Team-by-team previews: Where are the value FPL players from the three promoted sides?

Bargain-basement defenders, two potential superstar wingers and the next Teemu Pukki?

Can you hear that noise? It started as a gentle drum beat, rolling almost imperceptibly as pre-season friendlies kicked off around the world. What’s that? Elliot Anderson (MID, £4.5m) is playing regularly and scoring for Newcastle?

The beat gets a little louder.

Someone called Nicolas Jackson (FWD, £7m) has just bagged for Chelsea? And Raheem Sterling (MID, £7m) could be back in favour?

The beat gets a little louder still.

Darwin Nunez (FWD, £7.5m) is showing signs of going from donkey to magnificent steed? OK, we can’t resist any longer. Like a young(ish) Robin Williams in the 1995 classic Jumanji, we’re rolling the dice and going in.

FPL is BACK – and so is Fantasy Gameweek!

Just like last year, we’ll bring you a full starter-pack designed to help you prepare for Gameweek 1 (you have until 18:30 GMT on Friday 11 August to assemble and fine-tune your squad), including guides to all 20 teams and analysis of potentially mispriced players. Picking your team at the beginning of the campaign is always a bit of a lottery, but the closer you can get to the right XI, the better placed you’ll be to challenge for honours in your mini-league come May.

To start off, let’s get into one of our favourite bits of analysis of the pre-season – the promoted teams. As a fan of perennial Championship also-rans Blackburn Rovers, I am hopefully well-placed to give you the inside track on who is most likely to make the leap to England’s top division, and who might struggle.

The FPL hall-of-fame is, of course, littered with players from promoted teams who have delivered huge returns at low prices. John Lundstram (Sheffield United) and Stuart Dallas (Leeds United) have been standout performers in the not-too-distant past. In more recent years, Brentford’s Ivan Toney (FWD, £8m) and Fulham’s Aleksandar Mitrovic (FWD, £7.5m) have proven excellent value-for-money in their post-promotion seasons.

Snapping up a low-cost goalkeeper or defender from a promoted side can help free up money to spend elsewhere, while giving you cover should one of your starters find themselves injured or warming the bench. Equally, bagging an attacking player that surprises on the upside could expand your options in other areas of your fantasy line-up.

In the first of three team-by-team articles ahead of the 2023/24 curtain raiser, we run the rule over Burnley, Sheffield United and Luton to figure out where the opportunities might lie and the potential landmines to avoid.

Goalkeepers and defenders

Here's the tale of the tape for the promoted sides when it comes to goals conceded in the Championship last season:

• Burnley - 35

• Sheffield United - 39

• Luton Town - 39

Those records are broadly similar to the previous campaign’s promoted sides (Fulham, Bournemouth and Nottingham Forest) – none of whose defences proved to be particularly attractive FPL investments in 2022/23.

That doesn’t mean defenders from these clubs are unappealing, however. In fact, all three have £4m options that could be critical as you build out your squad.

Jordan Beyer (DEF, £4m) was a successful loanee at champions Burnley last season and looks set to be their first-choice centre back in the Premier League. Vincent Kompany’s side are more pleasing on the eye than the one managed by his predecessor, Sean Dyche, but Turf Moor will still need to be a source of wins and clean sheets if they are to survive. As painful as it is for a Blackburn fan to say about Burnley, they are the best equipped to score goals, keep clean sheets and ultimately survive of the promoted sides. The addition of James Trafford (GK, £4.5m) from Manchester City should increase the opportunity for Beyer and his defensive colleagues to rake in those valuable shutout points.

Across the Pennines to Sheffield United and a familiar name could find his way into plenty of FPL squads this season. Wing-back George Baldock (DEF, £4m) offers an attacking threat to go with any clean sheet points that come his way. He also has a 142-point FPL season on his CV (albeit in 2019/20). He played 36 games last season, registering one goal and three assists. The combination of potential returns going forward and near-certainty of selection make him an attractive bench option in FPL, particularly at £4m.

Anel Ahmedhodzic (£4.5m) offers an intriguing higher ceiling alternative – he delivered six goals and two assists in 35 Championship games last season – but he’s in the same price bracket as the likes of Newcastle’s Sven Botman (DEF, £4.5m) and Chelsea’s Levi Colwill (DEF, £4.5m), both of whom are likely to deliver significantly more clean sheet points in 2023/24.

Luton have several potential starters available at £4m, including Amari’I Bell (DEF, £4m) and Issa Kabore (DEF, £4m). While neither offer a significant attacking threat, Luton could prove a tough nut to crack, particularly at Kenilworth Road.

Midfielders

As with defensive assets, midfielders and forwards from the promoted sides are more likely to be filling a spot on your bench than securing a place in your starting XI, at least initially. This is particularly the case this season given the lack of Premier League pedigree at all three teams.

That’s not to say there aren’t potential stars waiting to break out, however. Burnley, who scored 87 goals in 46 games on their way to 101 points last season, play an attacking, possession-based brand of football focused on getting their talented wingers in space and driving at defenders. It is these wingers who offer the biggest potential upside in FPL.

Manuel Benson (MID, £5.5m) is their top-priced option – and it’s easy to see why. The winger scored 12 goals in 33 games last season, including a spectacular winner to clinch the title at Ewood Park (*sobs quietly into his morning coffee*). A left-footed attacker playing wide on the right, he should be well set up to cut inside and deliver more goals in the top division.

We also like the look of the slightly cheaper Anass Zaroury (MID, £5m). Zaroury scored six and set up another six last season and jumped off the screen with his direct running at full-backs. Aged just 22, he profiles as the kind of player who could make a big impact in the Premier League.

There are no midfielders we would recommend selecting in FPL from either Sheffield United or Luton, at least in your opening-day squad. That isn’t to say a viable option won’t emerge in the early fixtures, but neither side came close to Burnley’s attacking output last season, so it’s best to keep a watching brief for now.

Forwards

We aren’t exactly sure who is going to start up top for Burnley and Sheffield United, so you’ll probably want to wait-and-see on their respective forwards, at least for the opening round of fixtures.

However, those looking for a low-cost striker guaranteed to play every week and with decent upside could do a lot worse than Luton’s Carlton Morris (FWD, £5.5m). His physical frame and journeyman route to the Premier League have echoes of Brentford’s Toney and the impressive 20 goals he bagged last season were critical in his side’s promotion push.

We’re expecting Luton to play a direct brand of football, particularly at home, which plays to Morris’ strengths. Crucially, he also takes penalties – an uncertain but potentially hugely valuable source of attacking returns.

Teemu Pukki is probably a more apt comparison here. Despite Norwich’s relegations in both 2019/20 and 2021/22, Pukki delivered solid returns as a low-priced third striker in FPL, scoring 11 goals in both seasons.

Thanks for reading. If you enjoyed this newsletter, please tell your friends and get them to sign up. Keep an eye on your inbox for Graham’s must-read analysis of mispriced FPL players, followed by the next in the team-by-team series, focusing on last season’s top four.

Cheers

Tom