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Hear ye, year ye – the end is nigh. The day of reckoning is almost upon us at last.
That’s right – the start of the 24/25 FPL season has finally arrived.
You’d have thought – after weeks of tinkering and an absolute ton of preview content – that James and I (Joe) would be prepared.
And… we are… kind-of! But we’re also doing a lot of second-guessing, and almost certainly will be right up until the deadline on Friday night.
Anyway, the point is, it’s decision time.
Chances are, you’ve already done some tinkering of your own. But, have you considered all the possibilities? Every single one? Probably not!
To help guide your big picture thinking, I’ve collected all six of the main team structures you might use, heading into the 25/26 FPL season. Let’s get stuck in.
Basically, you’ve got three main choices:
I’ll be looking at each of these options, with both 3-5-2 and 3-4-3 formations, in turn.
The point of this article is not, necessarily, to tell you exactly who to pick.
James has written detailed previews for every position, to help you with exactly that.
You will generally need to stick to the price points I’ve identified. And some of the players will be locked in (in addition to Salah and/or Haaland). But, there’s room for swapping between 4.5 defenders, for example, if you’ve got a strong preference one way or the other.
Overall, I’m trying to help you decide which of the three aforementioned, big picture options you like the most.
When researching this article, I looked at a few different sources for stats and whatnot. The resource I used the most by far, however, was our very own fixture ticker.
I’m admittedly biased, but I just think:
You can check that out in full here.
Or, here are full-res version of the attacking and defensive fixtures in the first half of the season:
Right! Without further ado, let’s get stuck in.
Here are your six main team structures for the 25/26 season… plus a bonus one, just for funsies.
(Spoiler alert: my favourite options are the last two).
Most people seem set on only having one of Haaland or Salah. Understandable, since… they’re both incredibly expensive, and only picking one gives you a lot more money to chuck at the rest of the team.
If I was only having one, I’d choose Haaland.
There are a few reasons:
Obviously, I’m not going to tell you you’re stupid for picking Salah over anyone. He’s the best player in the game. He just got 47 goal involvements. 47!!!
But, if I had to choose one for my GW1 team, it’d be Haaland.
Above, you can also see that a 3-5-2 with Haaland gives you a strong team across the board.
Palmer is your Salah replacement. You also get four other starting-calibre midfielders with scoring potential. And you can have a perfectly-balanced 6.0, 5.5, 5.0, 4.5, 4.0 defence, plus a 5.0 keeper.
Assuming you’re only picking one, your first choice is obviously Haaland vs Salah.
Your second choice, however, is 3-4-3 vs 3-5-2.
(No, I still wouldn’t use four starting defenders, despite the rule changes).
The goalkeeper and defence stay the same here (though you could easily save 0.5 if you wanted to upgrade a mid or forward).
In this example… I’ve just been lazy and copied in James’s current draft, which is a Haaland 3-4-3.
Some important context here: he’s planning a pretty early wildcard, like a lot of managers, plus a GW 4 free hit. That means he can afford to be aggressive in his GW 1 team.
If (like me) you’re looking to save your wildcard, you could swap Saka for a safer, longer-term pick, like Rogers. Alternatively, if you’re happy to still be aggressive early, you could have Saka for the first two weeks, then easily swap him for almost any midfielder in GW 3, and upgrade the Anderson spot.
Obviously, Wood could be Pedro or Solanke instead, if you prefer them. Regardless, you’re getting two high quality starting forwards here, alongside the best forward in the game.
Again, I’m not going to call you an idiot for having Mohamed Salah in your team. And, I completely understand the doubts over Haaland:
To name a few of the most obvious.
There are two other main reasons to like a Salah, No Haaland draft.
Firstly, you’re reinvesting a big chunk of that Haaland money into Palmer. Who, again, has excellent fixtures, and big-time upside.
Secondly, it’s not like you’re downgrading that Haaland spot to Ashley Barnes (he’s back, by the way!).
The forward position is strong this year. Watkins, Gyokores, Wood, Pedro, Evanilson, and Solanke (if fit) are all excellent picks. I like Bowen less (in FPL – I love him in real life), but he’s also a quality player.
As with no-Salah, you’re also obviously left with plenty more money to splash around elsewhere here.
I’ve got Marmoush in this draft to cover City’s amazing fixtures, in place of Haaland. James is wary of his minutes, however, which I get. You could easily move him down to Semenyo, and have an extra 1.5 to invest elsewhere – moving Wood up to Watkins to minimise the downgrade from Haaland, for example, or upgrading the GK/defence.
Personally, I prefer Haaland. There’s an argument to be made, however, that the forward position is so strong this year – combined with the midfielders not being great – that you’re losing less by simply getting the only two outstanding midfielders, and replacing Haaland with still-very-good forwards.
I mentioned this above, but let’s just see how it actually plays out.
With Isak in limbo, Watkins is probably our next-best forward right now.
(Taking into account track record, the team around him, etc. I know Wood and Bowen outscored him last season).
So, how does it look if we have him as our Haaland replacement?
Still pretty good!
The GK/defence can stay the same, and you get five starting-calibre midfielders… probably.
