Building the best FPL Gameweek 1 team becomes more difficult when Erling Haaland (£15.5m) and Bruno Fernandes (£12.0m) take up such a large share of the £100.0m budget.
Both premium attackers offer huge points and captaincy potential, but including them alongside a strong defence requires careful squad planning.
Arsenal defensive coverage also looks important after the Gunners’ impressive record last season. However, with Gabriel priced at £8.0m, fitting him into a Haaland and Bruno Fernandes draft would require significant compromises elsewhere.
David Raya (£6.0m) could therefore provide the safest and most affordable route into the Arsenal defence. The Spaniard was the highest-scoring FPL goalkeeper last season and should avoid many of the injury and rotation concerns surrounding Arsenal’s defenders.
In this guide, we use Fantasy Football Fix’s AI-powered Assistant Manager to build a balanced FPL Gameweek 1 draft featuring Haaland, Bruno Fernandes and Raya—without weakening the rest of the squad.
The AI-powered Assistant Manager helps you build a fully customised FPL team based on your preferred strategy.
You can lock specific players into your squad, exclude players you want to avoid, prioritise certain positions and test different formations. The tool then uses its projections to generate a balanced team around your selections.
For this FPL Gameweek 1 draft, Erling Haaland, Bruno Fernandes and David Raya were locked in. All three were the highest-scoring players in their respective positions last season.
As shown above, managers can add or remove players before generating their suggested squad. After adjusting the remaining settings, the Assistant Manager produced the FPL Gameweek 1 team shown below.
The defence combines proven premium options with low-cost players who can provide useful cover from the bench.
Marc Guéhi (£6.0m) is the most expensive defender in the squad after scoring 179 FPL points last season. Only Gabriel (209) registered more among defenders.
Pedro Porro (£5.5m) provides further attacking potential. As shown by the Stats Sandbox data below, no defender created more chances than the Spaniard last season, with 53.
However, his Gameweek 1 availability may need to be monitored following his late return from the World Cup.
Luke Shaw (£4.5m) is one of the standout budget FPL defenders, particularly given Manchester United’s favourable opening fixtures. He played 3,220 minutes last season—the eighth-highest total among defenders—and also features among the 5 Must-Have FPL Players Elite Managers Are Picking.
Milan van Ewijk (£4.0m) and Issa Diop (£4.0m) are primarily bench options. Van Ewijk could still prove useful in Gameweeks 2 and 4, as highlighted by the AI-powered Assistant Manager below.
In goal, David Raya (£6.0m) offers a reliable route into the Arsenal defence. He was the highest-scoring FPL goalkeeper last season with 162 points, finishing 19 points ahead of second-placed Caoimhín Kelleher (£5.0m).
Raya also collected 11 bonus points, with only Robin Roefs (£5.0m) recording more among goalkeepers. Martin Dúbravka serves as a low-cost backup, with Raya expected to start every Gameweek.
The midfield contains a strong blend of creativity, goal threat and potential penalty takers.
Bruno Fernandes (£12.0m) is the premium option after a record-breaking campaign. No player registered more FPL assists than the Portuguese international’s 24, while he also led the league for big chances created with 33.
Dominik Szoboszlai (£7.0m) offers a cheaper route into the Liverpool attack. As shown by the Stats Sandbox data, he ranked second among midfielders for attempted assists last season with 78.
The Hungarian scored six goals and could become an even greater attacking threat under Andoni Iraola. After sharing penalty duties with Mohamed Salah last season, he may remain involved from the spot alongside Alexander Isak.
Pascal Groß (£5.5m) is another potential value pick. He supplied six FPL assists following his January move to Brighton and ranked fourth among midfielders for attempted assists during that period, recording 39.
The German could also take penalties following Danny Welbeck’s departure, adding another potential route to points.
Bryan Mbeumo (£8.0m) completes the starting midfield. No midfielder received more big chances than his 22 last season, while his expected goals total of 12.87 was bettered only by Fernandes among midfielders.
Manchester United’s opening schedule adds to his appeal. As shown by the Fixture Difficulty Ratings below, the Red Devils rank third for attacking fixture difficulty across the first six Gameweeks.
Will Hughes (£4.5m) is included as a low-cost bench option and will usually occupy the third substitute position.
Interestingly, the AI-generated draft features exactly the same four-man midfield as the Consensus XI: Bruno Fernandes, Dominik Szoboszlai, Bryan Mbeumo and Pascal Groß.
The Consensus XI combines the latest team selections of the Elite XI: Team Reveal managers with 81 top-10k finishes between them, highlighting the players who appear most frequently across their drafts.
With both the Assistant Manager algorithm and some of FPL’s most successful managers selecting the same midfield, there is a strong indication that this could be one of the best structures for Gameweek 1.
The forward line combines two proven goalscorers with a potentially underpriced mid-range option.
João Pedro (£7.5m) is currently selected by 55% of FPL managers and could offer excellent value at his price. Only Igor Thiago and Ollie Watkins, with 11 goals each, scored more often among forwards during the second half of the 2025/26 season.
Erling Haaland (£15.5m) and Dominic Calvert-Lewin (£6.0m) complete the attack. As shown by the Stats Sandbox data below, both players recorded 19 big chances during the second half of last season—the joint-third-highest total among forwards.
João Pedro also ranked fifth for big chances over the same period, giving all three forwards strong underlying goal threat heading into Gameweek 1.
This draft shows that it is possible to build a balanced FPL Gameweek 1 team around Erling Haaland, Bruno Fernandes and David Raya—the highest-scoring players in their respective positions last season.
Raya provides a reliable route into the Arsenal defence, while Haaland and Fernandes offer premium captaincy potential. The squad also contains five possible penalty takers, adding another valuable route to FPL points.
There are still several ways to adapt the structure depending on your preferred strategy. Using the AI-powered Assistant Manager, you can strengthen the bench, prioritise different positions, target specific Gameweek ranges or replace popular picks with differentials.
You can also build around attacking defenders, plan fixture rotations or lock your must-have players into the squad before generating a new draft.
Head to the Assistant Manager and use FPL AI to build your own best Gameweek 1 team—your ideal squad could be only a few changes away.
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