Looking for the value: What's the current midfielder meta?
Analysing midfield options from all 20 Premier League sides
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Discussing emerging FPL midfielders is one of my favourite FPL topics.
They are the very essence of the game. The player pool is deep and covers so many different price points, ensuring that there’s always someone who fits your current needs. You can be genuinely creative with them based on the landscape and dynamics at play. Oh, and they earn 5 bloody points whenever they score. What’s not to love?
You can:
Analyse the best premiums
Look for hidden budget gems
Research your “value players”
Identify reliable talismanic picks
As expected, the current FPL landscape is pretty chaotic and difficult to navigate. Not only do we have very limited information, but there’s still a week remaining until the summer transfer window closes.
Additionally, Cole Palmer and Bukayo Saka will miss some games because of their injuries, which makes things even more complicated for many of us.
There’s no universal solution that fits all — a classic case of “it’s team-dependent, bro” — unfortunately. What we can do is monitor the situation constantly, try to stay one step ahead, and take action when the time is right.
On a surface level, it’s not rocket science.
You want someone with an excellent final product, ideally a prolific goal-scorer, who also creates plenty. If you can’t get assists, look for someone who gravitates towards the goal and scores a lot. Simple.
You should time his arrival to coincide with a favourable fixture run. Even better is starting with fixtures that look unimpressive on paper but, in reality, are good match-ups. Again, this allows you to get a head start on others.
Another layer to it is being flexible enough to execute these moves. A good way to do that is to avoid sideways moves, quietly rack up free transfers, and then strike. If you can find an opportunity that others can’t execute seamlessly, you’re gaining an edge over them.
The third pillar is good old expected minutes. The more minutes on the pitch… the higher the chance of doing some damage. Follow me for more ground-breaking ideas like this. No, seriously, a lot of stuff happens in the last 20 minutes of the game, and if your player isn’t on the pitch, it’s less than ideal. Remember Salah and his Gameweek 1 captaincy.
Today, we will attempt to predict some things.
Antoine Semenyo: Destined for success
Don’t mind me.
This is just me continuing my pre-season hype of Bournemouth’s attacking players.
I even did a Data Dribble deep dive last week, shortly after the season started:
Bournemouth: Attacking threat and that one thing no one talks about. Yet...
During the summer, I had a long list of articles I wanted to publish before the season started. And although I discussed Bournemouth quite a lot, they didn’t manage to get a standalone article before Gameweek 1 started. Now’s the right time to take action.
Evanilson (£7.0m) isn’t firing yet, but he will soon—he could even score in Gameweek 2 if Toti hadn’t pulled him down, earning a well-deserved red card for that, just as Ezri Konsa did a week earlier.
This is how close he was:
Antoine Semenyo (£7.2m)? Oh boy, how quickly he made last season’s disrespect look silly.
So far, he has taken 7 shots (6 of which are inside the box) with a total of 1.59 xG, 0.18 xA, and 14 touches in the box, resulting in 2 goals and 1 assist.
Since we have other players to discuss, just a brief reminder: he’s the model midfielder to own:
He can both score and assist
He’s the most nailed midfielder from his team
Bournemouth are among the most relentless attacking units in the league
Favourable fixture run that seems to go on forever
If you can’t get him now (either because it’s too complicated or you have other fires to put out), you can jump on him basically whenever you have an opportunity.
Justin Kluivert remains sidelined, and once he returns, he will provide Semenyo with more service than he currently gets. The Ghanaian isn't reliant on it, but it certainly won’t hurt to have some more.
If you can’t fit Semenyo in, I wouldn’t go for any other Bournemouth midfielder. You might say that Marcus Tavernier, at just £5.5m, looks tempting. However, it might be too risky—once Kluivert returns, the Englishman will still be among Iraola’s top choices, but with Brooks, Doak, and Chadli lurking around, I wouldn’t feel entirely confident.
Dango Ouattara: The outside the box is lava
Alright, another one I discussed last week, this time in my X thread. If you haven’t already had the chance, I recommend you check it out:
After I published that, Dango made his Brentford debut against Aston Villa and performed well. He scored the winning goal, earned 3 bonus points, and even met the threshold for defensive contributions. In total, 13 points.
To sum up, he’s a player who can get himself into an obscene volume of great shots close to the goal. Each game, he will pose a significant goal threat, along with solid assist potential.
Last season, out of his 60 attempts, about half came from inside or near the 6-yard box, which is not a coincidence but a clear signal. And even if he won’t score every game, and Brentford’s fixture run is rather a mixed bag, it doesn’t matter because he’s only £6.0m.
Last season, Ouattara averaged (p90):
• 2.71 non-penalty shots
• 0.33 non-penalty xG
• 0.37 post-shot xG
• 0.12 xG per shot (healthy number, same as Salah)
• 0.18 xA
• 6.20 touches in the box (top 10)
Goal threat, vision for a final pass, activity in the box, nothing wrong with the finishing.
It was his first full season in the Premier League.
Also, Schade, Thiago (possibly Wissa), Ouattara, and Mikel Damsgaard behind them, with Kayode on the right flank? That will cause trouble for most Premier League teams.
The last thing—he left Bournemouth because he wasn’t satisfied with his playing time. He came to play, and truly as Mbeumo’s replacement.
Sunderland coming up next…
❓ Other Brentford midfielders: Ouattara, priced at £6.0m, essentially rules out Schade as a pick, since he’s a whole £1 million more expensive. Mikkel Damsgaard at £5.9m faces a similar issue. Ouattara is far superior as an FPL pick, so doubling up isn't necessary.
