Consensus XI: Is this the best FPL squad for Gameweek 1?

The fixtures have been released, the player prices announced, and the pre-season friendlies are drawing to a close. Now is the time to start honing our Fantasy Premier League (FPL) drafts and get our player choices locked in for Gameweek 1.

Before we do, let’s take a look at what some of the greatest FPL managers in the world are doing with their squads.  The Fantasy Football Fix Elite XI managers are a collection of best FPL managers on the planet, between them they boast 18 x Top 1k finishes, 61 x Top 5k finishes, and an insane 82 x Top 10k finishes.

The Consensus XI is an aggregated FPL squad, based on the most commonly owned players amongst the Elite XI managers. As it represents the combined wisdom of the very best managers, there is an argument to say that this could be the best squad you can put out ahead of the 2023/24 season. Let’s take a look:

Goalkeeper

Between the sticks is Manchester United’s new acquisition André Onana (£5.0m). Much has been made about the Cameroonian shot-stopper, known for his proclivity to play out from the back and his confidence in taking on opposition attackers.

While he has no Premier League pedigree to make meaningful comparisons, it is felt his playing style and passing range will mean he will rack up bonus points under FPL’s BPS system.

Defenders

With so many strong options in midfield, the Consensus XI has adopted a 3-5-2 formation.

Trent Alexander-Arnold (£8.0m) makes the back-three despite being the most expensive defender in the game. Over the last five seasons his average total points return is 183.8 which highlights his impressive consistency. In his new hybrid-midfield role, Alexander-Arnold could see his assists skyrocket as the team look to exploit his insane passing ability.

When fixtures, form and good value merge, we should all pay attention. Pervis Estupiñán (£5.0m) ticks all these boxes. Brighton have amazing fixtures until Gameweek 4 and the Brighton full back offers both clean sheet potential, and attacking returns, for a Brighton squad who like to commit men forward.

Gabriel (£5.0m) finishes off the back-three. Arsenal’s opening fixtures are as good as Brighton’s and in fact, their good run extends all the way to Gameweek 8 when they face Manchester City. Amongst those fixtures are teams who are vulnerable from set-pieces, something Gabriel will be looking to exploit. The Arsenal defender racked up an impressive xG (3.63) last season making him the second-best defender in terms of goal threat.

Midfielders

Very often where the lion’s share of FPL points are generated, this season we are awash with high-value midfield options.

A Manchester United double up of Marcus Rashford (£9.0m) and Bruno Fernandes (£8.5m) features in the majority of the Elite XI teams. Under Erik ten Hag, the former had his career-best season for United, scoring 17 goals and bagging 7 assists. The latter, while only managing 17 goal involvements, performed incredibly well. No player can top Bruno for xA (15.62) or Attempted Assists (119) and now that United have signed a promising striker, we could see an explosion in the Portuguese playmaker’s goal involvements.

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Bukayo Saka (£8.5m) is owned over half of all FPL managers who have registered their squads so far, and our Elite XI team are in agreement with this pick. On penalties for one of the best attacking teams in the league and a guaranteed starter to boot, there’s little reason not to go there. He is also a good captaincy option for anyone brave enough to bet against a certain Norwegian!

Kaoru Mitoma (£6.5m) completes a Brighton double-up. The midfielder is owned by 37.5% of managers and looks to be one of the few Brighton attackers whose position is safe from rotation amid a rook of great signings for the Seagulls.

A popular pick amongst our Elite XI was Brentford’s Bryan Mbeumo (£6.5m). With Ivan Toney (£8.0m) set to miss all fixtures in this calendar year, due to a breach of the FA’s Code Of Conduct, Mbeumo is the man expected to step up into that central attacking role. As FPL have him classified as a midfielder, this makes him an out-of-position (OOP) striker, meaning for every goal he will attract an extra point, and will benefit from clean sheets too.

If it is confirmed that Mbeumo is going to be unavailable for Gameweek 1 due to injury, then our Elite XI managers could switch to similarly priced Eberechi Eze (£6.5m) who has been impressive in pre-season.

Forwards

Up top and you won’t be surprised to see Erling Haaland (£14.0m) with the captain’s armband. Haaland is in every single one of our Elite XI managers’ squads despite his price hike. At 86.8% owned, you would be a brave – or [insert a less-flattering term here] – FPL manager to go against him!

Partnering Haaland was Chelsea’s new striker Christopher Nkunku (£7.5m) who lit up the Bundesliga and is widely recognised as being underpriced in FPL.  Sadly, he is now likely to miss the beginning of the campaign and so our Elite XI managers have shifted their attention to Ollie Watkins (£8.0m) who has been a reliable source of points under Unai Emery, generally returning at least one goal involvement per game, irrespective of the opposition.

The current Consensus XI draft is liable to change as our Elite XI managers tinker with their squads in the run up the Gameweek 1 deadline on Friday. If you want to keep up-to-date with our Elite XI managers’ moves, you can sign up to email alerts, or push notifications on the Fix app. Visit our website to start your Fix journey and win your mini-leagues.