Fantasy Football Files - 2025/26 - Gameweek 1 - The Prelude / Peaky Reijnders

Another season of Premier League football is here. Which of course means the return of FPL and the Fantasy Football Files. To be honest I could have had another week before things got started. With the Club World Cup and the Women’s Euros, the void of football was not anywhere near as extensive as it in some summers.

Paradoxically saying that, it did seem to take an eternity for FPL to relaunch for the 2025/26 campaign, when it finally did return in late-July, I rushed to do a draft and renew my leagues. For the main league, the ‘Justice League’, I did a vote for whether we stayed at the current entry price, or we went higher. Staying at the current price was to win the vote. Still for the weeks that followed however, it took to the final day as usual to get everyone in just a few hours shy of the deadline. Being the person managing the league it is an outrageous amount of hassle. You would think it would be straightforward. Anyway, to my team and my first draft which is below.

My first draft from July 21st

This season, FPL have made some changes, and this highly influenced my initial draft. Players get points now for defensive contributions, so the sole focus now is not necessarily on getting defenders who you think may keep a clean sheet or if you think they can nick a goal. In terms of bonus chips, it is not just a ‘Wildcard’ that you have in the first half of the season and in the second half, now all the chips repeat themselves. Another addition is that you get five extra transfers for when AFCON begins in December. Judging by social media some are not really fans of this, but with the tournament starting earlier in December, it means players will be away for the busiest part of the season, so I understand. The Assistant manager chip has been abandoned; I was not the biggest fan of it anyhow and with the chips being duplicated I suppose keeping it did not make sense.

I made a plethora of changes to the first draft, including adding another premium defender in Pedro Porro to Marc Cucurella, then by the time the last week came they had both come out of my team. The midfield saw me change my Manchester City midfielder from Rayan Cherki to Omar Marmoush, then to Tijani Reijnders. Then I ended with no City player at all. In terms of forwards, Chris Wood was changed to Danny Welbeck and later I ended up with Ollie Watkins after not going with Hugo Ekitike despite major consideration.

So let us get to the gameweek. When the deadline passed, I saw that I was up against my cousin Clement. I had been on to him to read up on all the rules and be fully prepared, so trust me to get him first up as it seemed he was properly in order and his team looked good. I messaged to inform him that he would probably win as I spent much of the last day chasing people up to sort the head-to-head league and I was slightly dissatisfied with my team because of it.

The action began on Friday night with the champions Liverpool at home to Bournemouth. The Reds started four new signings and one of them the aforementioned Ekitike, put them ahead with a composed finish. At the start of the second period, Gakpo vindicated me selecting him as he put Arne Slot’s men 2-0 ahead when he slotted the ball into the corner, as Ekitike added an assist to his goal. Antoine Semenyo had earlier on been subjected to vile racist abuse and he responded in the best way possible as he punished the open home side. The Ghanaian international scored not just once but copped a brace as it looked like the Cherries had salvaged a point. It was not to be for them however, as substitute Federico Chiesa finished brilliantly and then came the inevitable opening day goal for Mo Salah as late as the 94^th minute. Salah was the most captained player as expected having scored on the opening day in the seven seasons that preceded this, and he left it as late as could be to justify it. Clement also captained Salah, but he was robbed of a double clean sheet due to Semenyo’s exploits as he had Alisson and Virgil van Dijk. The Dutchman would have been on for bonus points if Liverpool did not concede as he racked up 21 defensive contributions. He got two extra points for the contributions regardless. Florian Wirtz’s blank means many will sell him before gameweek 2, however, with him on corners and putting an effort just wide, I saw enough to say that the points will come. There were emotional scenes after the game as Salah embraced the fans who paid tribute to Diogo Jota and his brother Andre Silva. May they both rest in perfect peace, I have still not come to terms with it all. Life is delicate, please never ever take it for granted.

On Saturday, Aston Villa and Newcastle had a stalemate, despite Unai Emery’s side playing with 10 men for over half of the second period. Neither of us had any Newcastle men and our Villa men could not get it done. Watkins had a second half effort saved, whilst Morgan Rogers and Youri Tielemens blanked for Clement. Ezri Konsa was on my bench, and he was the man who received his marching orders, and yet still he got three points.

