FPL GW1 Team Selection- Drafts, Notes and Chip Strategy

FPL is BACK!!! In this article, the founders of AllAboutFPL – Surya and Srini will discuss their FPL GW1 Selection- Highlighting their Latest Drafts, Watchlist, and Strategy for GW1 and beyond. We will try to do this as a weekly series(Time permitting).

Note: In this article, we try to explain the thought process behind the players we are picking and the transfers we are planning to make. We will try to keep the article updated based on the moves we make during the week. Do Bookmark the article. The teams shown in the images are not final and are subject to change before the deadline.

Link to all our 2026/27 Pre-Season articles including all team pre-season friendly updates, best drafts, fixture analysis, position-wise analysis, differentials, players to target, budget enablers and more. Completely free to access as well!

FPL GW1 Drafts and Team Reveal

Srini's GW1 Team Selection:

Chip Strategy

• The plan for the above draft is to not use Free Hit or Wildcard or Bench Boost till GW6.
• Might Triple Captain Haaland in GW3 based on how City play in first 2 weeks.
• Might Wildcard in GW6/GW9/GW16 for the Fixture swings based on the situation.

Captaincy

The arm-band is on Bruno Fernandes as it stands. The other option is Haaland. It is 70-30 in favour of Bruno Fernandes as it stands. It could change if we get good updates about Haaland minutes in the Maresca press conference tomorrow.

Fantasy Football Hub(FFHUB) Free AI Team Rating for this Draft:

The Team is rated 89% on the Fantasy Football Hub(FFHUB) Free AI Team Rating Tool and predicted to score 59.7 points in GW1.

Fantasy Football Hub(FFHUB) Free AI Team Rating Tool

Goal Keepers:

Kinsky has been confirmed by De Zebri as the first choice GK for this season. Tottenham had a poor last season but their defense improved massively under De Zebri. They have also strengthened at the back with Van Hecke, Senesi and Robertson joining.

Spurs Defense Rank since De Zebri took over: (GW32- GW38)

• xGC- 1st
• Big Chances Conceded- 1st
• Goals Conceded- Joint 3rd

⚪🚨🗣ï¸De Zebri on Kinsky:

“We start with Kinsky because he deserves to be the first-choice goalkeeperâ€. “He is another player with huge potential. He's mature, has personality and I believe in his qualities.â€

The other option I considered was Verbruggen who also has good fixtures in the medium term but I am slightly put off by the GW2 and GW5 Fixtures vs CHE(A) and ARS(H). I would also probably want Vuskvoic(and not interested in Defense Double up) later in the season due to his high DEFCON potential after keeping an eye on his minutes.

There is no starting 4.0 GK at the moment. So Button is just a bench Fodder.

Further Read: FPL GW1 Scout Picks Based on Stats, Analysis and Matchups

Defenders

• Calafiori is my pick from Arsenal defense. Yes, There is a minutes risk for everyone outside Gabriel and Raya now that Konsa has also signed for the club. But Calafiori is likely to be first choice over Hincapie. He has very good attacking threat as seen in Community Shield and 2.5 million cheaper than Gabriel. Must be a regular if he stays injury free. Averaged 1.7 Shots & 0.22 xGI/90 last season so can be a good option even if there are early substitutions.
• Muharemovic averaged 10.7 DEFCON/90 last season in Serie A. Should be this season Senesi. Attacking threat in set pieces as well. Leeds underrated defensively as they finished 7th for nPxGC/90 last season & have gotten only better with signings like Muharemovic and Trafford. Rodon(4.5) is also a shout if you are running low on budget but feel that 0.5 extra is worth spending it on.

• Ballard (£5.0m) – 9th best DEFCON per 90 amongst defenders last season averaging 9.58 DEFCON/start last season. 13th highest DEFCON amongst defenders. Sunderland's defense improved towards the back end of the season, and their first two fixtures are excellent- IPS(A) and FUL(H).
• Harry Maguire(5.0) offers a good goal threat on set pieces- Main target man now with Casimero too gone. He is also decent for DEFCON averaging 7.58 DEFCON/start. Two promoted teams to start the season- It can't get better than this.

• Bobby Thomas is the 4.0 Defender Enabler Pick in this Draft. The English CB had seven attacking contributions (3 goals + 4 assists) in 33 games, which is impressive for a center-back. Thomas also averaged 1.1 shots per 90, which was the 3rd best & his xA of 3.4 was 4th best amongst center-backs in the Championship last season.Thomas also has a better Defcon potential than Van Ewijk, having averaged 8.56 DC/90, which is roughly two more than Van Ewijk.

