Team-by-team previews: Where is the FPL value in last season's top four?

The Premier League's top sides offer value and opportunities to differentiate

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The likes of Liverpool’s Mohamed Salah (MID, £13m), Tottenham Hotspur’s Son Heung-min (MID, £12m) and Manchester City’s Erling Haaland (FWD, £11.5m) will feature prominently in FPL teams this season.

However, scratch the surface and the Premier League’s superstar-stacked sides also have value-for-money options. Rotation will of course be an inherent risk with some, but if you zero in on the right player you’ll be a step ahead of your mini-league rivals.

So, with that in mind, here is the second of our pre-season team-by-team previews, which focuses squarely on the cream of the crop - last season’s top four Premier League sides - and some of the value options they offer.

Manchester City

There is a chance Haaland will be the final piece of Pep Guardiola’s expensively assembled masterpiece and as such is drawing a lot of FPL attention, although his ownership is dropping after he missed chances in the Community Shield. But there is also reason to believe Jack Grealish (MID, £7m) will be one of the biggest beneficiaries of the Norwegian’s arrival.

The former Aston Villa midfielder had a tricky first season at City, recording just 6 goal involvements (3 goals and 3 assists) in less than 2,000 minutes of Premier League football.

It is undoubtedly those statistics that have driven his middle-of-the-road pricing in FPL for 2022/23.

The first season in Guardiola’s notoriously intense regime was one of adjustment for Grealish. However, his minutes towards the back end of the campaign were more consistent and he was nearly the difference maker against Real Madrid in the Champions League semi-final.

Reports from pre-season are promising for Grealish’s FPL outlook, as was the decision to offload Gabriel Jesus and Raheem Sterling, two prime rivals for pitch time.

It’s also worth following the money - City spent £100m on Grealish a year ago, the most expensive signing in the club’s history. Given his obvious talent, it is unlikely Guardiola will continue to utilise him as just a bit-part player.

The scene looks set for Grealish to deliver FPL returns closer to his 2020/21 campaign, when he registered 18 goal involvements (6 goals and 12 assists) in just over 2,000 minutes of football - around 5.6 points per 90 minutes played.

Kevin de Bruyne (MID, £12m) remains a focal point of this side and is unsurprisingly right at the top of the price bracket. The addition of Haaland could see de Bruyne operating in a deeper role, potentially limiting his goal threat (although Haaland’s link-up play is an underrated facet of his game) but on the flip side, his assist column could be bolstered

At the back, Joao Cancelo (DEF, £7m) remains the most attractive option, essentially operating in a midfield role and seemingly immune to rotation, but is priced as such too.

For those looking for a lower-cost route into the City defence, Kyle Walker (DEF, £5m) could prove a bargain if he secures even a semi-regular starting spot.

The England international tends to either play 90 minutes or not at all, meaning he could be a more-than-useful option when coupled with a viable first sub.

Liverpool

If Darwin Nunez (FWD, £9m) hits the ground running for Liverpool in 2022/23 he could become the focal point of our ZeroForward strategy or prompt a rethink (you can read more about this here).

Jurgen Klopp’s decision to offload Sadio Mane, who operated as a central striker for much of last season, suggests he has faith in his new Uruguayan hitman.

So too does Nunez’s £85m price tag. He went at around a goal a game in the Portuguese top division, while also scoring 6 times in 10 Champions League outings - including a goal in each leg of Benfica’s quarter-final loss to Liverpool.

There may be a settling-in period to navigate first…but there may not. Nunez has been given a decent run in pre-season (including a four-goal salvo against RB Leipzig and a goal in the Community Shield) and has the talent and opportunity to become a must-pick at what is a relatively low price-point for a top striker.

Luis Diaz (MID, £8m) took to the Premier League like a duck to water last season and looks cheap after Mane’s departure.

The Colombian scored just under a goal a game in 2021/22 for FC Porto before joining Liverpool, where he bagged 4 goals and assisted another 3 in under 1,000 minutes on the pitch. He also passed the eye test with flying colours and, barring injury, should be targeting at least 20 goal involvements in 2022/23.

A quick note on Liverpool’s attacking defenders. Andy Robertson (DEF, £7m) is in around 10% of FPL teams, versus over 50% for Trent Alexander-Arnold (DEF, £7.5m).

The former averaged roughly 6.6 points per 90 minutes played last season, while the latter scored 6.5 points per 90 minutes.

With nothing to choose between them statistically and both taking set pieces, the only real difference we can see is the price.

Chelsea

Raheem Sterling (MID, £10m) is arguably the most intriguing attacking option at Chelsea, having been priced based on receiving relatively few minutes at Manchester City.

That shouldn’t be a problem at Chelsea and at 28, the England star is in his prime and ready to hit the ground running in West London.

He’s also been quietly efficient during the last five campaigns, averaging over 15 goals with a floor of 10 and a ceiling of 20. Provided he settles into a regular starting slot at Stamford Bridge and gets somewhere north of 2,600 minutes, the latter should be well within Sterling’s sights in 2022/23.

Right-back Reece James (DEF, £6m) looks like a buy too. Injury interrupted the England defender’s progress last season but, when fit, he delivered big FPL returns and offered a genuine goal threat alongside his obvious assist potential.

In fact, if James had played even close to a full complement of minutes (he recorded fewer than 1,900 minutes) he could easily have finished as the top point-scoring defender in 2021/22. When he played, James went at 6.8 FPL points per 90 minutes - a better scoring rate than Liverpool’s much vaunted (and pricier) full-backs.

Tottenham Hotspur

Son and Harry Kane (FWD, £11.5m) are premium FPL assets for a reason. The duo are pretty much guaranteed to start week-in, week-out and the majority of Spurs’ goals are likely to involve one or both of them.

We won’t dwell on Kane’s qualities here, but it is notable that a player who netted 16 goals and 8 assists in the final 20 games of last season and is a proven Premier League performer is only in around a fifth of FPL sides ahead of Gameweek 1.

By contrast, City’s Haaland, priced at the same level and adjusting to a new system with a new coach, is in more than half of all teams. In short: Harry Kane starts the 2022/23 season as a genuine differential.

Ivan Perisic (DEF, £5.5m) is probably the most intriguing Spurs asset heading into the new campaign.

The Croatian international delivered 49 goals and 41 assists in 206 games in Serie A, a set of statistics that, as a defender, would point to him being a must-pick for FPL.

However, there are notes of caution. The 33-year-old will have competition for minutes from Matt Doherty (DEF, £5m) and Ryan Sessegnon (DEF, £4.5m) and remains untested in the Premier League.

That makes picking Perisic from the outset a gamble, but the potential upside is significant. If you aren’t one of the 30% of managers who have him in your initial team, keep a very close eye on his minutes and contribution in the opening three games. Whoever nails down a regular starting slot will offer the golden combination of attacking returns to supplement the potential for regular clean sheets.

Thanks for reading. Our rankings and last team-by-team guide will be with you in the next couple of days, as well as a round-up of all our content ahead of the start of the season on Friday.