FPL GW1 Team Reveal, Strategy and Keynotes- 2025/26 Season

Well, Finally FPL is almost here. No more days without Football and more importantly Fantasy Football. In this article, the architects behind AllAboutFPL – Surya and Srini reveal their FPL GW1 Team & Drafts with justification and reasoning.

Note: The draft mentioned in the article may not be final and is subject to change. It will be updated as we move closer to the GW1 deadline. Do bookmark/save the link.

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FPL GW1 Team Reveal

Srini’s FPL GW1 Team Reveal:

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Goal Keeper:

I have gone with Sanchez(5.0) for the Set and Forget Goal Keeper position. Chelsea have good fixtures for the first 4 weeks and have the potential to keep few clean sheets.

Defense and Budget Midfielder:

I am probably locked with these 6 players(5 Defenders all with good CBIT & Clean Sheet potential+ 5th mid) who rotate really well for the first 6 weeks.

🔒Van Dijk(8.16 CBIT/90) / Frimpong
🔒Tarkowski – 10.96 CBIT/90 (1st among DEFs)
🔒Murilo- 10.66 CBIT/90 (2nd among DEFs)
🔒Lacroix(10.02 CBIT/90)/Richards(9.07 CBIT/90)
🔒Van De Ven
🔒Anderson (13.36 CBITR/90)

From these 6 players- Play 4, Bench 2 every week.

Formation will be 4-4-2(If Anderson on bench) or 3-5-2(If Anderson starts) every week based on this rotation. The rotation will give me:

✅2/24 Fixtures vs Last Season Top 6 Teams + Manchester United + Spurs
✅4/24 Fixtures vs Last Season 7th-10th Placed Teams
✅18/24 Fixtures vs Promoted Sides + Last Season 11th-17th Placed Teams

This is how the rotation will look like:

Midfielders

I have gone with a Liverpool Midfield double of Salah, Wirtz. Gakpo was a tempting Differential pick with a solid pre-season of 4 goals, 1 assist but if Isak joins, it will reduce his minutes.
Bruno is the next pick who will be on penalties, some corners and will be playing for an improved Manchester United attack with Cunha, Mbeumo and Sesko. United should get better at attack this season which will in turn improves Bruno’s returns. Bruno also averages 10.69 CBITR/90 which suggests that he is also likely to get Defensive Contribution points.

Top 5 Midfielders for Predicted Points over the first 4 Gameweeks:

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Sarr along with Anderson completes the midfield. Sarr is the 6.5 Million Midfielder with good attacking potential for his price. Sarr got 8 goals, 7 assists and 149 points last season . Palace are in form having won the Community Shield and he should only get better this season. Anderson is a DEFCON magnet averaging 13.36 CBITR/90 which means is likely to get DEFCON points most times when he completes 90 minutes.

Forwards

Ollie Watkins is the first name on the forwards as he is nailed to start, in good form, has good fixtures and could be on penalties as well. He is a easy lock for me.

Watkins Pre-Season form: ⚽⚽⚽⚽⚽🅰️
Newcastle Pre-Season form: ✅❌❌❌🤝🤝❌
✅Botman & Hall- Unlikely to start GW1
✅Villa have good fixtures till GW8

Pedro is the 7.5 million forward in the team despite him likely to not complete 90 minutes every game with Delap around. He will also not be on penalties. But despite, these there are good fixtures long-term and he perfectly fits into the Chelsea attack as seen in Club World Cup and Pre-season games.

Marc Guiu is the bench fodder at 4.5 million. He might not be fit for GW1 but could be a decent enabler in the longer run.

