Budget Players Play a Key Role
With a £100.0m budget in Fantasy Premier League and with players competitively priced, buying budget players is an inevitability. Fantasy Premier League wouldn't work if all FPL managers could buy their very best 15 players. As a result it is imperative to be astute when buying budget players to free up those funds for the premium players you do select. We go through some of the better budget players available in Fantasy Premier League 2018/19.
Jan Bednarek
The Polish international, Jan Bednarek, was signed just over a year ago. He made 5 appearances for Southampton in the league last season and was an ever-present in Poland's 2018 World Cup games. He is priced at just £4.0m. In terms of his starting prospects they are certainly far from guaranteed. Bednarek faces stiff competition from Southampton's preferred centre back pairing from last season, Maya Yoshida and Wesley Hoedt. However, Bednarek impressed at the World Cup and went up in the pecking order when Mark Hughes was appointed Southampton manager. Naturally nobody wants to buy a player that doesn't start but given Bednarek's price tag, his minutes played in the latter stages of last season and his World Cup performances, he could be a worthwhile risk.
Charlie Daniels
Charlie Daniels has been Bournemouth's first choice left back/wing back for the past three seasons. He has played at least 87% of Bournemouth's minutes in each of the last three seasons also. He did score 94 points last season which was significantly lower than his scores of 134 and 130 the two seasons previous to that. A combination of Daniel's reliability when it comes to starts, his ability to provide assists and Bournemouth's decent fixtures in the first of the season makes Daniels a solid pick at £4.5m.
James Tomkins
Nobody played more minutes from Crystal Palace's defence than James Tomkins last season. His FPL 2017/18 points score of 2,386 was only bettered by three other £4.5m defenders. The players who did better him each played in excess of 3,000 minutes. This suggests if Tomkins is able to maintain his starting place (which based on Crystal Palace's current squad he should do so) then he could be the best value £4.5m in FPL 2018/19. Crystal Palace are another team who boast decent fixtures to begin the season.
Lee Peltier
Cardiff defender Lee Peltier presents the most likely starting £4.0m defender among newly promoted clubs. He was a regular starter in the Championship last season notching 30 appearances. Whilst at this stage he is a likely starter his goal scoring capabilities are historically poor. He hasn't scored a goal in over 5 years.
Fernandinho
Defensive midfield players are rarely good acquisitions in Fantasy Premier League. However, the statistics suggest £5.5m priced Fernandinho may be an outlier. Based on last season's points he offers the 5th best points per £m across all midfielders and forwards. Moreover his starting seems as likely as anyone else in the Man City team. On top of this if you add on the fact Man City have great fixtures over the first part of the season, then Fernandinho is a budget midfield option certainly worth considering. The question is whether his 120 point haul from last season can be replicated.
Fixture Analysis
Of course finding budget players is one thing but making sure their club's fixtures match the player's prospects are another. Stay on top of each club's fixtures by using our Fantasy Premier League fixture difficulty matrix here:
/fixture-analysis/
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