FPL Gameweek 1 Roundup: The Best XI, Big Moves, Big Blanks
The first gameweek of 2026/27 paid out at the cheap end of the price list. The dream team scored 148 — 165 with De Cuyper captained — and only one of its eleven costs more than £7.5m. Haaland, the most-selected player in the game and its most-popular captain, returned two points. The average manager scored 50.
Below: the dream team and what it costs to buy now, the top scorers by position, where the money has moved since the deadline, and the heavily-owned blanks to hold or sell before Friday’s GW2 deadline.
The GW1 dream team
The dream team lines up 4-5-1: a £4.5m goalkeeper, a £17.0m back four, one premium in Palmer. De Cuyper — a goal, an assist, a clean sheet and two bonus in Brighton’s 4-0 — top-scored the gameweek with 17 and wears the armband.
The bench is the next-best of each position: Trafford (9), White (11), Emersonn (9) and Barry (8) — fifteen players, £84.5m, 185 points between them.
Nine of the eleven cost £7.0m or less — which is exactly why so few managers owned them.
| Player | Club | Price | Pts | Val | Sel | Net | Fixtures |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| TzolakisGKP | HUL | £4.5m | 10 | 2.2 | 1.8% | +52k | COV (A) gameweek 2, difficulty 2: EasyAVL (H) gameweek 3, difficulty 3: AverageCHE (A) gameweek 4, difficulty 4: DifficultNEW (A) gameweek 5, difficulty 3: Average |
| De CuyperDEF | BHA | £4.5m | 17 | 3.8 | 5.6% | +301k | CHE (A) gameweek 2, difficulty 4: DifficultLEE (H) gameweek 3, difficulty 2: EasyCOV (A) gameweek 4, difficulty 2: EasyARS (H) gameweek 5, difficulty 4: Difficult |
| MendyDEF | HUL | £4.0m | 15 | 3.8 | 2.0% | +55k | COV (A) gameweek 2, difficulty 2: EasyAVL (H) gameweek 3, difficulty 3: AverageCHE (A) gameweek 4, difficulty 4: DifficultNEW (A) gameweek 5, difficulty 3: Average |
| AjayiDEF | HUL | £4.0m | 14 | 3.5 | 1.5% | +32k | COV (A) gameweek 2, difficulty 2: EasyAVL (H) gameweek 3, difficulty 3: AverageCHE (A) gameweek 4, difficulty 4: DifficultNEW (A) gameweek 5, difficulty 3: Average |
| KayodeDEF | BRE | £4.5m | 13 | 2.9 | 5.9% | +191k | LEE (A) gameweek 2, difficulty 3: AverageSUN (H) gameweek 3, difficulty 2: EasyBOU (A) gameweek 4, difficulty 3: AverageCHE (H) gameweek 5, difficulty 4: Difficult |
| HinshelwoodMID | BHA | £6.0m | 16 | 2.7 | 1.8% | +86k | CHE (A) gameweek 2, difficulty 4: DifficultLEE (H) gameweek 3, difficulty 2: EasyCOV (A) gameweek 4, difficulty 2: EasyARS (H) gameweek 5, difficulty 4: Difficult |
| M.SangaréMID | BRE | £5.5m | 14 | 2.5 | 6.3% | +241k | LEE (A) gameweek 2, difficulty 3: AverageSUN (H) gameweek 3, difficulty 2: EasyBOU (A) gameweek 4, difficulty 3: AverageCHE (H) gameweek 5, difficulty 4: Difficult |
| StachMID | LEE | £6.0m | 13 | 2.2 | 1.6% | +35k | BRE (H) gameweek 2, difficulty 3: AverageBHA (A) gameweek 3, difficulty 3: AverageNEW (H) gameweek 4, difficulty 2: EasyCRY (H) gameweek 5, difficulty 3: Average |
| PalmerMID | CHE | £9.5m | 13 | 1.4 | 12.9% | +146k | BHA (H) gameweek 2, difficulty 2: EasyARS (A) gameweek 3, difficulty 5: Very DifficultHUL (H) gameweek 4, difficulty 2: EasyBRE (A) gameweek 5, difficulty 3: Average |
| GakpoMID | LIV | £7.0m | 12 | 1.7 | 5.0% | +90k | NFO (H) gameweek 2, difficulty 3: AverageIPS (A) gameweek 3, difficulty 2: EasyFUL (H) gameweek 4, difficulty 2: EasyBOU (A) gameweek 5, difficulty 3: Average |
| João PedroFWD | CHE | £7.5m | 11 | 1.5 | 66.0% | +190k | BHA (H) gameweek 2, difficulty 2: EasyARS (A) gameweek 3, difficulty 5: Very DifficultHUL (H) gameweek 4, difficulty 2: EasyBRE (A) gameweek 5, difficulty 3: Average |
The trap is buying last week’s team for next week’s fixtures. Chelsea’s pair are the easiest to hold for longer than a week — their run brackets a rated-5 trip to Arsenal in GW3 between two 2s — while the Hull and Brentford defenders are value plays whose price means a benched week costs nothing. Mendy and Ajayi both went off just after the hour and carry 75% flags for Friday: the dream team is a record, not a shopping list.