Alternative Options & Thoughts for GW1:

Bruno Fernandes + 6.5 Midfielder can be Rogers + Eze + 1.0 million saved. That 1.0 million can be used to upgrade Richards to Lacroix and other 0.5 million saved for further Gameweeks. That’s a possibility only if Rogers is fully fit (Currently an injury concern) and Eze’s future in known(Eze is linked with a move to Spurs & Arsenal)
Van Dijk + Sarr + Murilo to Munoz + Gakpo + Williams. This is a slightly riskier move considering it would have a Liverpool Midfield Triple up of Salah+ Wirtz + Gakpo. It could work wonders(If Liverpool win big in first few weeks) but at the same time this could backfire as well if Liverpool are having a bad day. This also locks up 3 Liverpool attack spots and it would require you team to break your Team structure to get in Isak(if he joins Liverpool) later if needed.

Surya’s FPL GW1 Team Reveal:

This team is currently rated by AI- with 95% Team Rating as seen below. Get your FPL Team Rated for free by clicking here.

Goal Keepers and Defenders:

I have gone with a defensive Double up of Sels + Murilo with Forest having a good season last time around. Murilo is good for DEFCON points, Sels is good for save points which means that even if they don’t get clean sheets there is another route to points. Forest play 2 of the Promoted sides in the first 6 games.

Cucurella got 5 goals last season- The highest among Defenders. He also takes up very good positions in attack often joining inside the box. With Chelsea’s good fixtures he is too good to ignore for me.

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Munoz is one of the picks in defense that’s good for all 3 metrics- Attack Threat, Clean Sheets and DEFCON potential. He is fixture proof and can be played every single week.

Munoz Stats Last Season:

xG- 5.08 (1st among Defenders)
Big Chances- 9 (2nd among Defenders)
7.43 CBIT/90
11 Clean Sheets

Diouf is the Differential pick compared to AWB(31.4% TSB). He got7⚽4🅰️ last season for Slavia from 23 starts. Very Attacking LWB who can also play LM. He also looked good in pre-season and also got an assist. SUN fixture in GW1 is the icing on the cake to lock in the Diouf pick.
Hartman rounds up the defense as an exciting £4.0 DEF with Attack Threat. Likely on some set pieces. 5 assists from 26 games for Slot in 2023/24. Injury prone though having missed most of last season due to injury. I could opt for Esteve/Gudmundsson as the safer picks as well.

Midfielders:

We have gone with the heavy midfield of Salah, Palmer, Wirtz, Ndiaye and Anderson. Salah, Wirtz and Palmer pick themselves.
Palmer didn’t have an extra ordinary season last time around due to his lofty standards but still managed 214 FPL points with 25 attacking returns which are good numbers.

4 of these players are likely be on penalties as well. Ndiaye is the mid-priced midfield pick from Everton who have a good attack now and also have decent fixtures to start the season starting with Leeds inn GW1.
Anderson is the Budget enabler and he could be on set pieces too. He completes the midfield.

Forwards:

Watkins is a straight forward pick for me as justified above with good form and fixtures.
Fullkrug is the second forward in my team who is having a good pre-season with 3 goals from the last 3 games. Füllkrug is a proven goalscorer with 56 Bundesliga goals and 13 goals for Germany. He was injured for most of the last season and was struggling with fitness. But this time he looks like a rejuvanated man on a mission.

Alternative Options & Thoughts for GW1:

Sarr vs Kudus vs Ndiaye is a close call for the and I am still undecided for that position in GW1. Kudus has a good opening fixture vs Burnley. I am right now sliding with Ndiaye as he is likely to be on penalties for Everton. The predicted points are also close as well for Sarr vs Ndiaye.

Sarr vs Ndiaye Predicted Points:

I am also entirely not sure on the Forest Defense Double up as Murilo can be Tarkowski. However Branthwaite’s injury concern is slightly putting me off that pick.

Further reads from ALLABOUTFPL ahead of FPL GW1 of the 2025/26 FPL Season

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Srinivasan S

23 | Engineer | coder | Blogger Brainchild and an integral part of ALLABOUTFPL Ardent Man city fan who gets excited when someone goes Aguerooooo. Codes during the day and blogs during the night and has just one wish to retire early and take Allaboutfpl to the big stage:)

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