Further Read: Top FPL GW1 Differential Picks to Target Ahead of GW1 Deadline

Midfielders

First up, we do begin with a Manchester United Double up of Bruno Fernandes and Mbeumo who have an excellent run of fixtures to start the season. Bruno Fernandes finished last season with 235 FPL points courtesy nine goals and providing 24 assists. That was enough to make him the second-highest scoring player in the game.

But the really interesting part of his season came after Michael Carrick took charge. A change in formation gave Bruno more freedom in the No.10 role, and his FPL output went through the roof. He produced 129 points across the final 17 Gameweeks, making him the highest-scoring player in the game during that period.

Mbeumo also had very good underlying data as he was 1st for xG, 1st for Big Chances and 3rd for xGI last season among Midfielders. He is also in good pre-season form with 3 goals, 1 assist to his name and is also likely to start as a striker in GW1.

Next up is the Liverpool Double up of Wirtz and Szoboszlai. Liverpool have a good run of fixtures to start the season- NEW(A), NFO(H), IPS(A), FUL(H), BOU(A). While the GW3, GW4 fixtures are good on paper- The other 3 fixtures are against managers that are new to their club. GW1 vs Newcastle(A) is also a good fixtures as Newcastle have lost many of their players as well.

Liverpool Friendlies Summary:

Szoboszlai ⚽🅰ï¸ðŸ…°ï¸
Wirtz ⚽⚽
Gakpo ⚽🅰ï¸
Isak ⚽🅰ï¸
Jacquet âš½
Koumas âš½
Ngumoha âš½
Chiesa âš½
Kerkez 🅰ï¸
Frimpong 🅰ï¸ðŸ…°ï¸
Gravenberch 🅰ï¸
Elliott 🅰ï¸
Ramsay 🅰ï¸

• The midfield is completed by Yirenkyi who comes in as the cheap enabler at 5.0 million. Hhe scored 2 Goals, 6 Assists, 0.19 xGI/90 in 30 apps for Nordsjælland in the Danish Superliga. Most importantly, he averaged 13.05 DEFCON/90. In Coventry's last friendly, he got an assist and got 9 DEFCON's in 65 minutes (via @AlexVolloFPL).

Fantasy Football Hub(FFHUB)

Forwards

• Haaland and Joao Pedro do not need much introduction. Haaland is too difficult to skip even though some of the draft without Haaland for a GW1 Bench Boost look good.
• There is no DCL/Brobbey to fill in the 6.0 FWD slot in this draft as the midfield is heavy. We have gone with a 4.5 striker which will be a dead slot even though there are chances that Walle Egeli could start GW1.

Other Notes on the Draft:

• The small changes I am considering to this draft is downgrading Maguire to Shaw or Muharemovic to Rodon so that I can upgrade Yirenkyi to Sangare/Gross. But I am still not sure if there is a big difference between them to justify that 0.5 million extra.
• Ballard to Jacquet is also an option I am considering if we get to know that Jacquert will be first choice over Araujo atleast till GW6. That would give this rotation for the first 5 weeks(Grey denotes players to bench, Green Denotes player to start).

Further Read: Best FPL Defenders at Each Price Point for the 2026/27 Season

Alternate Draft( GW1 Bench Boost):

This is the alternate draft I am considering as part of a GW1 Bench Boost and a potential Free Hit/Wildcard in GW3. In GW3- City play Coventry and Chelsea play Arsenal. You can bring in more City players in GW3 and fully avoid Chelsea/Arsenal players in GW3 using Free Hit. But I am very unlikely to go with this because I would want more clarity on teams, form and expected minutes before making using the chips.

Further Read: Premier League Penalty & Set Piece Takers | 2026/27 PL Season

Surya's GW1 Team Selection

Chip Strategy

Not a big fan of getting rid of Bench Boost early in the season with some many unknowns. Also don't want to burn the Wildcard/Free Hit early just because the Bench Boost is used early in the season. Planning to Wildcard in GW6(Big International break). The current plan is to use the Free Hit chip in GW13/GW16(Although flexible) as highlighted in our Chip Strategy article.

Why GW13? Because of the fixture swings from 12-14:

– Manchester United travel to Newcastle in GW13, but have good fixtures in GW12 and 14 – BRE (H), COV (H)
– Leeds travel to Manchester City in GW13 but host two promoted sides in GW12 and 14 – COV (H), IPS (H)
– Similarly Palace travel to Chelsea in 13, but play HUL (H) and AVL (A) in 12 and 14 respectively.

Captaincy

I am fairly set on Bruno Fernandes for Captaincy this week. With Haaland not having a pre-season and playing only 52 in the Community Shield vs Arsenal, I don't think Haaland is ready to play 90 minutes yet. Hull City were ranked 2nd worst for xGC in Championship last season and they are surely a team to target.

