There is no position in Fantasy Premier League that scores more points than midfielders. This is why many FPL managers spend relatively more on their midfield than elsewhere.
With the increased point scoring potential of midfielders, and the fact many essentially play as a forward anyway, selecting the right ones is paramount to success in Fantasy Premier League.
They don’t provide anywhere near the best points per £m but with a FPL budget of £100m the likes of Mohamed Salah, Bruno Fernandes, Kevin De Bruyne, etc cannot be ignored.
Best FPL Midfielders
Based on current ownership percentages in FPL, the best midfielders in Fantasy Premier League 2021/22 are Salah, Fernandes, Grealish and Son.
| Player | Club | Price | Pick % |
| Mohamed Salah | Liverpool | £12.5m | 54% |
| Bruno Fernandes | Man Utd | £12.0m | 52% |
| Jack Grealish |
Man City | £8.0m | 25% |
| Heung Min Son | Tottenham | £10.0m | 22% |
| Mason Mount | Chelsea | £7.5m | 21% |
| Raphina | Leeds | £6.5m | 19% |
| Stuart Dallas | Leeds | £5.5m | 16% |
| Bukayo Saka | Arsenal | £6.5m | 15% |
| Harvey Barnes | Leicester | £7.0m | 14% |
| Yves Bissouma | Brighton | £4.5m | 14% |
Premium Midfielders
The best premium midfielders in Fantasy Premier League 2021/22 are Bruno Fernandes and Mohamed Salah.
Due to more difficult fixtures and the fact they score historically lower points, Heung Min Son, Kevin De Bruyne and Sadio Mane are slightly behind them.
Meanwhile, Jadon Sancho is a unknown quantity in the Premier League but could prove to be an excellent premium midfield option.
If you don’t have any premium midfielders in your FPL team then you’re doing it wrong.
Some of them you’ll have to ignore due to your budget. Sometimes a player can be so popular that excluding them from your team can be the differential in itself.
Mohamed Salah
However, in the case of Fantasy Premier League’s current most picked midfielder, Salah at 49%, we don’t recommend it.
Since he returned to the Premier League in 2017/18 his FPL points have been ridiculous. His 231 points from last season were his lowest in a Liverpool shirt which is testament to how vital of an asset he has been.
£12.5m is a lot of money to part with but with Salah it’s a question of whether you can afford not to buy him.
His fixtures don’t even provide any form of argument to exclude him. Norwich (a) and Burnley (H) to begin the season will leave non-owners stressing in both matches.
Liverpool do host Chelsea in Gameweek 3 but from there they face Leeds (a), Crystal Palace (H) and Brentford (a) – more fixtures that won’t be fun to watch without him.
Despite being the most picked player in the game at 49%, given the above it’s reasonable to argue he may actually be underpicked!
Bruno Fernandes
Fernandes joined Man Utd in January of 2020 and instantly became a must-have pick for the remainder of the season.
The question was if he could replicate that end of season form across the entirety of the 2020/21 campaign. The answer was an emphatic yes.
He finished his first full season in Fantasy Premier League as the top points scorer with 244. That was two in front of Harry Kane with 242 points.
To put that in perspective he outscored both of Salah’s previous two seasons totals.
Detractors will point to the fact that 9 of Fernandes’ 18 goals came from the penalty spot. This is a fair point as Man Utd received 11 penalties (of which 10 Fernandes took).
However, Manchester United have been awarded the most penalties in the entire league 2 of the last 3 seasons. The exception was last year where Leicester received 12, although United did finish second with the aforementioned 11.
Others will argue new arrival Sancho, and even an on-form Mason Greenwood might eat into Fernandes’ points. With that said it’s hard to see the Portuguese not being Man Utd’s focal point considering he is on all set pieces and his start to life in the Premier League.
Obviously at £12.0m it will be difficult to get him and Salah into your team. Even so Fernandes is currently picked by 41%, making him the third most picked player in FPL.
