Crystal Palace pair two of the best value Fantasy Premier League midfielders
With the Premier League season now less than a month away, we continue scouting out the Fantasy Premier League’s biggest bargains. Next up is the Midfield and we offer five budget midfielders worthy of selection.
First up we’re going with Brentford’s Bryan Mbeumo. He featured in every game for the Bees in the Premier League last season, scoring nine goals and providing eight assists.
With Ivan Toney out until January, Brentford will need their goals to come from somewhere and strangely enough Mbeumo actually flourished last season in the games where Toney was absent. In fact two of Mbeumo’s highest rated performances came against Tottenham (9.00) and West Ham (8.76) both of which Ivan Toney missed. It may be a coincidence but it may also be the start of a pattern which might suggest Mbeumo is in for a big season.
Mbeumo accumulated at total of 150 points in last season’s Fantasy Premier League competition and at just £6.5 he is well worth including in your side.
Coming in even cheaper than Mbeumo is our second option, Michael Olise. He has been electric since signing for Crystal Palace and last season only Kevin De Bruyne (16) and Mo Salah (12) provided more assists than the 21-year-old.
Olise was one of the league’s brightest stars last season and he was the fourth highest ranked player (6.99) 21 and under, in Europe’s top five leagues. Only Jude Bellingham (7.58), Bukayo Saka (7.40) and Jamal Musiala (7.34) ranked higher than the Palace man.
🌡️ Highest rated players aged 21 and under in Europe's top 5 leagues last season (min 30 apps):
— WhoScored.com (@WhoScored) July 12, 2023
🥇 Jude Bellingham - 7.58
🥈 𝐁𝐮𝐤𝐚𝐲𝐨 𝐒𝐚𝐤𝐚 - 𝟕.𝟒𝟎
🥉 Jamal Musiala - 7.34
4⃣ Michael Olise - 6.99
🟰 Rayan Cherki 6.99 pic.twitter.com/ogYHEkTfcf
We go cheaper again with Douglas Luiz coming in at just £5.5. The Brazillian 25-year-old played a key role in a very successful season for Aston Villa, which saw them secure a European spot for the first time since 2011.
He managed six goals and six assists for Villa last season and finished up as their joint-second highest scorer, behind Ollie Watkins (15). On top of that he was the second highest rated Villa player last season with a WhoScored.com rating of 6.93. He totalled 142 FPL points last season so at this short price he could provide the points if Aston Villa can start the season in the same fashion that they finished the last.
The second representative from Crystal Palace to make our shortlist is Eberechi Eze and it’s easy to see how he’s made the cut. Firstly, he was Palace’s highest rated player, with a rating of 7.02, and he scored 10 goals and provided four assists from midfield.
Not only this, but Eze completed the most successful dribbles in the league with 71, averaged the most dribbles per game (1.9) and had the highest dribbles success rate (58.2%) last season. On the Fantasy Premier League platform, Eze recorded the ninth highest total amongst midfielders last season with 159 points.
Our final selection is Fulham’s Andreas Pereira. He is another midfielder priced at £5.5 which seems like it could be worth a punt. The midfielder totalled 123 points last season and whilst that might not be the highest of the suggestions here, it’s worth noting that it is above some more expensive options like Raheem Sterling, Casemiro and Kai Havertz, who all scored fewer points than Pereira last season.
Pereira provided six assists for the Cottagers last season and with a WhoScored rating of 6.73 was their seventh highest performing player. One key metric for the Brazilian was key passes. He completed a total of 60 key passes last season, a number which could only be beaten by nine other midfielders.
