Ipswich Town vs Hull City: Early FPL Insights
As the friendlies stop and the real thing looms, the budget end of Fantasy Premier League is already taking shape – and Ipswich Town, not Hull City, are offering the clearest clues.
At Union Berlin, Gary O’Neil’s side delivered both goals and information. Hull, by contrast, served up a goalless draw with Nice and a whole lot of uncertainty.
Ipswich: £4.0m defence takes shape, £4.5m forward shines
Union Berlin 2-4 Ipswich Town
- Goals: J Clarke, Emersonn, O’Shea, McAteer
- Assists: Davis, Walle Egeli x2, Mehmeti
Forget the early-July tinkering. This close to Gameweek 1, managers are no longer experimenting; they’re rehearsing. O’Neil named the same back four he’d trusted in Ipswich’s penultimate friendly, and that consistency matters.
The big news sits in that £4.0m bracket. What looked like “two from three” between Dara O’Shea, Issa Diop and Jacob Greaves now has a different twist. O’Shea started again, but this time at right-back, with Greaves and Diop in the middle and Leif Davis marauding down the left.
On paper, O’Shea at full-back sounds like a gift. In reality, his role almost turned the unit into a back three, with Davis so advanced that the Irishman often tucked in. O’Shea still found time to curl in a goal here, a reminder he carries some attacking threat. Yet for most FPL managers, that’s a bonus, not the main sell. Clean sheets – those DefCons that drip-feed points – are what matter at £4.0m. On that front, Diop looks the more secure, central option.
Davis is a different conversation entirely. Also priced at £4.0m, he ended pre-season with more attacking returns than any other Ipswich player: four in total, with another assist here as his cross found Jack Clarke (£5.5m). At times Davis played higher than Daizen Maeda (£5.5m), the Japanese attacker dropping in to cover when the left-back surged beyond him.
The question is simple: can Davis finally turn that attacking promise into consistent FPL output in 2026/27, two years after letting managers down? With last season’s promoted centre-backs such as Esteve and Ballard banking DefCons in around half of their starts, Davis will need to produce heavily in the final third to justify picking him over a more nailed £4.0m centre-half.
Behind them, the goalkeeper situation is less convincing. Kjell Scherpen (£4.5m) didn’t commit glaring errors for Union’s two goals, but both efforts were the sort that will frustrate a keeper on review. It’s very early, but compared with the early impressions at Hull and Coventry between the posts, Scherpen still has a bit to prove.
Higher up the pitch, a £4.5m forward made a late bid for our benches. Sindre Walle Egeli started again and grabbed two assists – one for Emersonn (£5.5m), one for O’Shea – finishing pre-season with the fifth-highest minutes in the Ipswich squad. That’s not nothing.
But there’s a catch. There’s always a catch at £4.5m.
Walle Egeli lined up on the right flank here after operating as a No 10 last week. In both roles, he sits directly in the path of returning competition. Abdul Fatawu (£5.5m) is due back from a knock, and Julio Enciso is on the verge of arriving. The Norwegian may have done enough to feature early on, but his minutes look fragile over the medium term. He’s a short-term punt, not a foundation stone.
There was another notable name on the teamsheet. Jaden Philogene (£5.5m), who hit 12 league goals last season, made his first appearance of pre-season from the bench. With transfer rumours still swirling, there’s no guarantee he’s an Ipswich player by September, but his return adds yet more depth to those attacking midfield slots.
Ipswich, then, offer clarity at the back, excitement out wide and a potentially fleeting £4.5m forward. For FPL managers, that’s a rich pre-season haul.
Hull: rotation risks, injuries and one standout goalkeeper
Hull City 0-0 Nice
If Ipswich look settled, Hull look anything but.
This final friendly carried a strong Championship hangover: eight of the starting XI were part of last season’s promotion push. Yet beneath that familiar surface, the squad is shifting, and that’s a problem for anyone hunting reliable £4.0m and £4.5m options.
Elliot Stroud (£5.0m) made his debut and went straight into the side on the left wing. Three more summer signings arrived from the bench: central midfielder Lucas Gourna-Douath (price TBA) and centre-backs Lucas Herrington (£4.0m) and Nobel Mendy (£4.0m). Joe Gelhardt (£5.0m), another recent addition, was missing.
The explanation from Sergej Jakirovic was blunt:
“Because he had an injury. He has an injury from Leeds, three weeks already gone. I expect in two weeks he will be on the pitch with the team. Right ankle.”
Hull’s injury list is already long, but at least four players who gave them scares last weekend returned: John Egan (£4.0m), Jens Hjerto-Dahl (£5.0m), Paddy McNair (£4.0m) and Liam Millar (£5.0m). Egan and Hjerto-Dahl both started, hinting at their importance.
At centre-half, though, the picture is anything but stable. Egan and Semi Ajayi (£4.0m) began this final friendly, but with Mendy arriving as a club-record signing and Herrington also in the frame, it’s hard to believe this pairing will be untouched for long. Gameweek 1 might come too soon for sweeping changes; Gameweek 2, when Hull’s fixtures become more attractive for rotation or an early Bench Boost, feels far more dangerous.
When you compare that with the cleaner £4.0m routes at Ipswich and Coventry, Hull’s backline starts to look like an avoidable headache.
The same uncertainty runs through the rest of the team. Up front, Oli McBurnie (£5.5m) currently stands almost alone as a central striker, but Jakirovic made his intentions clear:
“I hope also we will bring, in a few days, another option for the striker position.”
Two £4.5m midfielders, Regan Slater and Matt Crooks, are hanging on to their places partly because several rivals are injured. Gourna-Douath, based on his role against Nice, seems more likely to challenge Hjerto-Dahl than either of them once he settles. Hull are still being linked with further midfield recruits, which only deepens the rotation risk.
The match itself did little to change the mood. It was tight, low on chances and short on attacking fluency from the hosts. Most of Hull’s threat came from dead balls, with corners from Slater and Mohamed Belloumi (£5.0m) troubling Nice. Egan, Hjerto-Dahl and Mendy all found themselves on the end of half-chances from these deliveries.
Belloumi was the standout in open play. The winger looked the one player capable of conjuring something from nothing, carving out Hull’s best chance for himself before seeing his shot beaten away. Beyond him, there was little to excite attacking investors.
At least one position looks nailed. Konstantinos Tzolakis (£4.5m) impressed again in goal, most notably with an outstanding double save late in the first half. On this evidence, he will see plenty of action in the Premier League – and for FPL managers, that volume of work could turn into save points even when Hull’s defence bends.
The problem? Almost everything in front of him feels fluid. With new signings still bedding in, more arrivals expected and several key players only just back from injury, Hull look like a team still being assembled on the fly.
Ipswich’s template-friendly £4.0m defenders and a teasing £4.5m forward are already on the table. Hull, for now, are a puzzle best watched from a distance. How long that remains the case could define a lot of early-season FPL strategies.
