The best midfielders for GW1 ⚽️

👀 Viktor Gyokeres priced at £9.0m.

🤝 Granit Xhaka (£5.0m) joins Sunderland.

🔎 Marc Guiu (£4.5m FWD) set to join Sunderland from Chelsea (Romano).

📕 Bookmark this newsletter for when you’re building your midfield.

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The term “midfield” is thought to have derived from 15th-century England, when landworkers who showed an aptitude for picking out a particularly good crop were placed in the “middle o’ the feld”. From there, they could use their vision and ability to pull the strings and direct the rest of the peasantry team.

Deciding which midfielders should command your team of FPL peasants is a little trickier, and the stakes are much higher than a bad harvest and subsequent famine. Fantasy points could be lost here, people.

Fear not. We won’t let that happen on our watch. By the end of this email, you’ll have a midfield so strong, it’ll make even the most prolific 15th-century yeoman jealous.

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Let us not forget that midfielders and forwards can also earn defensive contribution points.

They’ll need 12 contributions, rather than 10, but their tally also includes ball recoveries, prompting another new acronym: CBIRT (clearances, blocks, interceptions, recoveries and tackles). We prefer BRICT, as in, “I’m brict up”, but unfortunately, we weren’t consulted.

Anyway, here’s the table of would-be defensive contribution points for midfielders last season, published by the Premier League themselves:

These points aren’t to be shrugged at. Moises Caicedo’s total points tally last season would’ve been 140 if defensive contributions were a thing last year: that would’ve put him just 8 points shy of players like Eberechi Eze.

We’ll refer back to this table - and BRICT in general - throughout this newsletter.

We’ll also share this beautiful graphic from Tom Hadley, which displays the frequency with which midfielders scored 4 or more points last season (if defensive contributions counted).

FPL HQ has been savvy this season. Nearly every midfielder who knows what the penalty area looks like has been priced at £5.5m and above, leaving very little to get excited about in the £4.5m - £5.0m range.

But, just like in an episode of Bargain Hunt, we’re willing to sift through the tat if it means finding a dusty, hidden gem underneath.

Lazy Summary: Carlos Baleba, Fabio Carvalho, Freddie Potts, Ryan Christie, Joshua King.

Hang on - why is Aaron Ramsey the most owned £4.5m midfielder?

It’s not that Aaron Ramsey. It’s Burnley’s Aaron Ramsey, and honestly, the only reason we can think of for his 13% ownership is that he looks like his brother, Villa’s Jacob Ramsey, and wears a similar coloured shirt.

Important: Buying highly owned budget options is dangerous because, if they don’t play in Gameweek 1, they tend to get swapped out en masse for budget players who did. That means they’re vulnerable to a price drop, and replacing a £4.4m midfielder is as bleak as it gets.

1) Carlos Baleba (£5.0m, Brighton)

Come on everyone - sing it with us! Then I saw his face. It’s Carlos Baleba. Not a trace, a doubt in my mind.

If only we had Smash Mouth’s conviction in Brighton’s young defensive midfielder. There’s plenty of doubt in our minds, but for £5.0m, perhaps that’s okay.

He would’ve gained an additional 31 points from defensive contributions last season, bringing his would-be 24/25 total up to a more-than-respectable 118 points (4 points more than the much more popular Iliman Ndiaye). He hasn’t had much pre-season action on account of a small injury, but we should see him resurface soon.

2) Fabio Carvalho (£5.0m, Brentford)

Carvalho has started the last two pre-season friendlies for Brentford, and as we all know, if you start a pre-season friendly, you’re absolutely guaranteed to start in the Premier League.

He only played 443 minutes last season, but he’s only 22 and, with Bryan Mbeumo leaving, Brentford’s attacking spots are less congested. One to keep an eye on.

3) Freddie Potts (£4.5m, West Ham)

Potts, West Ham’s 21-year-old defensive midfielder, has started their last two pre-season friendlies and acquitted himself well. West Ham fans are excited, and given what they’ve been through, that’s no small thing. The Professor actually saw him in person last season at a Portsmouth game and singled him out.

We’re definitely not convinced he’ll start in the Premier League, but the narrative surrounding him is “he’s got loads of talent, give him a chance to prove himself”. So far this pre-season, Graham Potter is doing exactly that.

4) Ryan Christie (£5.0m, Bournemouth)

Christie’s 27 starts last season came to an abrupt end after an injury in Gameweek 30. Before that, he was a reliable starter for Bournemouth, and whilst attacking returns were limited (2 goals, 3 assists), his defensive contributions would’ve upped his 24/25 points tally to 103.

That would’ve put him in the same company as Callum Hudson-Odoi and Pedro Neto. He played fewer minutes than both.

He’s not fit at the moment, but when he plays, he’s averaging over 15 defensive contributions per game. One to keep an eye on after their Gameweek 1 fixture against Liverpool.

5) Joshua King (£4.5m, Fulham)

Long-time FPL managers might remember when a different Josh King - Bournemouth’s Norwegian model - was a midfield bargain once upon a time.

Well, now a new Josh King has us interested. This one belongs to Fulham, and goes by Joshua (presumably to help FPL managers avoid a mix-up). A Fulham academy member, the defensive midfielder has started the last two of Fulham’s friendlies and scored in the most recent one. One to watch.

The significant majority of midfielders fall into this price category. Indeed, there are only 11 midfielders more expensive than £7.5m.

Mohammed Kudus is the most owned player in this bracket, but he’s still an unknown entity at Spurs. For now, he remains a “wait and see how he does” for Lazy.