Heung Min Son
Son (£10.0m) has been a consistent FPL performer over the last several seasons but he put in his best points total to date last season with 228. This was courtesy of 17 goals and 11 assists.
His partnership with Harry Kane was what provided many of those goals and assists but this season may be different. The England captain is strongly linked with Man City which will not only change Tottenham as a team but may result in Son playing in a different role.
How that role will affect his productivity remains to be seen but a move to centre forward has the potential to make him even more valuable.
He is currently picked by 17% of managers. If he starts the season very well, and out of position, his TSB could sky-rocket very quickly.
His current ownership could be deflated by the fact Tottenham’s opening fixture is against Man City. Much more appealing fixtures in the form of Wolves (a), Watford (H) and Crystal Palace (a) follow before they play Chelsea (H) and Arsenal (a).
Budget Midfielders
Based on ownership percentages the best budget midfielders in FPL 2021/22 are Stuart Dallas, Yves Bissouma and Tomas Soucek.
Behind them are Billy Gilmour, Emile Smith Rowe and N’Golo Kante.
We define budget midfielders as those priced £6.0m or less.
Unsurprisingly viable £4.5m, or even £5.0m, midfielders are few and far between. The best £4.5m midfielders are seemingly Bissouma, Gilmour and Josh Brownhill.
Stuart Dallas
The Leeds defender was FPL’s surprise performer last season. Listed as a defender he even out-pointed the notoriously high scoring Trent Alexander-Arnold and Andrew Robertson.
He did spend most of the season deployed in midfield which certainly allowed him to provide attacking returns. Specifically he scored 8 times alongside 3 assists.
Bonus points aside, had he been listed as a midfielder last season he would have scored 127 points.
For midfielders £6.0m or less this wouldn’t have even put him in the top 10. Consequently, he seems somewhat of an overpick this season.
This is further evidenced by his xG of 4.46, 3.54 less than his actual goals. Our advice: start the season without him.
Tomas Soucek
The Czech midfielder was another surprise in Fantasy Premier League last year. Despite being a defensive midfielder, he still scored 10 goals and provided 2 assists.
He has been reasonably priced at £6.0m this time around. Interestingly, unlike Dallas, his xGA didn’t indicate he overperformed.
Should he be making the same runs into the box as last season, and finishing as well as he did when the ball came to his feet, he could well replicate last season’s total.
Soucek is picked by 11% of FPL managers but there is another option in the West Ham team which may be more appealing.
Jarrod Bowen is priced at just £0.5m more (£6.5m). He is obviously deployed in a much more attacking role which could pay dividends. Additionally, he is only picked by 2% of managers.
He does come with the downside of being expected to play far less minutes.
Differential Midfielders
Differentials are a vital part of FPL and can provide the difference in a successful (or not) season. Here are some of the best differential midfielders.
Player ownership percentages indicate that the best differential midfielders in Fantasy Premier League 2021/22 are Billy Gilmour, Ilkay Gundogan and Riyad Mahrez.
Diogo Jota
At £7.5m, Diogo Jota could be the steal of the season in FPL. At this price point there are naturally a lot obstacles but should he pass them his inclusion in your team is a no-brainer.
His selling point is obvious: he could start in Liverpool’s front 3. The downside is he isn’t a guaranteed starter and when he does his minutes could be limited.
Should he start the season, and start it well, then his 9% ownership will multiply quickly. Last season he was hampered by a long-term injury but in his 1,106 minutes he did play, he scored an impressive 9 times.
There’s also the opportunity for him to become a ’90 minute’ player. His work rate is phenomenal which could result in Jurgen Klopp opting to take off Salah or Mane (should all 3 start together) before Jota.
Emile Smith Rowe
Despite being just 21 years old, it looks like Smith Rowe is already favoured by Mikel Arteta.
He scored twice and provided 5 assists in his 1,438 minutes played. Should he double these minutes, which is certainly possible, he could get close to 15 goal involvements which would make him great value at just £5.5m.