Fantasy Premier League 2023/24: Key Picks and Avoids for Success

The Fantasy Premier League season kicks off on Friday 21 August, and the tinkering has already gone into overdrive. To cut through the noise, four seasoned FPL voices – Pras, FPL Heisenberg, Gianni Buttice and Holly Shand – have gone club by club, picking out a talisman, a shrewd differential and one player they’re steering clear of.

This is where they think the points – and the pitfalls – lie.

Arsenal: Pay up for Gabriel, dodge the left-wing roulette

Talisman: Gabriel (£8m, defender)
For Pras, there’s no debate. Gabriel is the premium way into the champions’ defence.
Top-scoring defender last season with 209 points, nailed, set-piece menace, and the bedrock of a backline that rarely cracks. Expensive, yes. But you’re paying for reliability.

Differential: Ben White (£5.5m, defender)
White offers a cheaper route into that same defence. With Jurrien Timber still out, the England right-back looks good for minutes and carries attacking threat.
He may not be a “set and forget” all season, but he’s an ideal starter pick while the fixtures and his role align.

Avoid: Christos Tzolis (£6.5m, midfielder)
The talent is obvious, the pre-season output encouraging. The problem? Mikel Arteta’s rotation on the left.
With Arsenal still in the market for another winger, Tzolis’ minutes – and your patience – could vanish quickly.

Aston Villa: Watkins underpriced, Cash under-owned

Talisman: Ollie Watkins (£8m, forward)
Holly sees a gift. Watkins has dropped £1m in price and steps into an even clearer lead role after Morgan Rogers’ exit to Chelsea.
He averages 16 league goals over his last four seasons and could now be on penalties with Youri Tielemans gone. That’s elite output at a mid-range price.

Differential: Matty Cash (£4.5m, defender)
Nine clean sheets last season and a right-back who loves to get forward.
Cash sits in around 8% of teams but posted three goals, three assists, 30 shots and 30 key passes. Multiple routes to points at a bargain price.

Avoid: Alejandro Garnacho (£6m, midfielder)
The loan move from Chelsea has caught the eye, but Holly isn’t biting.
Emi Buendia is tough competition, and Garnacho played only 1,261 minutes last season, returning one goal and four assists. That’s too little pitch time in a crowded price bracket.

Bournemouth: Tavernier the creator, Truffert the stealth weapon

Talisman: Marcus Tavernier (£6m, midfielder)
Gianni calls him the Cherries’ creative hub. With Antoine Semenyo gone, Tavernier shoulders even more responsibility, especially on set-pieces.
Eleven attacking returns last season underline his importance, and he’s in the penalty queue when Justin Kluivert is off the pitch.

Differential: Adrien Truffert (£5.5m, defender)
Only 5% owned, yet Truffert racked up 165 points last season, second only at the club.
The French left-back drifts into advanced areas, threatens from open play and chips in with defensive points and bonuses. He’s the classic “all-action” FPL defender.

Avoid: Evanilson (£6m, forward)
Six goals in 32 league games last term and fierce competition at the £6m price point.
Gianni prefers Dominic Calvert-Lewin, Igor Jesus or Brian Brobbey over a forward who hasn’t shown enough end product.

Brentford: Big money on Igor Thiago, quiet value in Ouattara

Talisman: Igor Thiago (£8m, forward)
Heisenberg’s clear choice. Thiago smashed 22 league goals and 181 FPL points last season, earning a hefty price rise.
The question is whether he can justify £8m again. The upside is obvious: a striker who feasts on weaker sides and is the focal point of Brentford’s attack.

Differential: Dango Ouattara (£6.5m, midfielder)
More than five points per start, four double-digit hauls – Ouattara has already shown he can explode.
At £6.5m with low ownership, he doesn’t need to be elite to offer value. If he starts fast, early adopters will fly up the rankings.

Avoid: Callum Wilson (£5.5m, forward)
Once an FPL darling, now a minutes risk. With Thiago leading the line and other wide and central options available, Wilson looks like a bit-part player.
Even an injury to Thiago might not fully open the door.

Brighton: Gross the metronome, Vuskovic the quiet route in

Talisman: Pascal Gross (£5.5m, midfielder)
Pras leans on security. Gross takes everything – corners, free-kicks, penalties – and ticks over with steady returns.
At £5.5m, he’s also an enabler, freeing cash for heavy hitters elsewhere.

Differential: Luka Vuskovic (£5m, defender)
The new centre-back from Spurs should slot straight in. Brighton kept 10 clean sheets last season, bettered by only six sides.
Vuskovic offers clean-sheet potential and defensive contribution points at low ownership.

