The biggest challenge in Fantasy Premier League – and the biggest difference between it and FPL Draft – is managing your budget. When we’ve got at least one super-expensive, must-own premium player this year (and arguably two or three), that becomes even tougher than usual.
That’s why it’s so important to find value where you can. When we’re spending 14.0 on one player, we need to make up that money on other players.
Fortunately, there are a number of excellent value picks in Fantasy Premier League 23/24. Read on to get six FPL tips that I’m extremely confident in, plus six more (relatively) cheap FPL players that have high upside, but higher risk too.
Safer Picks
Let’s get the ball rolling with the players I’m most confident about. I firmly believe these guys will offer excellent value to start the season, and they all have good fixtures too.
(Check out my analysis of all the best and worst early season FPL fixtures here).
These are my six best – and safest – value FPL tips.
1) Gabriel Jesus – 8.0
C’mon, look at that expression. How can you resist?He’s the best value in the game to start the season.
FPL Towers underpriced him last year. We all duly got him in, and he smashed it. Now they’ve underpriced him again… despite us knowing now for sure this time that Arsenal are really good, and him having a better team around him.
He’s got pedigree. He plays for one of the best teams in the league. He’s nailed. He has great fixtures to start the season. And he’s only 8.0.
He’s the definition of a must-own, for me.
2) Gabriel Martinelli – 8.0
You can carry over the good team, great fixtures, and nailed-ness from my Jesus analysis. The only difference here is that Martinelli has shot up in value.
He was a mere 6.0 to start last season. Understandably – after registering a brilliant 15 goals and 9 assists last year – he’s now more costly.
But he’s still only 8.0, and those are elite numbers.
I trust him more than Odegaard to repeat his success from last year, and he’s 0.5 cheaper than Saka.
3) Gabriel – 5.0
I promise this whole article won’t be me recommending Arsenal players… But I do think they have the best talent/fixtures combo to start the season, and see an Arsenal triple as essential.
I don’t hate doubling up in the midfield, probably with Martinelli and Saka. I’d rather go the cheaper route though, and get one defender instead. The Arsenal defence was excellent last season before Saliba got hurt, and four of their first five fixtures this year could easily be clean sheets.
Gabriel is the best mixture of price and reliability. White’s price is too high, following his hot streak of assists last season. I’m not 100% sure Saliba starts every game early on, and Zinchenko is always a sub risk. Gabriel is the safe pick here.
4) Sterling – 7.0
"I'm eating less!"
Chelsea's Raheem Sterling says a change to his diet has put him "in a great place" ahead of the new season 💪 pic.twitter.com/muHIt0HLku
— Sky Sports Premier League (@SkySportsPL) July 22, 2023
This is where things get interesting.
I’m backing Sterling for a big bounce-back season (and not just because he’s finally losing all those many, many excess kilos – see above). Even for an awful Chelsea team, and in an injury-riddled season, he still did all right with 6 goals and 4 assists last year.
Let’s remember that this is one of the most consistent FPL assets in the game. He was basically a guarantee for at least 20 goal contributions at City (usually more), and hasn’t suddenly gotten rubbish overnight.
Poch is a good manager, and Chelsea’s early season fixtures are excellent.
Is he a rotation risk? I don’t think so. He’s Chelsea’s best attacker by an absolute mile, and I’d be shocked if Poch didn’t lean on him heavily early in the season.
Sterling at 7.0 was probably the biggest surprise for me in the entire FPL price reveal. I get that his numbers weren’t good last year, but – for his pedigree – this looks like incredible value.
5) Brentford Defence – 4.5
The Brentford defence was solid in 2022/23, conceding 46 goals (Arsenal and Man U conceded 43, for comparison). I see no reason why it shouldn’t be the same this year.
I also love their fixtures from a defensive perspective.
We can bench Brentford defenders for Spurs at home in Gameweek 1, but then start them against Fulham, Palace, Bournemouth – bench Newcastle – then start against Everton and Forest. That’s at least five solid starts in the first seven gameweeks.
Brentford defenders are also cheap. Mee is weirdly 5.0 – I guess because he’s the most-nailed – but Henry and Pinnock are both only 4.5. Each registered exactly 112pts last season, so… flip a coin I guess.
Higher Risk / Higher Reward FPL 23/24 Tips
For the record, I still like all of these players, and also see them as excellent value.
Each has a caveat or question mark, however, which gives me some pause.
Here are your six slightly riskier FPL value picks.
1) Gakpo – 7.5
When I first put these rankings together, I had Gakpo in the top tier. Now, I think there are too many question marks about him for that…
But I’m also incredibly tempted to have him in my team. And I think – if he does what I think he might – he could be one of the best value picks in FPL.
The problem with Gakpo is that Liverpool have too many attackers. Salah starts every game. That leaves two spots for four starting-caliber players: Diaz, Jota, Nunez, and Gakpo.
In Gameweek 1, if everyone is equally fit, I think Klopp picks Gakpo and Diaz. But I don’t know for sure, and I certainly don’t know when he’ll start rotating, nor if he’ll be substituting the starters after 60 minutes if they haven’t scored yet.
Gakpo’s advantage is that we know he can play centre-forward, and can do it well. If he does start there (which I think he will), and does play well, then surely he sticks. And if that happens, the FPL points should be plentiful.
