Here’s our FPL budget midfielders GW1 article where we rank the midfielders from £6.5m and cheaper. There’s a table of stats to help you make a transfer choice plus some commentary on each’s prospects and their fixtures.
FPL budget midfielders GW1 – player rankings for midfielders £6.5m and cheaper interim article
This is our 3rd player rankings article. You can see defenders and GK rankings here and premium midfielders here
Methodology
I’ve started with all the midfielders at £6.5m and above that I think will start GW1 and have some longevity in the team.
I’ve then split them into players already in the league and new players to the league. It’s difficult to rank players with stats from different leagues than the premier league.
Essentially I looked at players returns, fixtures and underlying stats in order to rank them.
Whatever you think of the ranking there’s plenty of info to make your own decision.
Stats definitions
PP90: the FPL points earned per 90 minutes played
G/A mins: The amount of minutes it took to get a goal or assist. The lower the better obviously.
Fixture ease ranking so you can see who has the best fixtures from GW1-4 and GW1-8. See our fixture ease article
U/S rank: The underlying stats ranking is from our underlying stats article where projected goals are turned into raw points. Info from the excellent free site understat.com. See our underlying stats article
The schedule of existing PL players
Richarlison
For me the best pick. On the positive side he has great fixtures, an attacking minded manager and should play on the left hand side of a front 3.
He has great underlying stats it’s just whether you believe he can actually finish off the opportunities he gets himself into. Your view on that and his long dry spell at the end of last season will dictate your view on Richarlison.
Wolves (A)
Southampton (H)
Bournemouth (A)
Huddersfield (H)
West Ham (H)
Arsenal (A)
Fulham (H)
Leicester (A)
Walcott
Currently has an ankle injury but expected to be fit but yet to even feature in pre-season so needs serious monitoring
. Should play on the right hand of a front 3. Another player who had a dry spell towards the end of the season but when Big Sam expects you to be a RB as well as an RW then it can be limiting. A new attacking manager and good fixtures are what you need to believe in to put that to one side.
Wolves (A)
Southampton (H)
Bournemouth (A)
Huddersfield (H)
West Ham (H)
Arsenal (A)
Fulham (H)
Leicester (A)
Pereyra
A quality player with alot of injury problems last season. Should play in an advanced role but injury and substitutions are the risk.
Brighton (H)
Burnley (A)
Crystal Palace (H)
Spurs (H)
Man Utd (H)
Fulham (A)
Arsenal (A)
Bournemouth (H)
Townsend
This is really about decent opening fixtures apart from the Liverpool game. You’ve just got to believe that with the good fixtures that a trademark screamer or 2 will go in. Should play on the left side of the midfield in a 4-4-2.
Fulham (A)
Liverpool (H)
Watford (A)
Southampton (H)
Huddersfield (A)
Newcastle (H)
Bournemouth (A)
Wolves (H)
Milivojevic
He scored 7 penalties last season. To select him you’ve got to believe that Zaha and co will earn a whole bunch more as apart from that and the the occasional set piece return as a CM he’s not going to get you much more
Fulham (A)
Liverpool (H)
Watford (A)
Southampton (H)
Huddersfield (A)
Newcastle (H)
Bournemouth (A)
Wolves (H)
Gudmundsson
Burnley have great fixtures and with the Brady injury Gudmundsson should get a decent share of set pieces. The main negatives are rotation related to the Europa League, assuming they qualify for the Groups and a manager with a defensive mindset. His returns are ok ish but his underlying stats are poor.
Southampton (A)
Watford (H)
Fulham (A)
Man Utd (H)
Wolves (A)
Bournemouth (H)
Cardiff (A)
Huddersfield (H)
Deulofeu
Currently injured but expected to be fit although does need monitoring. Showed potential at the end of the season when signed permanently but can be inconsistent and lack end product.