Avoid: Georginio Rutter (£5.5m, forward)
Reclassified as a forward, competing with Charalampos Kostoulas and no longer benefiting from midfield scoring.
Minutes are less secure and each goal is now worth less. Not a combination you want.

Chelsea: Joao Pedro the headline act, Colwill the cheap door

Talisman: Joao Pedro (£7.5m, forward)
Cole Palmer may cost more, but Joao Pedro is the FPL darling. Holly notes he’s in over half of teams.
Fifteen goals, nine assists last season, plus a rest-filled summer and a pre-season hat-trick. He looks ready to go again.

Differential: Levi Colwill (£5m, defender)
A million cheaper than Maxence Lacroix, Colwill is a budget route into Chelsea’s defence.
Injury robbed him of last season, but his profile suits the scoring system, particularly for defensive contributions. A home game against promoted Hull in Gameweek 4 is already circled.

Avoid: Enzo Fernandez (£7m, midfielder)
A strong World Cup, a red card in the final, and now heavy transfer speculation.
With his future unclear and a late return likely, Holly sees too much risk for Gameweek 1 squads.

Coventry: Wright on the radar, Rushworth for rotation

Talisman: Haji Wright (£5.5m, forward)
Gianni points straight to the USA forward. Seventeen league goals in the Championship and Coventry’s main man up front.
He’s particularly attractive for those eyeing a bench boost in Gameweek 2, when Hull visit. The caveat: he’s often subbed around 70–80 minutes.

Talisman (alternative): Carl Rushworth (£4.5m, goalkeeper)
At just 1% ownership, Rushworth is a neat part of a rotating keeper pair.
He dovetails well with Brighton’s Bart Verbruggen at the same price, giving managers a cheap, flexible combination.

Avoid: Milan van Ewijk (£4m, defender)
Eight assists last season and 15% ownership might tempt many. Gianni isn’t convinced.
He prefers lower-owned cheap defenders with more reliable defensive contribution points, such as team-mate Bobby Thomas.

Crystal Palace: Sarr the spearhead, Munoz the explosive full-back

Talisman: Ismaila Sarr (£6.5m, midfielder)
Sarr sits at the heart of Palace’s attack. He ranked highly for shots and big chances, with some penalty upside when Jean-Philippe Mateta is off.
At £6.5m, Heisenberg believes he might be slightly underpriced if he keeps hogging Palace’s transitions and attempts.

Differential: Daniel Munoz (£5.5m, defender)
Munoz is not your standard full-back. Under Oliver Glasner he played like an auxiliary winger, one of the most attacking defenders in the league.
Clean sheets, defcon points, assists, goals – he can do it all. Pierre Sage’s approach is one to watch, but even a move within the Premier League would keep him firmly on the radar.

Avoid: Jorgen Strand Larsen (£6m, forward)
A decent striker, but likely second choice behind Mateta.
Forwards at £6m need secure minutes. With options like Calvert-Lewin offering 90 minutes and penalties, Strand Larsen is an easy pass until the pecking order changes.

Everton: Tarkowski the rock, Dewsbury-Hall the engine

Talisman: James Tarkowski (£6m, defender)
Pras trusts the numbers. Fifth-highest scoring defender last season with 170 points, driven by relentless defensive contributions.
Fixture-proof, he calls him: pick, start, and forget.

Differential: Kiernan Dewsbury-Hall (£6.5m, midfielder)
Eight goals and seven assists last season tell their own story.
On some set-pieces and central to Everton’s attacking patterns, Dewsbury-Hall offers a balanced mix of creativity and goal threat.

Avoid: Beto (£5.5m, forward)
Seventeen starts, nine goals and shared minutes with Thierno Barry.
In a low-scoring attack, that’s not enough. Pras would rather spend an extra £0.5m on a more secure striker.

Fulham: Muniz by default, Robinson the sleeper

Talisman: Rodrigo Muniz (£5.5m, forward)
With Harry Wilson and Raul Jimenez gone, the options are thin. Muniz stands as one of Fulham’s priciest assets.
One goal and one assist from 10 starts last season is hardly inspiring, and Gonzalo Garcia arrives at £0.5m more to challenge him.

Differential: Antonee Robinson (£4.5m, defender)
Robinson’s 2025–26 was quiet, but don’t forget the 10 assists he delivered the year before.
Nine clean sheets for Fulham last season and a faint chance of penalties post-departures make him an intriguing value pick.

