Don't try to start the season without them
Who are some of the must-have players? You know me well, so you know that I have recommended, still recommend and will continue to recommend Erling Haaland (£15.0m). I have come to the conclusion that playing without him makes no sense at all. Why? Firstly because he is the best striker in the league and plays for the best team. Plus, he didn't play at the EUROs and rested over the holidays in preparation for the new season.
Another good point is that even if the Norwegian doesn't pan out at the start of the season, it will be much easier for you to sell him than to buy him after the first or second round if he scores a hat-trick. Take that into consideration.
The other must-have option is Alexander Isak (£8.5m). Not such an obvious choice, but the Swede scored 21 Premier League goals for Newcastle last season and is currently the most-owned player in the entire game. This means that by not selecting him in the squad, you are asking for trouble. If he suddenly scores three goals against Southampton at home, you will start the season off on a poor note and have to chase your rivals.
They cannot be overlooked
Among the strikers, everything is clear. The situation is much more complicated among midfielders though. The dilemma is whether you should take Mohamed Salah (£12.5m). If you decide on the Egyptian, it means that you will spend a total of £27.5m out of your £100m budget on Haaland and Salah, so you have to look at cheaper options from now on. You can, however, skip Salah and be tempted by someone else. And that opens up a whole new set of possibilities.
After all, among midfielders, there are options such as Cole Palmer (£10.5m), Heung-Min Son (£10.0m) or Bukayo Saka (£10.0m). If you do not decide on Salah, you simply have to take someone from these three. If you are playing without Haaland, it is even worth having three of the midfielders who cost a minimum of £10m. Each one of them is the leader of their team offensively, will play in every game and will deliver points. To start the season without them would be a massive mistake.
They are worth having
It just so happens that this season the most important players are in attack, and the toughest dilemmas are in midfield. In defence, on the other hand, FPL players have more freedom. So who is worth having in your squad?
Depending on whether you decide on Haaland and Salah, you have to decide for yourself whether you want two premium defenders or just one. Players with a price tag of £6m and above are considered as such, i.e. players from the top teams who score the most points in the game.
For this, we also need to take into account whether we expect goals, assists or simply clean sheets from the defenders. However, it is important to remember that more and more goals are being scored in the Premier League, and last season was the worst in terms of total clean sheets kept by teams in history.
So let's assume that with these top teams and top players, clean sheets are automatically expected. However, if we prefer offensive players, Josko Gvardiol (£6.0m), Trent Alexander-Arnold (£7.0m) and possibly Ben White (£6.5m) come to the fore. They all have reasonably secure line-ups in their respective teams and play offensively, which means you can count on a lot of points being scored by them in attack. They have a really high price as a result.
Then we have players who are a little cheaper than Alexander-Arnold, but who do not play as offensively. So you can rely on their clean sheets and possibly headed goals Such players include William Saliba (£6.0m), Gabriel Magalhaes (£6.0m) and Virgil van Dijk (£6.0m). All have a secure spot in their respective teams, keep a lot of clean sheets and are threatening in the air.
Other cheap options
The backbone of your teams should therefore be the players listed above. Some of the most important parts of FPL, however, are those cheaper players, who give you an edge over rivals who have opted for other options. So who is worth taking a look at in this case?
Defenders: Vitalii Mykolenko (£4.5m), Antonee Robinson (£4.5m), Dan Burn (£4.5m), Ezri Konsa (£4.5m) - all of whom should have a secure place in their team and guarantee a bigger scoring output once in a while.
Midfielders: Eberechi Eze (£7.0m), Christopher Nkunku (£6.5m), Alejandro Garnacho (£6.5m), Morgan Gibbs-White (£6.5m), Leon Bailey (£6.5m) - none are priced above 7 million and each will be a very solid addition to the midfield line.
Forwards: Rodrigo Muniz (£6.0m), Chris Wood (£6.0m), Joao Pedro (£5.5m) - among the forwards, the situation looks the worst, which is why it makes sense to start the season with Haaland and Isak and worry the least about the third player in this formation.