The top scorers, position by position
The four leaderboards tell one story: GW1 belonged to the £4.0m–£6.0m band. Across all of them, Palmer is the only player priced above £7.5m — and league-wide, only two players at £8.0m or more beat five points: Palmer and Saka.
Goalkeepers
Tzolakis, signed by Hull in early August, took the goalkeeping honours: a clean sheet against Manchester United and all three bonus for ten points at £4.5m. Trafford’s nine behind him also came with a shutout, and the template keepers banked quietly — Raya and Verbruggen finished on six apiece.
Defenders
De Cuyper’s 17 made him the top scorer in the game, and the board under him stays cheap. Mendy and Ajayi both scored in Hull’s 2-0 and carry those 75% flags, Leeds’ shutout at Forest put Bijol and Justin on ten apiece, and Guéhi — a goal in City’s win — is the only name on it above £5.5m.
Midfielders
Hinshelwood hit 16 in 63 minutes with two goals in the same Brighton win, and Sangaré — signed by Brentford at the start of August — made two assists on 14. Palmer’s 13 at Fulham, with a goal, an assist and the maximum bonus, was the only premium return in the position. Stach scored the only goal of Leeds’ win at Forest.
| Rank | Player | Club | Pts | Price | Sel |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | HinshelwoodMID | BHA | 16 | £6.0m | 1.8% |
| 2 | M.SangaréMID | BRE | 14 | £5.5m | 6.3% |
| 3 | PalmerMID | CHE | 13 | £9.5m | 12.9% |
| 4 | StachMID | LEE | 13 | £6.0m | 1.6% |
| 5 | GakpoMID | LIV | 12 | £7.0m | 5.0% |
| 6 |  Dewsbury-HallMID | EVE | 11 | £6.5m | 4.3% |
| 7 |  ØdegaardMID | ARS | 11 | £6.5m | 10.6% |
| 8 |  Lewis-PotterMID | BRE | 10 | £5.5m | 0.8% |
| 9 |  TavernierMID | BOU | 10 | £6.0m | 2.0% |
| 10 |  ElangaMID | NEW | 9 | £6.0m | 1.5% |
Forwards
The quietest board. João Pedro’s 11 led the line and nobody else in the position reached double figures; Emersonn’s nine came in Ipswich’s 2-1 win at £5.5m. Not one forward priced £8.0m or above returned more than two points — they get their own section below.
| Rank | Player | Club | Pts | Price | Sel |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | João PedroFWD | CHE | 11 | £7.5m | 66.0% |
| 2 | EmersonnFWD | IPS | 9 | £5.5m | 1.2% |
| 3 | BarryFWD | EVE | 8 | £5.5m | 2.1% |
| 4 |  GonzaloFWD | FUL | 6 | £6.0m | 2.8% |
| 5 |  HavertzFWD | ARS | 6 | £7.5m | 7.0% |
The market since the deadline
De Cuyper is the most-transferred-in player in the game for GW2, and the three behind him — Sangaré, Calafiori and Kayode — mean the four biggest buys all cost £5.5m or less. João Pedro and Ødegaard round out a top six in which every player returned at least nine points: the market is buying exactly what it just watched.