Avoid: Sander Berge (£5m, midfielder)
Ninety-one points from 34 starts – three assists and five defcon returns. Solid but unspectacular.
Repeated links with a move away from Craven Cottage create enough doubt to keep him out of early drafts.

Hull City: Promotion heroes, FPL headaches

Talisman: Oli McBurnie (£5.5m, forward)
Heisenberg highlights the drama: a stoppage-time winner in the play-off final, 17 goals and eight assists in the Championship.
Yet even at a friendly price, he’d still rather pay up for Calvert-Lewin or Brobbey. His broader view is brutal – he’s avoiding Hull entirely to start.

Differential: Ryan Giles (£4m, defender)
Eight assists in the promotion campaign show his delivery from left-back.
But he could share minutes with Matty Targett, and Hull’s clean-sheet prospects look thin. Cheap, but risky.

Avoid: Liam Millar (£5m, midfielder)
Heisenberg could have named almost any Hull player.
With limited attacking opportunities and likely few clean sheets, Hull assets are a hard sell. If you must pick a budget midfielder, he’d rather save £0.5m and punt on Regan Slater at £4.5m.

Ipswich Town: New faces, new gamble

Talisman: Emersonn (£5.5m, forward)
Gianni flags the record signing from Toulouse. The Brazilian is expected to lead the line and could quickly become Gary O’Neil’s focal point.
The role is there. Now he has to deliver.

Differential: Daizen Maeda (£5.5m, midfielder)
A wide forward classified as a midfielder at just 0.4% ownership.
Maeda arrives from Celtic with 50 goals in 149 Scottish Premiership games and a standout World Cup for Japan. One to monitor very closely.

Avoid: Chuba Akpom (£5m, forward)
A familiar name and a prolific spell at Middlesbrough in 2022–23, but here he’s likely an impact sub.
Without minutes, the nostalgia pick becomes a trap.

Leeds United: Calvert-Lewin leads, Wilson lurks

Talisman: Dominic Calvert-Lewin (£6m, forward)
Fourteen goals, two assists last season and, crucially, a clean bill of health across 35 appearances.
On penalties and priced kindly, he dominates the budget forward bracket and already features in around a quarter of teams.

Differential: Harry Wilson (£6.5m, midfielder)
Nineteen goal involvements for Fulham last season – 10 goals, nine assists.
If he locks down a starting spot in the Leeds attack and takes set-pieces, he could rival or even outscore Calvert-Lewin. The extra £0.5m is the only hesitation.

Avoid: Jaka Bijol (£5m, defender)
Eight clean sheets last term, and now James Trafford arrives to tighten things up.
Even so, Bijol at £5m is hard to justify when Joe Rodon offers secure minutes at £4.5m and delivered 20 defensive contribution points.

Liverpool: Szoboszlai the safe route, Wirtz the upside play

Talisman: Dominik Szoboszlai (£7m, midfielder)
Pras sees Szoboszlai as the most reliable Liverpool pick.
He brings consistent minutes, set-piece duty and all-round output, which explains why nearly half of managers already own him.

Differential: Florian Wirtz (£7.5m, midfielder)
Under Andoni Iraola, Wirtz is expected to play closer to goal.
His creativity gives him a huge ceiling, and he should comfortably beat last season’s five goals and four assists if the system clicks.

Avoid: Jeremy Jacquet (£5m, defender)
Fresh off a long injury, light on pre-season minutes and now behind Ronald Araujo in the pecking order.
The signs point to a slow introduction, not an FPL starter.

Manchester City: Haaland or regret, Foden the fun punt

Talisman: Erling Haaland (£15.5m, striker)
Gianni doesn’t sugar-coat it. Haaland’s record-breaking starting price reflects his status as the game’s ultimate talisman.
His minutes against Bournemouth in Gameweek 1 aren’t guaranteed after a limited pre-season, but with Crystal Palace and Coventry to follow, going without him is a bold – some would say reckless – play.

Differential: Phil Foden (£7m, midfielder)
A full pre-season under his belt and in line to start against Bournemouth.
At just 7% ownership, Foden offers a high ceiling, but the usual City caveat applies: one poor display and rotation looms.

Avoid: Marc Guehi (£6m, defender)
Fourth most popular defender in the game, yet not assured of a starting role under Enzo Maresca.
With Ruben Dias and Josko Gvardiol both cheaper at £5.5m and drawing praise from the manager, Guehi looks overpriced and over-owned.