The big question mark is Kudus. I’m very confident in the other four… not so much with him. But, more on that shortly!
Personally, I’d probably just take the stronger midfield, without those question marks. I’m still getting two quality forwards, from some combination of Evanilson, Solanke, Wood, et al.
Also, Watkins is a far streakier returner than Wissa or Solanke, for example. He might usually end the season with good stats, but there’s no guarantee of actually having him when he’s racking those up.
Ho ho ho, now we’re talking.
That’s some real firepower, right there. If you’re looking for a fun, high-upside formation, with Salah and no Haaland, look no further, my friend.
All four of those midfielders are extremely attacking. We also get three high quality forwards, including Watkins. And, while we have to sacrifice a little in defence, we still get a 6.0 and a 5.0.
You can even downgrade Xhaka to a 4.5, if you like, and upgrade a 4.5 defender to a 5.0, or a 5.0 to a 5.5. Or, you can move Kelleher up to Sanchez.
I think this team is exciting, and potentially explosive. In fact… I might be talking myself into it even as I type this.
If I was doing Salah with No Haaland, this is the structure I’d go for.
Like most of you, I’m sure, I’ve been doubting and second-guessing myself more and more as the deadline has come closer.
I’ve been pretty consistent on one thing, however, from before I put my very first draft together – I want Haaland and Salah.
My mindset all summer was simply to get the two best players in the game on my team, and figure out the rest around them. However much I’ve played with other formations – including for this article – I still feel that way.
Obviously, spending 28.5 of a 100m budget on just two players detracts from the rest of your team. Breaking news.
But!
Firstly, I don’t want the headache of trying to work out which one to pick. I want them both, and I want that far more than I want Palmer, for example.
Secondly, Haaland has enormous upside in the first few weeks, and Salah just came off a 47-goal involvement season. Overall, no two-player combo has such a combination of high floor and high ceiling.
Thirdly, if Haaland explodes, all the Salah owners are going to rush to get him. This is exactly what happened to the non-Haaland owners last season… including myself. If Salah explodes, and Palmer doesn’t, everyone’s going to want him too. If I just have both, from the beginning, I don’t have to worry about either situation.
Finally, and perhaps most importantly – I still like my team, even with both of them.
The money for these two is coming out of the defence. But, I can still either have Sanchez+Munoz (who James and I both love), or Kelleher+Cucarella (who I love)/another 6.0. Or, I can do Sanchez to Kelleher, and upgrade a 4.5 to a 5.0, like Neco Williams.
And, I can just rotate a couple of 4.5’s, and still have solid fixtures most weeks at that spot.
In short – no, my defence won’t be as good as a nice, balanced 6.0/5.5/5.0/4.5/4.0. But, it’ll be good enough… and the trade-off is I get Haaland and Salah.
Some extra context here:
I am set on Haaland and Salah.
I am not set on 3-5-2 vs 3-4-3.
Based on my earlier reasoning – the mid-price forward position being deeper than for midfielders – I’m leaning towards a 3-4-3 right now.
In fact, there’s only one thing holding me back… Kudus.
Unfortunately, he needs to be good to make this plan work.
Whether it’s JP or not, I need a 7.5 forward. And I don’t really want to save any more money in defence, and I can’t save any more money in midfield. So, I need that midfielder to be 6.5 or less.
And… there just aren’t any other 6.5-or-cheaper midfielders I like to start the season.
Ndiaye or Grealish could be good. So could Gittens, or even Estevao. Sarr is definitely good, but I don’t like his first three fixtures – same story with Mitoma. I could have a defensive (contributions) mid, like Caicedo or Anderson… but at that point, I’d rather just have the upside of Kudus.
Frankly, I’m all over the place with this guy
He was pretty good two years ago. He wasn’t good last year… but then he was on a rubbish team. He has a dream GW 1 fixture, then City away in GW 2. We don’t know if Spurs will actually be better this season or not.
He’s a wildcard, in short. But he’s also a wildcard I’d need to start for at least three gameweeks, until Sarr could come in and save my bacon against Sunderland in GW 4.
In short, I don’t trust him at all… but he might be worth the gamble regardless, if he enables Haaland+Salah+two other good forwards.
Some more context, i.e. my master plan in this case:
Will everything go to plan? Absolutely not.
But, I’ll have a transfer or two spare, for whatever does go wrong, and can still get to GW 7 with enough moves to get my triple Arsenal, and bin Kelleher and Pedro for their poor fixtures.
Phew! I’m exhausted, and I didn’t even have to read all that blathering.
Obviously, there’s no one ‘right’ way to go, heading into the season. None of the three main options are stupid, whatever anybody says. The least sensible of the three is probably Haaland+Salah… and that’s the route that I’m taking!
Whatever you’re planning, hopefully this helped at least a smidgeon to get your own thoughts in order.
If you’ve got any further questions – i.e. I didn’t completely and utterly answer every doubt you have – hit us up on Reddit, or any of our other social media accounts.
If you didn’t completely hate the article, you can also chuck us a few quid via the Buy Me a Coffee links sprinkled across the site.
Cheers for reading, everybody, and happy tinkering right up until the deadline. I’ll be right there with you!
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