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:

This Team has a AI Team Rating of 95%. Get your FPL Team rated for free by clicking on the link below:

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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.

Defenders:

I have gone with 3 Premium Defenders in Murilo, Van Dijk and Porro. Murilo is a DEFCON monster and has excellent fixture. Porro was really good in Super cup game and with both Maddison and Kulusevski out, he will be on most of the set pieces. The GW1 fixture vs Burnley makes it even better. Andersen and Richards are the 4.5 Defenders in my team who will not play every single week but they will play when the fixtures are good- Like Andersen vs LEE(H) and Richards vs SUN(H) in GW4.

All the defenders in my team have good to decent Defensive Contribution potential.

Murilo– 10.66 CBIT/90 (2nd among DEFs)
Andersen– 9.56 CBIT/90
Richards– 9.07 CBIT/90
Van Dijk– 8.16 CBIT/90
Porro– 6.63 CBIT/90

This is another Rotation(In tweet below) which I really like- But it takes up a lot of money. If you are willing to afford little more money into the defense, this is a great rotation.

🔁🔥Ultimate FPL Defenders + Budget Mid(Anderson) Rotation:

I am probably locked with these 6 players(5 Defenders all with good CBIT & Clean Sheet potential+ 5th mid)

🔒Van Dijk / Frimpong
🔒Tarkowski
🔒Murilo
🔒Lacroix/Richards
🔒Van De Ven
🔒Anderson

From these 6 players-… pic.twitter.com/IS79a5dvTe
— ALLABOUTFPL (@allaboutfpl) August 11, 2025

Midfielders

Anderson is an easy lock in my team for the Budget Midfielder slot with 13.36 CBITR/90 last season. With Elanga gone, he will also be on some set pieces and corners. I have also considered Reijnders(5.5) for this position but Anderson seems to be the safer option.
I have gone with a Midfield of Salah, Palmer, Rogers and Rutter. 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.
Salah and Palmer easily pick themselves as the Premium Midfielders on penalties. Palmer especially is an easy lock at 10.5 considering Chelsea’s opening fixtures are really good.

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

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Rogers is the next Midfield pick at 7.0 million having got 8 goals, 11 assists and 161 FPL Points last year in his breakthrough season. Villa have a good fixture run and they also play Sunderland and Burnley within the first 7 Gameweeks. Emery trusts Rogers and has started every time in the league whenever he is fit.
Georgino Rutter rounds up the midfield as the Ultra-Differential pick at less than 1% ownership. An OOP Midfielder playing as a Striker is something we all want for our FPL teams. Rutter has been doing that in Pre-season, playing as the Center Forward for Brighton in Pre-season. He has got 1 Goal and 3 Assists in Pre-season and seems to have replaced Welbeck (for now) as Brighton’s main striker. It’s a risky call with his minutes but I feel there is potential upside in this pick.

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

Bowen is the second forward in the team with the Tempting Sunderland fixture in GW1. Bowen is the Talisman in the West Ham Team- From Gameweek 20 onwards last season, he delivered eight goals, five assists and was involved in 72% of West Ham’s goals when starting. Pedro was an option but I feel that minutes won’t be great even if he starts all the games. There is Delap waiting around on the bench who will be eating into Pedro’s minutes.
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.

Surya’s FPL GW1 Team Reveal:

This team is currently rated by AI- with 97% 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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Pedro Porro is the other Premium Defender in the team.
Dorgu is the Differential pick at just 6.8%. Dorgu looked very attacking in the pre-season(Goal & Assist) and will be taking up the LWB role for United. I will not be playing Dorgu every week. In fact, I am very likely to play only in GW3 vs Burnley(H) in the first 5 weeks.
Esteve rounds up the defense as the safe and reliable £4.0 DEF with decent DEFCON potential. I have consdiered Hartman too as he is 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 so I am option for Esteve at the moment.

Midfielders:

We have gone with the heavy midfield of Salah, Palmer, Bruno Ndiaye and Anderson. Salah and Palmer pick themselves.
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.
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 including Ndiaye. 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 in 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:

Sels+ Cucurella can be Sanchez + Frimpong/Van Dijk. This is an option I am strongly considering as it would mean I won’t be doubling up on Forest defense and hence spreading the risk.

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

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