Building the best FPL Gameweek 1 team is challenging when Erling Haaland (£15.5m) and Bruno Fernandes (£12.0m) consume £27.5m of the Fantasy Premier League budget. However, the impressive pre-season form of Bryan Mbeumo and Antoine Semenyo makes both midfielders difficult to ignore.
Doubling up on the Manchester City and Manchester United attacks could help managers capitalise on their favourable early fixtures, but clean sheets and Defensive Contribution Points (DEFCON) mean defence cannot be neglected.
Using Fantasy Football Fix’s AI-powered Assistant Manager, we’ve built a balanced FPL Gameweek 1 draft featuring all four attackers without sacrificing too much in defence.
Fantasy Football Fix’s AI-powered Assistant Manager helps you build a customised FPL team based on your preferred strategy.
You can lock in must-have players, exclude those you want to avoid, prioritise specific positions and test different formations. The tool then uses its player projections to build a balanced squad around your selections.
For this FPL Gameweek 1 draft, Erling Haaland (£15.5m), Bruno Fernandes (£12.0m), Bryan Mbeumo (£8.0m) and Antoine Semenyo (£8.5m) were all locked in.
Managers can add or remove players before generating their squad. Once the remaining settings were selected, the Assistant Manager produced the FPL Gameweek 1 team shown below.
The defence combines centre-backs with strong DEFCON potential and attacking full-backs capable of delivering points at both ends of the pitch.
Brighton improved defensively during the second half of last season. Only Arsenal (15) and Manchester City (18) conceded fewer league goals than the Seagulls (19) over that period.
The Opta Stats Sandbox data below also ranks Brighton third for Expected Goals Conceded (xGC), with a total of 24.80.
Bart Verbruggen offers excellent value at £4.5m. Pairing him with £4.0m backup Jason Steele provides FPL managers with coverage of the Brighton goalkeeper position throughout the season.
James Tarkowski is the most expensive defender in the squad, but his DEFCON potential helps justify the additional investment. The 33-year-old recorded 377 Defensive Contribution Points last season, with only Marcos Senesi (418) registering more among defenders.
As highlighted in our best budget FPL defenders guide, Luke Shaw and Joe Rodon are two of the strongest options available at £4.5m.
No £4.5m defender recorded more DEFCON than Rodon last season, while Leeds conceded only 21 goals across their home fixtures—the eighth-best home defensive record in the league.
Neco Williams’ attacking potential was highlighted in our best premium FPL defenders guide. The Nottingham Forest full-back recorded 46 shots last season, more than any other defender priced at £5.5m or below.
Williams also currently features in Tarek Balbaa’s Gameweek 1 back three in the Elite XI: Team Reveal tool. Balbaa has recorded 10 top-10k finishes and is planning to activate his Bench Boost in Gameweek 1, adding further weight to Williams’ early-season appeal.
Meanwhile, no defender provided more assists in the Championship than Milan van Ewijk, who registered eight.
The AI Rotation Optimiser shows that rotating these five defenders provides at least two home fixtures in every Gameweek. It also maintains a strong bench should any of the preferred starting three miss out.
The midfield offers creativity, goal threat and two potential penalty takers.
Bruno Fernandes (£12.0m) is the most expensive midfielder in the draft following a record-breaking season. No player registered more than his 24 FPL assists, while the Portuguese international also led the league for big chances created (33).
Bryan Mbeumo was another standout performer. As the Opta Stats Sandbox shows, no midfielder received more big chances than Mbeumo (22) last season. He also ranked second among midfielders for Expected Goals (xG), with 12.87.
Manchester City have the fourth-best attacking schedule across the opening five Gameweeks, according to our Fixture Difficulty Ratings.
With Haaland selected by over 70% of FPL managers, adding Semenyo creates an attacking double-up that could capitalise on Manchester City’s favourable early fixtures.
The Ghanaian has provided five assists during pre-season and appears to be adapting quickly under new manager Enzo Maresca. Semenyo also ranked fourth among midfielders for xG last season, with 12.47.
Pascal Groß provides further creativity and another potential penalty taker. The Opta Stats Sandbox shows that he ranked fourth among midfielders for attempted assists (39) during the second half of last season.
The German is also likely to take penalties for Brighton following Danny Welbeck’s move to Chelsea.
Regan Slater completes the midfield as a budget bench option and will usually occupy the third substitute position.
The forward line is led by FPL’s most expensive player, Erling Haaland, who is joined by two of the leading picks from our premium and budget forward guides.
João Pedro (£7.5m) is currently selected by over 55% of FPL managers and offers excellent value at his price. Only Igor Thiago and Ollie Watkins, with 11 goals each, scored more frequently during the second half of the 2025/26 season.
Dominic Calvert-Lewin also produced encouraging underlying numbers. The Opta Stats Sandbox shows that only Igor Thiago (21) received more big chances among forwards priced below £10.0m, while João Pedro ranked fourth.
The draft contains exactly the same three forwards as the Elite Consensus XI.
The Consensus XI combines the latest selections from our Elite Team Reveal managers, who have recorded 81 top-10k finishes between them. It highlights the players appearing most frequently across their latest FPL drafts.
This AI-generated draft proves it is possible to select the two in-form Manchester midfielders, Bryan Mbeumo and Antoine Semenyo, alongside premium assets Bruno Fernandes and Erling Haaland.
It also retains a balanced defence featuring James Tarkowski, one of last season’s leading players for DEFCON.
There are several ways to adapt the squad depending on your preferred FPL strategy. Using the AI-powered Assistant Manager, you can strengthen the bench, prioritise different positions, target specific Gameweek periods or replace highly owned players with differentials.
You can also build around attacking defenders, plan fixture rotations and lock your must-have players into the squad before generating a new draft.
Head to the Assistant Manager and use our FPL AI team builder to create your own best FPL Gameweek 1 team.
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