Fantasy Football Hub(FFHUB) Free AI Team Rating for this Draft

The Team is rated 90% on the Fantasy Football Hub(FFHUB) Free AI Team Rating Tool and predicted to score 60 points in GW1.

I am not going to explain all the players picked one by one as some of the picks have been covered by Srini above. So I will focus on players that mainly differ and more on the Transfer Strategy going forward.

• Ben White completes the Arsenal double defense along with Calafiori with Jurrien Timber is not back training with the group yet as confirmed by Arteta today. Even with the Konsa signing I think he will more of a cover and competition for Mosquera than Timber. And the upside is always high with Arsenal defense(attacking full backs) as they are the best defensive team in the league.

• Neco Williams(5.0) is the differential pick from Forest defense. He has multiple routes to points- Clean Sheets, Shots, Attack potential and also a share of corners.

ðŸðŸ”¥ðŸŒŸMamadou Sangare(5.5) is the DEFCON Midfielder in this draft.
🔹3 Goals, 4 Assists, 5.33 xGI from 29 starts for RC Lens in Ligue 1
🔹14.2 DEFCON/90…😯

The new Elliot Anderson..🤔👀

• Tzolis(6.5) rounds up the Midfield with the tempting GW1 fixture vs Coventry(H). Tzolis joked in oan interview that one thing that helped narrow focus last season, when he scored 22 goals and assisted 29 for Club Brugge last season, was Fantasy football. He mentioned that he often captained himself in the Belgian League's Fantasy game..What more do you need other than this?

🌟🔥Tzolis in Pre-Season so far: ⚽🅰ï¸ðŸ…°ï¸ðŸ…°ï¸ðŸ…°ï¸ðŸ…°ï¸ðŸ…°ï¸

Further Read: 2026/27 Pre-Season Summary of All 20 Premier League Teams

Other Notes on the Draft and Transfer Plans:

• Ballard vs N Williams is a decision that I keep changing every few hours. Both are very good picks and it is very difficult to pick one.
• Sangare to Gomez to get Lammens or Muharemović to Rodon to get Lammens is also in my thoughts. But I like Sangare as a reliable 5.5 million midfielder who can chip in with 3-5 points whenever needed. If I pick Gomez, there are minutes concern, European football concern but Sangare is a set and forget for the 5th Midfielder slot.
• Sangare vs Gross is another call I am yet to lock in, While Gross is the more attacking and player and likely to have penalties(Although Brighton have signed striker David on loan). But the issue with Gross is that he is 35 years old and minutes might be at risk with Brighton playing in Europe as well. Gross started the midweek Conference league game vs Tromso on Thursday and played 90 minutes. Although he looked good in 0-0 draw with 6 Chances created(1 Big chance created) and 3 shots, Playing 90 minutes certainly his xMins for GW1 as Brighton play Villa on Sunday. This might be a regular occurrence with Brighton having midweek games.

Transfer Plans

• I would ideally want more Chelsea coverage(Palmer/Rogers) for their GW4 fixture run and Semenyo/Foden for the GW3 fixture vs Coventry(H). Even though multiple booked transfers is not ideal- I might be ready to do them and attack instead of using chips early on.

GW3 Transfers:

âŒTzolis + Bruno
✅Semenyo + Foden/Wirtz

GW4 Transfers:

âŒMbeumo
✅Palmer

This will give you a midfield of:

GW1:

🔴Tzolis vs COV(H)
🔴Bruno vs HUL(A)
🔴Mbeumo vs HUL(A)
🔴Szoboszlai vs NEW(A)

GW2:

🔴Tzolis vs AVL(A)
🔴Bruno vs IPS(H)
🔴Mbeumo vs IPS(H)
🔴Szoboszlai vs NFO(H)

GW3:

🔵Semenyo vs COV(H)
🔴Szoboszlai vs IPS(A)
🔵Foden vs COV(H) or Wirtz vs IPS(A)
🔴Mbeumo vs EVE(A)

GW4:

🔵Semenyo vs MUN(A)
🔴Szoboszlai vs FUL(H)
🔵Foden vs MUN(A) or Wirtz vs FUL(H)
🔵Palmer vs HUL(H)

Pros of this Transfer Plans:

🔹Flexible- If Bruno + Le Fee are too good to removed after first 2 GWs, you can hold on to them and get Semenyo for Mbeumo in GW3
🔹Helps you to Target Promoted sides with 9/16 fixtures for these proven high upside players against Promoted sides:

✅9/16 Fixtures vs Promoted sides
✅0/16 fixtures vs Arsenal, City, Chelsea, Liverpool
✅2/16 Fixtures vs Last season Top 10
✅6/16 Fixtures vs Last Season 11th-17th placed Teams

Cons:

🔹3 Booked Transfers in the first 3 GWs is not ideal- Other issues & injuries can spoil the plan easily
🔹Removing Bruno in GW3 can be a very risky move