In the 3pm kick-offs; Brighton and Fulham had a 1-1 draw thanks to a late equaliser from Rodrigo Muniz. My opponent had Carlos Baleba so I thankful there was no return there. Newly promoted Sunderland have had a solid transfer window, and they slapped West Ham 3-0 at the Stadium of Light. Eliezer Mayenda (£5.5m) was a player I thought had potential when I saw him in the Championship, though with him being more expensive than I thought he would be I did not select him, and he scored the opening goal with a fine header. Simon Adringa (£5.5m) was recently purchased from Brighton and he was actually the second midfielder I picked to neutralise the hefty amount that Salah costs. Adringa’s inch perfect cross found Dan Ballard for the second goal before a fine strike by Wilson Isidor wrapped things up. The downside here for me was that I had two West Ham players. Aaron Wan-Bissaka and Jarrod Bowen left me in disarray, the latter almost scored when it was goalless in the first half. Tottenham stopped Burnley from making it a double for the newcomers as they beat them 3-0. Mohammed Kudus looks like he will flourish in a more attacking side with better players, and he helped himself to two assists. I do not know anyone who considered Richarlison, but he was at the double as Thomas Frank won his first league game in charge. Richarlison's second was sublime. Clement and I both gained clean sheet points as he had Djed Spence and I had Micky van de Ven.

In the 5.30pm game, Manchester City romped to a 4-0 away win at Wolves. Erling Haaland was not an option for me as I will always pick Salah over him and both together would almost be a third of your budget, so I left him alone. I was punished for this as the big Norwegian scored twice and of course Clement had him as he found a way to accommodate him and Salah with a lightweight bench. The pain from this game was excruciating as Tijani Reijnders who I took out of my last draft scored and assisted as he accumulated 10 points on his Premier League debut. A nightmare all round as I paid the price for not having any City players to start the season. Rayan Ait-Nouri is always someone I pick, with him now at the Cityzens and far more expensive I ignored him, and they kept a clean sheet. Saturday, concluded with Clement ahead 48-42.

Sunday, saw Chelsea and Crystal Palace have a goalless draw, the circumstances were controversial as Eberechi Eze scored a free-kick which was a disallowed. It helped me as Clement had Eze, however the Chelsea clean sheet made me rue letting go of Cucurella. Having Cole Palmer as a differential did nothing, and as there are so many midfielders who are much cheaper that returned I was vexed, hindsight is a beautiful thing however. To make the Cucurella snub worse, Nottingham Forest were strolling against Brentford leading 3-0 at half-time before they conceded a late penalty. This robbed Clement and I of another clean sheet as he had Murillo and I had replaced Cucurella with Nikola Milenkovic. If I had kept Chris Wood, then I would have been in dreamland as he got a first half brace to leave me feeling almost melancholic. Caoimhin Kelleher was a doubt before the game, but I had him still in goal as I expected him to start, my sub keeper Martin Dubravka ended up getting more points ironically. This therefore meant I could not win as I had no players left, I was disgusted. I had toyed with using my ‘Bench boost’ bonus chip to try and guarantee a first week win, and I would at least be level if I had done so.

The final match on Sunday was between Manchester United and Arsenal. The opposition had Myles Lewis-Skelly in his side, he was only to be on the bench for the Gunners though. Mikel Arteta’s men took all three points as Riccardo Califiori’s goal settled things. Lewis-Skelly came off the bench and was booked so ended with nothing, making me even more mad I did not follow through with the initial thought of using the bench boost. On Monday night, Leeds and Everton ended in a 1-0 Leeds triumph. My last substitute was Joe Rodon, so their clean sheet confirmed I would have won with the bench boost. When a £4m defender keeps a clean sheet and they are on your bench it is a terrible feeling.

It is extremely annoying losing your first game, nonetheless here we are as it finished 53-48. If Clement can keep this up, he will finish in his highest position in the ‘Justice League’ thus far. I picked my team with a view to the first three fixtures at least so I am not looking to use my ‘Wildcard’ just yet, but a second defeat is unthinkable surely. Next up for me is Boods (Ash) which could be very tricky.

@DubulDee