Brighton (H)
Burnley (A)
Crystal Palace (H)
Spurs (H)
Man Utd (H)
Fulham (A)
Arsenal (A)
Bournemouth (H)
Kenedy
Has reasonable returns and good underlying stats just horrible fixtures. The saving grace is that at £5m you can afford to pick the games you play him in. Has been off for the birth of his child but should be back for GW1
Spurs (H)
Cardiff (A)
Chelsea (H)
Man City (A)
Arsenal (H)
Crystal Palace (A)
Leicester (H)
Man Utd (A)
Fabregas
Looks like he will make the midfield 3 in Sarri’s 4-3-3. Last season he had good underlying stats but very assist based. That means he’ll be relying in part on Morata/Giroud to bring home the points for him which may or may not fill you with confidence
Huddersfield (A)
Arsenal (H)
Newcastle (A)
Bournemouth (H)
Cardiff (H)
West Ham (A)
Liverpool (H)
Southampton (A)
Ritchie
Will play as an RAM with Kenedy as the LAM. Should have a reasonable amount of set piece responsibility although Shelvy will also have a say. Just pretty underwhelming returns and underlying stats and a price far more expensive than Kenedy. That’s even before you get to the horrible fixtures
Spurs (H)
Cardiff (A)
Chelsea (H)
Man City (A)
Arsenal (H)
Crystal Palace (A)
Leicester (H)
Man Utd (A)
James McArthur
Essentially a CM but someone who can pop up in the penalty area every now and then. Still this is about a cheap player with good fixtures rather than any expectation of huge returns. However at this price he can just be a bench player or play in selected games
Fulham (A)
Liverpool (H)
Watford (A)
Southampton (H)
Huddersfield (A)
Newcastle (H)
Bournemouth (A)
Wolves (H)
Pritchard
Played CAM last season and with Ince gone looks possible to hold it. Again a cheap player like McArthur but doesn’t have the good fixtures. Again at a price where he doesn’t need to play every game.
Chelsea (H)
Man City (A)
Cardiff (H)
Everton (A)
Crystal Palace (H)
Leicester (A)
Spurs (H)
Burnley (A)
The schedule of new PL players
In my mind it’s impossible to rank players with stats from different leagues so I’ve just had a go at a ranking within themselves. The stats are self explanatory. I’m going to talk about them in their clubs rather than individually.
Maddison
His stats are from Norwich last season.
Although Man Utd and Liverpool are in the first 8 fixtures there’s alot of good fixtures around them.
Maddison does have some risk in that I’m not sure where he will end up with Leicester. Will he compete with Gray for one of the flanks or will he play as a CAM where Puel has generally had a withdrawn striker in Iheanacho or Okazaki.
He does seem to have the ability to put the ball in the back of the net but does come with risk.
Man Utd (A)
Wolves (H)
Southampton (A)
Liverpool (H)
Bournemouth (A)
Huddersfield (H)
Newcastle (A)
Everton (H)
Elyounoussi
His stats are from Basel last season and are quite incredible. It’s just how they translate. Still they are impossible to ignore and Hughes is an attacking coach when he thinks he has the armoury to match the other team. Good fixtures up to GW5
Burnley (H)
Everton (A)
Leicester (H)
Crystal Palace (A)
Brighton (H)
Liverpool (A)
Wolves (A)
Chelsea (H)
Wolves
Jota has an excellent record from the Championship and plays in an advanced position on the left side of a front 3. The additions to the team should also strengthen Wolves which should help. A good option for me.
Neves is in there as he will have penalties and some set piece responsibility.
Everton (H)
Leicester (A)
Man City (H)
West Ham (A)
Burnley (H)
Man Utd (A)
Southampton (H)
Crystal Palace (A)
Cardiff
Good fixtures up to gameweek 3 when it all falls apart
Hoilett and Paterson have good stats, it’s like all Championship players how they translate.
Ralls should have pens and decent set piece responsibility
Bournemouth (A)
Newcastle (H)
Huddersfield (A)
Arsenal (H)
Chelsea (A)
Man City (H)
Burnley (H)
Spurs (A)
Fulham
Sessegnon is the 18 year old wonder kid and who knows what’s possible with him. It’s about your belief in him not stats.
Schurrle’s PL record with Chelsea albeit 5 years ago was pretty phenomenal and his record with Dortmund above isn’t half bad either. The addition of Seri and Mitrovic should help Fulham from an attacking point of view and Schurrle should be productive from the RM position
Cairney has potential to do better than his stats and this is mainly about that and his price
Crystal Palace (H)
Spurs (A)
Burnley (H)
Brighton (A)
Man City (A)
Watford (H)
Everton (A)
Arsenal (H)
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