The exits are just as one-way. Pedro Porro leads them after playing no part in GW1. Konsa and Gyökeres follow on zero minutes apiece in a 3-0 Arsenal win — the pecking-order problem the Arsenal GW1 review covers in full. The heavyweight sells are United’s: Bruno Fernandes and Mbeumo both returned two in the defeat at Hull and are shedding well over two hundred thousand owners between them. Calvert-Lewin is going out of Leeds squads despite the win at Forest — one point from ninety minutes is why.
| Player | £ | SEL | GW1 | IN | OUT | NET |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| De CuyperDEF | £4.5m | 5.6% | 17 | 310k | 9k | +301k |
| Pedro PorroDEF | £5.5m | 14.0% | 0 | 5k | 259k | −254k |
| M.SangaréMID | £5.5m | 6.3% | 14 | 252k | 11k | +241k |
| CalafioriDEF | £5.5m | 41.2% | 9 | 218k | 23k | +195k |
| KayodeDEF | £4.5m | 5.9% | 13 | 201k | 10k | +191k |
| João PedroFWD | £7.5m | 66.0% | 11 | 209k | 19k | +190k |
| ØdegaardMID | £6.5m | 10.6% | 11 | 186k | 19k | +168k |
| GyökeresFWD | £7.5m | 7.7% | 0 | 6k | 143k | −137k |
| KonsaDEF | £4.5m | 11.5% | 0 | 28k | 153k | −125k |
| B.FernandesMID | £12.0m | 49.5% | 2 | 25k | 130k | −106k |
| MbeumoMID | £8.0m | 36.9% | 2 | 41k | 121k | −80k |
| Calvert-LewinFWD | £6.0m | 29.7% | 1 | 46k | 92k | −47k |
Two cautions before copying any of it. Transfer flow feeds price changes, not points — a £4.5m defender being bought at this rate is a price-rise watch as much as a pick, and the price-change tracker shows how close each of these moves is to flipping a tag. And selling Konsa or Gyökeres is paying today for information one Arsenal team sheet could reverse: if either starts in GW2, the market buys back at a premium.
The big blanks
Haaland’s two points came with ninety minutes, a City win and 0.76 expected goal involvement — the chances arrived and none went in. On the game’s biggest ownership and its most captaincies, that is a bad week, not a bad pick. Isak is the same story in the 2-2 at Newcastle: 1.10 xGI, two points, nothing wrong but the finishing.
The rest of the board is messier. Semenyo played all ninety of City’s win for two points and 0.08 xGI — the one name here whose underlying week was as poor as his score. Kinsky took the full force of Brentford’s 3-0; conceding heavily in bunches is the running cost of a £4.5m keeper. And Thiago produced the strangest line of the gameweek: 82 minutes, 1.00 expected goals, a missed penalty, zero points — the appearance cancelled exactly by the miss.
| Player | Club | Price | Pts | Val | Sel | Fixtures |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
 HaalandFWD | MCI | £15.5m | 2 | 0.1 | 68.5% | CRY (A) gameweek 2, difficulty 3: AverageCOV (H) gameweek 3, difficulty 2: EasyMUN (A) gameweek 4, difficulty 4: DifficultSUN (H) gameweek 5, difficulty 2: Easy |
 SemenyoMID | MCI | £8.5m | 2 | 0.2 | 25.1% | CRY (A) gameweek 2, difficulty 3: AverageCOV (H) gameweek 3, difficulty 2: EasyMUN (A) gameweek 4, difficulty 4: DifficultSUN (H) gameweek 5, difficulty 2: Easy |
 KinskyGKP | TOT | £4.5m | 2 | 0.4 | 23.2% | NEW (H) gameweek 2, difficulty 2: EasyNFO (A) gameweek 3, difficulty 3: AverageEVE (H) gameweek 4, difficulty 3: AverageAVL (H) gameweek 5, difficulty 3: Average |
 VirgilDEF | LIV | £6.5m | 2 | 0.3 | 19.6% | NFO (H) gameweek 2, difficulty 3: AverageIPS (A) gameweek 3, difficulty 2: EasyFUL (H) gameweek 4, difficulty 2: EasyBOU (A) gameweek 5, difficulty 3: Average |
