Fantasy Premier League champions are crowned by picking the best bargains and running with them. 2022/23 will prove to be no exception.
Bargain stars are the lifeblood of FPL. Picking up a cheap superstar can save you enough money to splash out on the premium cost players, and every single year without fail, there is a bottom-rung player who takes the game by storm.
The question is: who is the 2022/23 must-have? We run through some of the biggest potential bargains ahead of the new season. They are not necessarily the cheapest players in the game, but in terms of value for money, you won’t find many better.
RadioTimes.com brings you our Fantasy Premier League tips, including the bargains you should sign for your FPL team in 2022/23.
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GK: Sam Johnstone (Crystal Palace) £4.5m
Crystal Palace recorded more clean sheets than any other team outside the top five last season and now they’ve brought in a quality goalkeeper in Sam Johnstone, who has top flight experience and put in match-winning performances for West Brom despite their relegation.
DEF: Neco Williams (Nottingham Forest) £4.0m
Williams is shaping up to be the go-to £4.0m defender in 2022/23 following his move from Liverpool to Nottingham Forest. His £17m price tag suggests he will be thrown straight into the starting XI and has proven he can do it all – defensively and attacking – for his team in the Championship with Fulham.
DEF: Marc Guehi (Crystal Palace) £4.5m
Guehi is a nailed-on starter in that Palace defence we expect to step up once more in 2022/23. Don’t expect mega hauls, but as a third or fourth defender, he’s ideally priced and will provide a steady flow of clean sheets.
DEF: Marc Cucurella (Brighton) £5.0m
As things stand, Cucurella is a solid bet at a reasonable price, but keep a firm eye fixed on his transfer status over the course of the summer. The left-back has been linked with a big move to Manchester City and should he make the switch, he will become a highly coveted asset. Cucurella is the sixth most creative defender in FPL based on the ICT Rankings, yet only scored once and assisted once last term. This correlates with Brighton’s infamous wastefulness. Should he go to City, he will pick up assists for fun.
MID: Andreas Pereira (Fulham) £4.5m
Pereira, like Williams, has suddenly emerged as an FPL budget asset due to his switch from a top club’s reserves to a Premier League new boy. Fulham’s new signing is a perfect fifth midfielder with plenty of upside. There is no risk in selecting him as third on your bench, but there’s plenty to gain.
MID: Michael Olise (Crystal Palace) £5.5m
Olise has shown glimpses of mega quality but just needs regular football to unlock his full potential. He grabbed seven goals and 12 assists for Reading in 2020/21. He picked up two goals and six assists in just a third of the available minutes for Palace last season. He looks increasingly likely to start for Palace this season and could explode.
MID: Gabriel Martinelli (Arsenal) £6.0m
Martinelli’s game time will determine whether he becomes the standout budget performer of the season or not. He scored six and set up seven in just over half of the minutes available to him last season. If he is allowed to strike up a partnership with Gabriel Jesus, he could explode.
MID: Philippe Coutinho (Aston Villa) £7.0m
Coutinho lit up last season with Aston Villa since arriving in January. He picked up 83 points in half a season with five goals and three assists under his belt. Expect him to produce a big season, across the whole season, here.
MID: Luis Diaz (Liverpool) £8.0m
Diaz is the joint most expensive player on this list, but he may well become the greatest bargain of the lot in 2022/23. The Colombian winger racked up four goals and three assists in less than 1000 minutes of playing time since joining in January. His sheer pace and technical ability led to a string of outstanding performances and he looks certain to start all season long in Sadio Mane’s absence. Diaz costs £5.0m less than Mohamed Salah, freeing up plenty of cash to spend elsewhere if you choose to risk it without the Egyptian.
FWD: Armando Broja (Chelsea) £5.5m
Broja’s status on this list, like Cucurella, may be dependent on his transfer status. He enjoyed a successful loan spell at Southampton and courted major interest from across the Premier League. He has returned to Chelsea as one of their only natural striker options, and would be a solid bet as a third striker. However, should he move to a Newcastle, an Everton, a team who will buy him to be their main man, he could be one of the bargains of the season.
FWD: Raul Jimenez (Wolves) £7.0m
Like a solid pair of Topman skinny jeans, former favourite Jimenez is not the fashionable name he once was, but there is still very much a place for him in your team. The Wolves striker played almost every minute of 2019/20 as he notched up 17 goals and seven assists for a 194-point haul. We were immensely glad to see him back on a football pitch last season following most of a year out with a fractured skull. Now we’re backing him to recapture his form of old. He still recorded 101 points (six goals, five assists) last time out and we believe he could be in line for a big return here.
FWD: Danny Ings (Aston Villa) £7.0m
Ings is another former FPL favourite who has dropped out of style over the last season or so. He isn’t a guaranteed starter for Villa, but still picked up seven goals and six assists in around two thirds of the available minutes last season and now boasts Philippe Coutinho behind him, supplying ammunition. Keep an eye on his first-team status. If he starts well, he could be launched back into fashion.
FWD: Gabriel Jesus (Arsenal) £8.0m
Saving the best til last? Possibly. Gabriel Jesus has been a source of frustration for FPL managers in recent years given his status as a key moving piece in ‘Pep roulette’. He has only played more than half of the potential playing minutes in four Premier League seasons, and in each of them, he has racked up between 115 and 146 points. It doesn’t take a mathematician to deduce that he boasts major, major potential as Arsenal’s nailed-on starting striker. Expect a massive haul in 2022/23.
Fantasy Premier League fixtures – Week 1
- Bournemouth v Aston Villa
- Crystal Palace v Arsenal
- Everton v Chelsea
- Fulham v Liverpool
- Leeds v Wolves
- Leicester v Brentford
- Man Utd v Brighton
- Newcastle v Nottingham Forest
- Tottenham v Southampton
- West Ham v Man City
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