick players for the fifth-choice defender/midfielder and the second goalkeeper. These can be valuable rotation options that don't drain your budget and provide value during gameweeks when they have easy fixtures. 

This season, Sunderland, Leeds and Burnley are the promoted clubs. All of them were in the Premier League not too long ago. Additionally, all of them have brought in reinforcements. I think they're all good candidates to stay up this season and can push some of the existing clubs down to relegation. The relegation battle will be an interesting one this season. 

Currently, I've taken the Leeds keeper and a Sunderland defender in my roster. However, I do have a few Leeds players on my watchlist to rotate into in the future. 

My GW1 team