There are plenty of more reliable - if less exciting - options, and we’ll give you one from each price point here.

Summary for the lazy: Elliot Anderson, Youri Tielemans, Ismaila Sarr, Antoine Semenyo, Eberechi Eze.

£5.5m | Elliot Anderson (Nottingham Forest)

We need only to cast an eye over the graphics shared at the top of this newsletter to understand why Anderson is 34% owned. Oh wait, nope. He’s 3.4% owned.

With defensive contributions, his FPL points would’ve totalled 140 last season: the same as Moises Caicedo. Anderson played five games fewer than the Chelsea man, which makes his tally all the more notable.

(And honourable mention to Donyell Malen (£5.5m) here, too. We pointed him out after the game was launched, and he’s now registered four attacking returns in pre-season. Villa fans are still unsure if he’ll get regular game time, but he’s one to watch.)

£6.0m | Youri Tielemans (Aston Villa)

For some reason, every £6.0m midfielder is a naughty differential. They’re almost all capable of big returns, but ultimately unreliable. We’re talking about players like Mikel Merino, Yankuba Minteh and Callum Hudson-Odoi.

We’ve picked out Tielemans because we think, amongst a sea of explosive streakiness, he stands out as a steady pick with minutes, defensive contributions and occasional attacking returns in his locker.

£6.5m | Ismaila Sarr (Crystal Palace)

Ismaila Sarr posted some incredible stats last season. Only four midfielders (Salah, Palmer, Mbeumo and Fernandes) had a higher expected goal involvement (xGI) than the Palace man’s 17.64, and he had eight goals and seven assists to show for it.

£7.0m | Antoine Semenyo (Bournemouth)

The difference between Semenyo’s FPL potential and his current FPL ownership (5.3%) is more of a stark disconnect than the beheading of Eddard in Season 1 of Game of Thrones.

The 6th-highest scoring midfielder last season, we’re a little surprised that Semenyo didn’t get a bigger price increase. His low ownership is likely owing to his Gameweek 1 fixture away at Liverpool. But after that, things brighten up: Wolves (H), Spurs (A), Brighton (H), Newcastle (H), Leeds (A), Fulham (H).

£7.5m | Eberechi Eze (Crystal Palace)

Second (behind Sarr) in this price bracket for xGI, Eze has had a good pre-season so far, scoring twice and grabbing an assist across his last two games.

Palace have a tough opening three gameweeks (Chelsea (A), Nottingham Forest (H) and Aston Villa (A)), but their fixtures soften like an old peach after that.

Like we said, there are only 11 midfielders expensive enough to make it into the luxurious confines of this section. The most popular is inevitably Mohamed Salah, who will be in every good manager’s Gameweek 1 team come Friday 15th.

There are three others we want to spotlight: Bruno Fernandes, Cole Palmer and Florian Wirtz.

1) Bruno Fernandes (£9.0m, Man United)

You’d be forgiven for forgetting that Bruno Fernandes once scored 244 FPL points in a single season. Whilst he hasn’t emulated that form since, he’s been a reliable 150+ points scorer in every season since.

And, much like Eberechi Eze, he’s also having an excellent pre-season. Most recently, he scored and assisted against Everton over the weekend.

2) Cole Palmer (£10.5m, Chelsea)

For his usually lofty standards, last season was quiet for Cole Palmer. And yet, he still scored 214 FPL points and registered 25 attacking returns.

Two goals and an assist in the Club World Cup final were a reminder to managers that, despite his hefty price tag, he’s still very likely to be worth it.

3) Florian Wirtz (£8.5m, Liverpool)

James Cooper, one of our experts and an FPL Hall-of-Famer, provided his thoughts on Wirtz in the WhatsApp Broadcast chat recently:

“I think he has been underpriced, and I’m very likely to go with him. Lovely data in Germany (even if you allow for a drop-off arriving in the PL), and I’m expecting him to be pretty nailed for Liverpool, likely in attacking midfield. Can see him being very involved in their attacking output.”

If Cooper is picking him for Gameweek 1, he’s probably a good pick.

You won’t get ridiculed with a midfield like this.

These five players balance the two most expensive midfielders in the game with some budget reliability. Carlos Baleba would likely function as a solid bench option, with Antoine Semenyo and Ismaila Sarr both well placed to contribute attacking returns too.

Pre-season friendlies can be deceiving, but you can’t move for ‘em at the moment. We’re creating an article that tracks the pre-season goals and assists for every Premier League team, but for now, here are the highlights from some recent fixtures:

Man United 2-2 Everton

Bruno Fernandes grabbed a goal and an assist. Iliman Ndiaye scored for Everton before a hellish own goal from Ayden Heaven.

Bournemouth 0-2 West Ham

Niclas Fullkrug made it two in two games, with Jarred Bowen grabbing a goal and an assist.

Southampton 2-2 Brighton

Yankuba Minteh scored a brace. Popular new wing-back Max De Cuyper started but was relatively reserved.

Arsenal 0-1 Spurs

Viktor Gyokeres played for 14 minutes and did very little. Bukayo Saka and Leandro Trossard were forced off with injuries. Pape Sarr scored for Spurs.

Spurs 1-1 Newcastle

Harvey Barnes and Brennan Johnson scored for Newcastle and Spurs, respectively. James Maddison appeared to pick up a serious-looking injury.

Okay, next week we’ll look at the tip of your spear. It’ll be the last pre-season newsletter before regular, pre-deadline service resumes. Not long to go now - you can almost smell the inevitable disappointment from here.

Stay lazy,

The LazyFPL Team.