In short, Gakpo definitely has question marks, but also has the potential to return excellent stats for only 7.5.
2) Grealish – 7.5
Talking of ‘question marks’!
Like most of you, I’m sick to death of Pep Roulette… but can’t stop playing it.
Should Grealish start the season? Yes.
Would we want him in our teams if he does? Yes.
Is he cheap? Yes.
Do we have any idea whatsoever if he actually will start – or, if he does, whether he’ll start Gameweeks 2, 3, or 4? Nope!
Grealish is a good player, for the best team in the league, with good fixtures, and only costs 7.5. Unfortunately for us, he also plays for Pep Guardiola.
3) Mbeumo – 6.5
I talked about Mbeumo at some length in my early season FPL fixtures analysis.
A quick recap:
- He played well without Toney last year
- He got 9 goals and 9 assists last year
- He’s a very good player
- He plays for a good team
- He has solid early fixtures
- He’s nailed to start
In addition, he’s now been changed to a midfielder. That means we can have a Haaland/Jesus combo up top, with a budget enabler as our third forward, then have Mbeumo as one of our five starting midfielders. It also means he gets Brentford’s clean sheet points now (see above).
Mbeumo might not be the most exciting player on this list. But I do think he has upside, and he could definitely be excellent value at only 6.5.
4) Maddison – 7.5
It doesn’t feel as if Maddison had a good 22/23 season… but he still finished with 10 goals and 9 assists. That’s despite only starting 28 games, and playing for a terrible, terrible team.
Now he’s playing for a much better team, with much better players around him.
Is this a guarantee that he’ll maintain his stats, never mind improve them? Not necessarily, since he won’t be the main man any more.
But he’s an excellent player, and – if Kane stays – has a perfect link-up partner as he pushes forward, plus some combination of Son, Kulu, and Richarlison either side.
At 7.5, I’m probably ready to take the risk… if Kane stays. If Kane leaves though, I’d be in full wait-and-see mode – for Maddo, and for Spurs as a whole. That’s the big question mark, and that’s why he’s in this group, rather than the one above.
5) Flekken (Brentford Backup GK) – 4.5
Understand Bayern have started talks to explore David Raya deal. He’s one of the options in the list as new GK 🚨🔴🇪🇸
Brentford always wanted around £40m fee for Raya, not an easy deal — Bayern are showing interest.
Sommer remains Inter priority as new GK; not Dibu Martínez. pic.twitter.com/UOyhlJwUYc
— Fabrizio Romano (@FabrizioRomano) July 25, 2023
Again, this one is massively contingent on other factors.
If Raya leaves (which he probably will, per Fabrizio Romano), Flekken will be Brentford’s number one keeper.
And if Raya does leave, Flekken will almost certainly be my number one keeper too.
As noted, Brentford’s defence is solid, and they have fine early season fixtures. If their starting keeper is only going to be 4.5 (Raya is priced at 5.0), that’d be very, very hard to resist.
6) Pickford 4.5
If Flekken doesn’t become Brentford’s number one, I’ll probably turn to Pickford.
Yep, I’m backing Sean Dyche to put together a good defence. High level analysis by me!
Obviously, Everton’s defence wasn’t good last season, even after Dyche replaced Lampard. I’d back him to get it sorted following a full preseason, however, particularly when he’s got pretty good defenders to work with (including former Burnley stalwart Tarkowski).
This is somewhat of a gamble, since Everton were so bad last year. But their early season fixtures make it a gamble worth taking. They have Fulham, Villa, Wolves, and Sheffield United in their first four games, which is a nice run. After Arsenal, they have Brentford, Luton, and Bournemouth. That’s at least six or seven solid defensive matchups in their first eight games.
In short, Dyche + Good Defensive Fixtures = Tasty Goalkeeper Gamble for 4.5.
7) Mount – 7.0
I have the least confidence in Mount on this whole list, which is why he’s all the way down here. He’s an excellent real-life player, and – at that price tag, and after a protracted transfer saga – should be nailed to start the season.
Right now though, we have little idea what his role will be with Man U.
Ideally, he’ll play as an attacking 8, almost as a 10, as he did under Tuchel. In that role, in 2021/22, he registered 11 goals and 11 assists. If he plays that position for Man U, and gets somewhere near those numbers, then 7.0 is an excellent price for him.
On the flip-side…
Pleasingly for Ten Haag, but unfortunately for us, Mount is both mobile and flexible. As such, I’m assuming he just slots into the deeper Eriksen role, with Bruno as the clear-cut 10. Eriksen did get 9 assists last season… but only 1 goal – good for less than half of Mount’s 21/22 output.
Mount has pedigree, is reasonably priced, and plays for a very good team. The upside’s obviously there… but so is a whole lot of uncertainty.
Cheap FPL Players… Good FPL Players?
We all know about the Haalands, Trents, and Salahs of this world. They’re not exactly value picks, though. We have Haaland, for example… because all other FPL players will have him, so we have to as well, even though he’s super-duper expensive!
This article isn’t about those guys. This article is about finding value, and you’ve now got 12 well-priced targets. I, for one, will be having most of these guys in my Gameweek 1 team.
For a boatload more FPL tips ahead of the 2023/24 season, just head here. Or, you can follow us on Twitter to get all our latest articles as soon as they land.