Further reads from ALLABOUTFPL ahead of FPL GW1 of the 2026/27 FPL Season

FPL Basics:
2026/27 FPL Season – New Rules & Changes | What's New in FPL?
Best & Funny FPL Team Names for 2026/27 PL Season

GW1 Articles:
FPL GW1 Scout Selection based on Stats, Fixtures and Matchups
Top FPL GW1 Differential Picks to Target Ahead of GW1 Deadline
2026/27 PL Season: Predicted GW1 Lineups of All 20 PL Teams
FPL Gameweek 1 Bench Boost Drafts- BB1 vs BB2 vs BB Later Analysis
2026/27 Pre-Season Summary of All 20 Premier League Teams
2026/27 Premier League Penalty and Set Piece Takers for all 20 Teams
Top FPL Gameweek 1 Captain Picks Based on Analysis & Metrics | 26/27 Season

Must Read Articles:
FPL Team Structure Guide with Drafts, AI Team Rating, Formations, Pros, Cons and Key Notes
2026/27 Premier League Penalty and Set Piece Takers for all 20 Teams
Best FPL GW1 Drafts for the 26/27 FPL Season with Pros & Cons
FPL Chip Strategy Guide- Best Windows to Play Free Hit, Wildcard, Triple Captain and Bench Boost
Ultimate DEFCON Analysis: Top Players & Best Opponents to Target
FPL Rotational Pairs and Combinations for 2026/27 FPL Season
Eight Simple FPL Tips to Secure a High Rank | 26/27 Season
2026/27 Pre-Season Summary of All 20 Premier League Teams
FPL Fixture Analysis for 2026/27 Season- Teams with Best and Worst fixtures
Five Must Own Players in GW1 for FPL 2026/27 season
AK FPL's Final GW1 Draft & Team Reveal | 3x Top 5K Finishes
How Chelsea could line-up under Xabi Alonso for 2026/27 season
FPL Players To Avoid in Your GW1 Drafts | 2026/27 FPL Season

Position Analysis:

GKs and Defenders Series:
Best FPL Goalkeepers to Target based on Stats and Fixtures
Best FPL Defenders at Each Price Point for the 2026/27 Season
Best £4.0 Million FPL Defenders for 2026/27 FPL Season
Best Premium Defenders for 2026/27 season based on Stats and Fixtures
Best £5.0-5.5 Million FPL Defenders for the 2026/27 FPL Season
FPL Rotational Pairs and Combinations for 2026/27 FPL Season
Best £4.5 Million FPL Defenders for the 2026/27 FPL Season
Best Value for Money Defenders and GKs for 2026/27 FPL season

Midfielders Series:
Best FPL Premium Midfielders(8.0-12.0) for 2026/27 FPL season
Best FPL Midfielders at Each Price Point for the 2026/27 Season
Best Mid-Price FPL Midfielders for the 26/27 Season | £6.5 to 7.5M
Best Budget FPL Midfielders for 26/27 Season | £4.5m to £6.0m
Best Value for Money Midfielders for 2026/27 season

Forwards Series:
Best FPL Budget Forwards (£4.5 – £6.0 Million) | 26/27 FPL Season
Best £6m Forwards Comparison for the 2026/27 FPL Season
Best FPL Premium and Mid-Priced Forwards (6.5 million and above) for 2026/27 season
Top Forwards at every price point for the 2026/27 FPL Season

If you're new to FPL, here is a link to all our FPL Beginners Guide including FPL Beginner's Guide- How to play?, Bench boost, Team value, Triple captain, Effective ownership, Price Changes, Free Hit, Bonus Points, and more.

Link to all our 2026/27 Pre-Season articles including all position-wise analysis, team previews, fixture analysis, position-wise analysis, and more. Completely free to access as well!

Thanks for reading the “FPL GW1 Team Selection- Drafts, Notes and Chip Strategy†blog. Keep checking allaboutfpl.com for regular blogs. Also, follow our 250,000+ community on Instagram, Facebook, and Twitter to stay updated on regular Posts and FPL updates.

What's next from ALLABOUTFPL ahead of FPL Gameweek 1 of the 2026/27 FPL Season?

We'll be covering FPL team structures, must-own players, player comparisons, differential picks, fixture analysis, captaincy metrics, multiple FPL drafts with pros and cons, chip strategy, rules guide, beginners guide, FPL tips, and more. Keep checking allaboutfpl.com for all our blogs and subscribe to our free newsletter through the link below. We'll also be posting regularly about the same on our social media accounts, so follow us on Twitter/X, Instagram, Threads, and Facebook keep our notifications ON.

Our content is always free, and if you like our content, do drop a comment, follow, subscribe, and support us. Your love is what keeps us going:)