 ThiagoFWD | BRE | £8.0m | 0 | 0.0 | 17.0% | LEE (A) gameweek 2, difficulty 3: AverageSUN (H) gameweek 3, difficulty 2: EasyBOU (A) gameweek 4, difficulty 3: AverageCHE (H) gameweek 5, difficulty 4: Difficult |
 IsakFWD | LIV | £9.0m | 2 | 0.2 | 16.7% | NFO (H) gameweek 2, difficulty 3: AverageIPS (A) gameweek 3, difficulty 2: EasyFUL (H) gameweek 4, difficulty 2: EasyBOU (A) gameweek 5, difficulty 3: Average |
 WirtzMID | LIV | £7.5m | 2 | 0.3 | 12.0% | NFO (H) gameweek 2, difficulty 3: AverageIPS (A) gameweek 3, difficulty 2: EasyFUL (H) gameweek 4, difficulty 2: EasyBOU (A) gameweek 5, difficulty 3: Average |
The fixtures split the verdicts. Liverpool’s three — Virgil, Wirtz, Isak — sit on the gentlest run in the league over the next four, which makes selling any of them this week the expensive kind of impatience. Haaland’s run reads soft outside one trip to United, and Spurs’ fixtures argue for holding Kinsky at the price. The two this section does give up on are the two the market is already selling — Bruno Fernandes and Mbeumo — though even there the trade-off is real: United host Ipswich next, which is precisely the fixture a knee-jerk sell ends up regretting.
The next four gameweeks
| Team | FDR | Team strength, averaged across home and away | GW2 | GW3 | GW4 | GW5 |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| LIVLiverpool | 2.5 | NFO (H) difficulty 3: Average | IPS (A) difficulty 2: Easy | FUL (H) difficulty 2: Easy | BOU (A) difficulty 3: Average | |
| LEELeeds | 2.8 | BRE (H) difficulty 3: Average | BHA (A) difficulty 3: Average | NEW (H) difficulty 2: Easy | CRY (H) difficulty 3: Average | |
| MCIMan City | 2.8 | CRY (A) difficulty 3: Average | COV (H) difficulty 2: Easy | MUN (A) difficulty 4: Difficult | SUN (H) difficulty 2: Easy | |
| NEWNewcastle | 2.8 | TOT (A) difficulty 3: Average | BOU (H) difficulty 3: Average | LEE (A) difficulty 3: Average | HUL (H) difficulty 2: Easy | |
| TOTSpurs | 2.8 | NEW (H) difficulty 2: Easy | NFO (A) difficulty 3: Average | EVE (H) difficulty 3: Average | AVL (H) difficulty 3: Average | |
| AVLAston Villa | 3.0 | ARS (H) difficulty 4: Difficult | HUL (A) difficulty 2: Easy | NFO (H) difficulty 3: Average | TOT (A) difficulty 3: Average | |
| BHABrighton | 3.0 | CHE (A) difficulty 4: Difficult | LEE (H) difficulty 2: Easy | COV (A) difficulty 2: Easy | ARS (H) difficulty 4: Difficult | |
| BREBrentford | 3.0 | LEE (A) difficulty 3: Average | SUN (H) difficulty 2: Easy | BOU (A) difficulty 3: Average | CHE (H) difficulty 4: Difficult | |
| CHEChelsea | 3.0 | BHA (H) difficulty 2: Easy | ARS (A) difficulty 5: Very Difficult | HUL (H) difficulty 2: Easy | BRE (A) difficulty 3: Average | |
| COVCoventry City | 3.0 | HUL (H) difficulty 2: Easy | MCI (A) difficulty 5: Very Difficult | BHA (H) difficulty 2: Easy | NFO (A) difficulty 3: Average |
Liverpool’s average of 2.50 is the softest run in the league — Forest at home, Ipswich away, Fulham at home, Bournemouth away — and it does most of the arguing for the holds above. Leeds, City, Newcastle and Spurs cluster just behind at 2.75. At the other end, Arsenal open with back-to-back 4s at Villa and at home to Chelsea, and the market’s GW2 money is flowing into exactly that fortnight.
Set your own squad against the same grades in the fixture difficulty planner, and every match’s full sheet — minutes, bonus, defensive contributions — is on the fixtures hub. The GW2 deadline is Friday at 18:30 UK.