From Liverpool to West Ham: Complete guide for the upcoming FPL season, part 2

10 Premier League teams analysed from an FPL standpoint

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Welcome to part 2 of our in-depth pre-season guide covering all 20 Premier League clubs!

Check part one here: From Arsenal to Fulham: Complete guide for the upcoming FPL season

I’ll discuss:

• Their strengths and weaknesses

• How appealing their opening fixtures are

• The best picks

• The picks I don’t like and other potential caveats

• What we need to pay attention to

Next week’s content will be more data-heavy. This aims to provide a broader perspective on things.

Without further ado, let’s do this.

Leeds: Invest no more than £4 million

They are the only promoted team to earn a dedicated pre-season analysis on the Data Dribble. You can read it here to see what exactly is happening in their camp.

It’s a bit of a weird situation.

I emphasised their Championship domination, praised what they do on the transfer market in terms of their defensive reinforcements, and I also quite like their fixture run until about Christmas. However, in terms of FPL, I would rather sit back and see how they will cope with a much more demanding competition.

They will face Everton, Arsenal, and Newcastle in the first three gameweeks, which is arguably a difficult test. After that, there’s a favourable set of games where they could build confidence against Fulham, Wolves, Burnley, or West Ham.

So, without any additional information, there’s some merit in having their £4 million defender if he rotates well within your squad. There are Jaka Bijol (suspended for GW1), Joe Rodon, and Gabriel Gudmundsson. The Swedish full-back is currently the most popular, but his final product is surprisingly low across his entire Lille spell, so I would likely choose Bijol’s aerial threat. It’s probably a very marginal decision, so you really can’t go wrong with anyone.

There’s some appeal to Joël Piroe, although I suspect that his minutes might be a bit shady with Nmecha present. We can also suspect that his output will drop significantly as they will face much sturdier defences, and he’s pretty dependent on the service from his teammates.

Furthermore, there’s still a real possibility that Leeds will sign a new forward or winger, so personally, I don’t find anyone too appealing at the moment.

There’s simply no compelling reason to go there.

🔋 Current status: Monitor their performance to gain a more complete picture

✅ Viable GW1 picks: Jaka Bijol (£4.0), Joe Rodon (£4.0), and Gabriel Gudmundsson (£4.0)

❌ Picks to avoid: All attacking players

📆 Fixture swing to attack: GW3-11 if there are signals

Things to watch:

🥇 The defence and midfield are sorted, but will they bring in a new attacking player(s)?
🥈 How will their defence hold up in much tougher competition?
🥉 Will Daniel James once again be vital to their success?

Liverpool: The chaos we enjoy

Now we’re truly into it.

Liverpool’s summer transfer window is a spectacle you can’t take your eyes off.

And it’s far from over, with Alexander Isak knocking on the door after Reds sold Darwin Núñez to Al Hilal.

They have already signed Florian Wirtz, Jeremie Frimpong, Milos Kerkez, Hugo Ekitiké, and Giorgi Mamardashvili, which is not only a set of outstanding players but also potential FPL picks.

Let’s begin with the German genius, who was added to the game as an £8.5 million midfielder and may be underpriced. You can read the long version of my reasoning in one of my previous premium deep dives. The short version is this: he’s absolutely nailed. Not only because of the hefty transfer fee and the skill set to utilise, but also because of his ability to play in multiple roles and positions if needed.

With so much attacking talent in the Liverpool team, I can’t see him not racking up assist after assist. He’s also capable of scoring double figures in goals.

Despite a high volume of shot-creating actions and creative passes in the final third, he managed to get into central areas inside the box fairly often throughout his career.

In his last season at Leverkusen, he averaged 2.50 shots and 0.27 xG per 90 minutes, along with 0.28 expected assists per 90.

At Liverpool, he is likely to once again occupy the left-sided number 10 role, so the potential attacking upside remains significant. If there are signs that his threat will be limited, you can easily switch to another midfielder with one transfer.

Then there’s this chaotic situation with their backline. The most dedicated Liverpool fans see the Frimpong versus Bradley battle for the right side as still very open (though Bradley might miss GW1). Milos Kerkez’s position is much more secure, but there should be a discussion about how the move will affect both his final product and defensive contributions.

With the pool of defenders being fairly deep early in the season, there’s probably no need to put yourself in a difficult spot right away. I don’t mind a somewhat template pick in Virgil van Dijk (£6.0m)—the clean sheet potential is always there, and his reputation as the best defender in the world when it comes to aerial duels is a major advantage for earning DEFCON points.

Additionally, the aerial attacking threat remains, and now you have Florian Wirtz as your designated set-piece taker.

Then there’s Mohamed Salah (£14.5m)... You probably can’t expect him to score 30 goals and contribute nearly 50 attacking returns once again. However, he remains a player who offers this logic-defying blend of goal threat and final pass ability. Both in terms of volume and quality.

Until I get a clear signal that his ageing is affecting him, it’s nearly impossible for me to start the season without him. Erling Haaland is fantastic, and I’m a bit sad I can’t own him (or can I…?), but you always have to make some sacrifices in FPL.

Cody Gakpo, as a left winger priced at £7.5m, is a mouth-watering idea, but if Alexander Isak joins, he, Gakpo, and Ekitiké will be competing for just two spots.

See, in any other summer window, Ekitiké (£8.5m) would be a centrepiece of this discussion. However, I don’t even mention him as a viable pick…

Fascinating stuff.

🔋 Current status: Be cautious about their defence

✅ Viable GW1 picks: Mohamed Salah (£14.5m), Florian Wirtz (£8.5m), Virgil van Dijk (£6.0m)

❌ Picks to avoid: Jeremie Frimpong (£6.0m), Ibrahima Konaté (£5.5m), Conor Bradley (£5.0m), Milos Kerkez (£6.0m, but the jury is still out), Cody Gakpo and Hugo Ekitiké if Isak arrives

📆 Fixture swing to attack: GWs 1 to 38

Things to watch:

🥇 Frimpong vs Bradley
🥈 Defence: Distribution of an attacking upside and defensive contributions
🥉 Impact of Alexander Isak arriving/not arriving

Manchester City: The chaos we don’t enjoy

Each of us has our own idea of what the ideal starting 11 should look like.

However, it’s essentially impossible to predict it.