With each passing day, we inch ever closer to Friday 5th August, when Crystal Palace host Arsenal and the new Fantasy Premier League (FPL) season is launched. Until then, there is plenty to think about as we attempt to build that perfect Gameweek 1 squad.

When looking at last season’s top performers (in terms of total FPL points) care must be taken not to exclude players who joined the Premier League midway through the season or those who performed well when on the pitch, but were side-lined for long periods due to injury or rotation.

In addition, when picking our 15-man squad, we quickly realise the meagre £100m budget prohibits us from purchasing all the top players and so it is crucial to find the players who provide the best value. When selecting budget players, we need to ensure we are getting the most ‘bang for our buck’.

To achieve this, we need to delve into the Opta Stats Sandbox and do some digging.

Goalkeepers

It is probably no surprise that Alisson Becker (£5.5m) and Ederson (£5.5m) top the table for points per 90 minutes, given the number of clean sheets their respective teams enjoyed. An interesting keeper is fourth place Vicente Guaita (£4.5m) who is £1m cheaper than third-placed Hugo Lloris (£5.5m) and yet actually performed better than José Sá (£5m) and Aaron Ramsdale (£5m) despite their extra cost.

The thing which draws my eye is the fact that Edouard Mendy (£5m) who, at the time of writing, is the highest selected goalkeeper (24.9%), ranks just eighth on this list.

Defenders

It is perhaps surprising that the game’s most expensive defender is ranked third on the list for points per 90 with both Reece James (£6m) and Andrew Robertson (£7m) both above him, the former by a significant margin. Of course, Trent Alexander-Arnold (£7.5m) attracts a premium because of his consistency and proven FPL history.

The other names on the list are as expected with perhaps the exception of Trevoh Chalobah (£5m) who played 1,447 minutes for Chelsea as part of a back three and, following the departure of Antonio Rudiger to Real Madrid, could be an option to keep an eye on.

Midfielders

Mohamed Salah (£13m) is the undisputed king of FPL assets once again topping the table by a significant margin, a recognition reflected by his massive 59.3% ownership. Other big hitters include premium options such as Kevin De Bruyne (£12m), Son Heung-min (£12m) and Raheem Sterling (£10m). The latter, who has now sealed a move to Chelsea, could prove an interesting asset with the expectation of increased minutes under Thomas Tuchel.

A surprising inclusion on the list is Brentford’s Yoane Wissa (£5.5m) who has been reclassified as a midfielder for the 2022/23 season, having played 1,268 minutes for The Bees in the previous campaign. Outperforming both Mason Mount (£8m) and Jarrod Bowen (£8.5m), Wissa could prove to be a bargain if he can become a regular starter.

Forwards

Having been reclassified as a forward for the 2022/23 season, popular pick Diogo Jota (£9m) is now statistically the highest performing forward averaging 6.64 points for every 90 minutes played. His higher price combined with his positional change and the plethora of attacking options now available to Liverpool has clearly been enough to put FPL managers off, with less than 6% selecting him in their squads.

Just 0.01 behind Jota is Jamie Vardy (£9.5m) who at the age of 35 seems – almost inexplicably – to get more effective with age. With a lower starting price from the previous season, Vardy could be an interesting pick if he can stay fit.

But the forward who is clearly catching most people’s eye is Gabriel Jesus (£8m) who makes fourth place on the list. A perfect storm of being priced at just £8m, sealing a move to Arsenal where he is expected to become the main striker, and scoring in pre-season, has seen his ownership rocket to over 53%.

Best Starting XI

The highest performing Starting XI from the 2021/22 season based on Points Per 90 mins - using the Squad Creator

Putting this information together, we can use the Squad Creator tool – over on the Preseason website – to select the best Starting XI in terms of Points Per 90 minutes (without an invalid formation or picking more than 3 players from any one team).

Sadly, this squad will cost you £115m, even with the cheapest possible bench options, so some sacrifices will have to be made. To offset this, it is important to fill the gaps with cheaper players; to do this effectively, we must find players who offer the highest potential value.

Best Value Players

A great way of identifying the best value players is to express Points Per 90 as a ratio against Current Price. This will show the players who offer the highest generation of points (per 90 minutes) but for the lowest investment.

It is worth pointing out that many of these players are priced as such because they are rotation risks or are injury prone, but often we can find hidden gems using this method. Bruno Guimarães (£6m), for example, is expected to be first choice for Newcastle, having made an outstanding impact on the Magpies since joining in January 2022 and could well be under-priced at just £6m.

With the above data, we can use the Squad Creator tool to create the best value Starting XI. The below squad leaves us with £17.5m in the bank.

The best value Starting XI from the 2021/22 season based on Points Per 90 mins / Current Price - using the Squad Creator

Conclusion

Each season comes with new shocks and surprises, but basing our picks on last season’s data is a great starting point and can provide a solid foundation for the season. It can also be used to identify high-value picks who may be worth investment if they get regular minutes.

There are three players in particular who are worthy of note because they appear in both the highest performing and best value Starting XIs. They are Reece James (£6m), Trevoh Chalobah (£5m) and Riyad Mahrez (£8m). James is expected to be first choice for Chelsea, while Chalobah and Mahrez should see an increase in their minutes, now that competition for their places has been diminished following the departure of Rudiger and Sterling, respectively.

Finally, the above data is based on season long performance only and therefore disregards fixture difficulty. On that basis, these results should not provide the sole basis for your decisions and instead should be used with other Fix tools such as the Fixture Planner and Player Points Projections.

By Matt Whelan