Fantasy Premier League: Who are the players from the promoted sides worth considering?

In Fantasy Premier League, investing in players from the promoted teams often comes with its risks, as their Premier League form is challenging to predict.

However, plenty of fantasy managers are considering looking at Coventry City, Hull City and Ipswich Town, especially since all of their defenders are priced at the lowest £4.0million.

So, which of the players from the promoted teams are worth considering for your team for the opening gameweeks of the season?

The goalkeepers

Unfortunately, there’s no starting goalkeeper from the promoted sides priced at the lowest price point of £4.0m, with all of these picks coming in at £4.5m.

Carl Rushworth (£4.5m) of Coventry would be my pick of the bunch after he made his loan deal from Brighton permanent this summer. He kept 17 clean sheets last season in the Championship.

Despite this, I think that there are better options in the game at this price point, including Brighton’s Bart Verbruggen (£4.5m) and Tottenham Hotspur’s Antonin Kinsky (£4.5m).

The defenders

This category is the richest, supported by a blanket £4million pricing for all defenders from the three promoted teams, with strategy perhaps dictating which sides to invest in. These budget defenders are useful enablers for an early Bench Boost in one of the opening two gameweeks.

Ipswich Town have the best clean-sheet potential of the promoted sides in Gameweek One when they take on Sunderland at Portman Road. Regis Le Bris’ were one of the worst attacks on the road last season, scoring just 17 goals.

Issa Diop (£4.0m) has Premier League experience with West Ham and Fulham, which perhaps explains why, at the time of writing, he’s the highest-selected defender from the Ipswich defence. The Morocco international is in around 18 per cent of sides.

However, Dara O’Shea (£4.0m) is the one to go for if you’re chasing defensive contribution points, having averaged around nine defensive contributions last season. That’s a figure we’d expect to see improve given the challenges of the Premier League.

However, there’s a small chance he ends up beginning the campaign at right-back, which would dampen his appeal. A goal in their final pre-season friendly does help O’Shea’s case, though.

Ipswich’s Dara O’Shea carries good DEFCON potential (Alex Burstow/Getty Images)

Leif Davis (£4.0m) is perhaps the more attractive short-term punt, given his attacking potential. He provided six goal involvements for his side last season.

The left-back has the ability for much more though, having registered 18 Championship assists in 2023-24. Two goals and one assist in pre-season certainly strengthens his appeal.

Moving our attention to Gameweek Two, the utility comes from Coventry’s defenders. They face champions Arsenal at the Emirates Stadium in Gameweek One but then host Championship play-off winners Hull City at home.

This is a fixture which ended 0-0 home and away last season. Again, it’s a battle of defensive contributions or attacking threat between Milan van Ewijk (£4.0m) and Bobby Thomas (£4.0m), and I’ve tinkered with owning both in my early drafts.

Van Ewijk has the upside once again, with the right-back producing eight assists in the Championship last season, more than any of his team-mates. He may often be in the mix for defensive contributions, too.

We expect Thomas to pick up defensive contribution points more consistently, with the centre-back racking up what would have counted for just under nine per 90 minutes last season. He’s no stranger to attacking threat either, with three goals and four assists last season.

When it comes to assets from Hull, their clean-sheet potential isn’t tempting enough in any individual game for me to consider investment. However, I do think John Egan (£4.0m) has the best potential of their assets given his ability to score defensive contribution points.

The midfielders

If you’ve got a £4.5 million midfielder spot in your squad structure, then Hull City’s Regan Slater (£4.5m) looks to be the best option to fill it. He offers consistent minutes, playing every game for his team last season.

He produced four goal involvements last season and should be in the mix for defensive contribution points, too. He’s a safe option as the eighth ‘attacker’ in your squad (counting your forwards and four other midfielders) but doesn’t have enough upside for those on Bench Boost.

The forwards

Ollie McBurnie (£5.5m) carries the most potential among the promoted forwards, but he’ll struggle to disrupt the template at £1.0million above the base price, and with the popular Dominic Calvert-Lewin (£6.0m) coming in just £0.5 million more.

McBurnie has significant Premier League experience, with 13 goals and six assists across three seasons as a regular. He registered 24 goal involvements in the Championship last season, and he’s on penalties.

There are few attractive forward options but Hull’s Oli McBurnie might be worth a punt (Tony King/Getty Images)

Meanwhile, Ipswich’s Sindre Walle Egeli (£4.5m) has an outside chance of starting up front in Gameweek One, but it’s a very short-term punt due to the recent arrival of Julio Enciso. 

He is a high-risk enabler for those using their Bench Boost in Gameweek One, with three assists across pre-season from the wing.

We saw Coventry City’s Haji Wright (£5.5m) miss Coventry’s final pre-season friendly against Monaco — a 2-0 win — playing just 15 minutes across their entire preparation. He’s been their top scorer for three seasons, including 17 in their last campaign.

In Wright’s stead, Ellis Simms (£5.0m) stepped up, scoring in that win against Monaco, his second goal of pre-season. If he’s likely to be a starter by Gameweek Two, it opens up the Bench Boost strategy.

It’s a risk, though. Taiwo Awoniyi (£5.5m) has just signed from Nottingham Forest, which instantly negates any appeal.