Manchester United: Fernandes the premium engine, Cunha the livewire

Talisman: Bruno Fernandes (£12m, midfielder)
Heisenberg backs the numbers: 235 points last season, 24 assists, penalties, set-pieces and a bonus-friendly style.
Hull and Ipswich in the first two gameweeks make him a tempting captain. The only barrier is that hefty £12m fee.

Differential: Matheus Cunha (£8m, midfielder)
Cunha finished last season on a surge – four goals and one assist in his final seven games.
Capable of playing across the frontline, he’s dangerous but could share minutes. At 12.7% ownership compared to Bryan Mbeumo’s 23.9%, he’s still a relative differential.

Avoid: Benjamin Sesko (£7m, forward)
Eleven goals in his first Premier League season underline his potential.
The problem is minutes. With more fixtures on the calendar due to Champions League football, rotation looks likely. For now, Fernandes and Cunha offer clearer paths into United’s attack.

Newcastle United: Woltemade by necessity, Thiaw the goal-scoring defender

Talisman: Nick Woltemade (£6m, forward)
A turbulent summer at Newcastle leaves Woltemade as the main fantasy focus.
Eight goals and four assists from 24 starts last season suggest promise, and he’ll look to keep Yoane Wissa behind him in the pecking order.

Differential: Malick Thiaw (£5m, defender)
Historically, Newcastle defend well, though seven clean sheets last season was underwhelming.
Thiaw still emerged as their top-scoring defender, with four goals in 33 games and 12 defensive contribution returns. Repeat that and he fully justifies the price.

Avoid: Lewis Hall (£5m, defender)
Three goal involvements but 47 fewer points than Thiaw last season.
His profile doesn’t suit the scoring matrix as well, and transfer links away from St James’ Park make him an early-season risk.

Nottingham Forest: Gibbs-White the heartbeat, Williams the wing-back threat

Talisman: Morgan Gibbs-White (£8m, midfielder)
Pras sees him as Forest’s creative and scoring hub.
Operating in the left-sided No 10 role under Oliver Glasner, he’ll try to match the 15 goals and four assists that made him the third-highest scoring midfielder in 25–26.

Differential: Neco Williams (£5m, defender)
Wing-back in a Glasner system, some set-pieces, and solid defensive numbers – it’s a potent mix.
Pras likens his potential to Daniel Munoz’s breakout under Glasner last season.

Avoid: Chris Wood (£6m, striker)
At 34 and coming off an injury-hit campaign, Wood now faces competition from in-form Igor Jesus.
Minutes are no longer guaranteed, which is fatal at his price.

Sunderland: Le Fee the all-rounder, Xhaka the steady stream

Talisman: Enzo le Fee (£6m, midfielder)
Five goals, six assists and regular defensive points in his debut Premier League season.
At £6m, Le Fee offers a rare combination: secure minutes, possible penalties and multiple scoring routes. Heisenberg sees him as Sunderland’s most consistent contributor.

Differential: Granit Xhaka (£5.5m, midfielder)
One goal, six assists and a hefty 26 defensive contribution points from 32 starts.
He won’t explode, but with kind early fixtures – Ipswich away then Fulham at home – he can quietly rack up returns.

Avoid: Wilson Isidor (£5.5m, forward)
Tempting price, proven finishing, but stuck behind Brian Brobbey in the striker hierarchy.
With so many cheap forwards available, there’s no need to gamble on a rotation risk.

Tottenham Hotspur: Porro the closest thing to a talisman

Talisman: Pedro Porro (£5.5m, defender)
Gianni calls him Spurs’ standout asset. Fresh from an excellent World Cup with Spain, the attacking right-back is their most-owned player.
He offers clean sheets, assists and goals – a triple threat from defence.

Dominic Solanke (£6m) and James Maddison (£6.5m) could become superb value later in the season, but their recent injury issues make them “wait and see” options for now.

Differential: Mathys Tel (£6m, midfielder)
Under 0.5% owned and a favourite of Roberto De Zerbi.
Tel finished last season in form, playing high and wide on the left, and looked sharp in pre-season, including a 30-yard direct free-kick against Sydney FC. If he nails down that role, he could be explosive.

Avoid: Marcos Senesi (£6m, defender)
One of last season’s FPL stars at Bournemouth, but now a risk.
De Zerbi’s exact defensive setup remains unclear, and Spurs are stacked at centre-back. Senesi could easily find himself on the bench – an expensive gamble at £6m.

The pieces are on the board. Premium talismans, cut-price differentials, and traps waiting to spring. With the deadline looming, the question is simple: who do you trust when the first whistle blows?