Erling Haaland, Salah, and Kane’s price tag, the talking point as we look out for the perfect Fantasy Premier League Team combination for the 2023-24 season.
The most watched football league across the globe, the ‘English Premier League’ is about to begin in less than a month’s time from August 12. Due to its global reach, it has a fan base in every corner of the earth. Apart from supporting their respective clubs passionately, there are certain sections of fans who participate in the ‘Fantasy Premier League’, an official fantasy game by EPL.
This season entries are now open, and prices for players have been revealed. One can create a fantasy team to boost their football knowledge among their local leagues as well as in the global leagues. But the biggest question in the fantasy manager’s mind will be to find the perfect combination of 15 players to start the season.
With Erling Halaand becoming the highest ever priced player of the fantasy league ever with a 14 mn price tag, the question arises of how to manage the complete team of 15 players in 100mn with Halaand or Salah in the team? Will it be possible to have both in the team without disturbing the balance of the team?
Well, in this article, we will try to clear this dilemma for fantasy managers as we create three best fantasy team for Premier League 2023-24. That includes one with Halaand, one with Salah, and one with both in the team. Alright then, let’s get to it without any further delay.
Fantasy Team 1: Including Erling Haaland and Excluding Mohd. Salah
Defense:
Defense wise, this team looks formidable as we have chosen last season’s highest point-getter Raya as our first-choice goalkeeper. Whereas our second goalkeeper Pickford is more than the second choice keeper as he might be 11 ahead of Raya based on fixture difficulty level.
Defenders Gabriel, Akanji, Martinez, and Botman all are from the top 4 finishing teams of the previous season. Whereas Tarkowski our fifth was one of the best defenders for Everton in the latter half of the last season. Also, Everton have comparatively better fixtures to start the upcoming season.
Midfield:
Arsenal were one of the best teams for most part of the last EPL season, and two players who stood out for them were Saka and Odegaard. Both finished last season with over 200 points. It was a close call between Son and Rashford for our third midfielder, but based on the current form and bit of instability in the Spurs dugout we have gone with Rashford, who will start his second full season under the stable management of Ten Hag.
Jensen and Douglas Luiz are our budget buys, and can be fruitful if used wisely for specific fixtures. They both did a decent job for their respective team in 2022-23. So if we look at the overall look of the midfield, we were able to squeeze in the three best-scoring midfielders of last season excluding Salah.
Attack:
With Haaland ‘the goal machine’ in the team, our attack has a lot of gas. Also, by no means Watkins and Nunez are just slot fillers. Watkins has shown not only in the previous season, but also in 2021-22 that he has an eye for the goal.
Whereas Nunez might not have had the start he wanted at Liverpool, he showed signs that he belongs here at the end of last season. He is undoubtedly one player to look out for this season.
So, the overall take for this team is that though we have to compromise on some big names like Kane, Salah, Son, and TAA to name a few, the overall balance of the team still looks good, and is a dependable team to start the season with.
Goalkeepers: Raya – BRE (5.0 m), Pickford – EVE (4.5 m)
Defenders: Gabriel – ARS (5.0 m), Botman – NEW (4.5 m), Akanji – MCI (5.0 m), Martinez – MUN (5.0), Tarkowski – EVE (4.5 m)
Mid Fielders: Saka – ARS (8.5 m), Rashford – MUN (9.0 mn), Odegaard – ARS (8.5 m), Jensen – BRE (5.5 m), Douglas Luiz – AVL (5.5 m)
Forwards: Haaland – MCI (14 m), Watkins – AVL (8.0 m), Darwin – LIV(7.5 m)
Fantasy Team 2: Excluding Erling Halaand and Including Mohd. Salah
Defense:
Though we had an extra 1.5 million to invest as we replaced Haaland with Salah, we decided to keep our defense the same as team 1. We got tempted to have Trent Alexander Arnold in our team, but decided against it as we already have a decent defense to start the season.
Midfield:
We could not ignore the Arsenal pair of Saka and Odegaard based on their previous season performance, so we have them as common players in our midfield. With Salah replacing Rashford and Foden replacing Jensen, we can say that the midfield of Team 2 is a bit stronger than Team 1. Also, the absence of DeBruyne at the start of the season might boost the fantasy points of Foden, so he is a steal at a 7.5 m price. Soucek is our budget buy if this team but he can be used in a few particular fixtures.
Attack:
Harry Kane is a must-buy in the absence of Haaland, so he selects himself in our team. Wissa is our second forward who performed well above expectations last season. He will also be benefited from the absence of Toney, and should be the main striker for Brentford this season.
Calvert-Lewin didn’t do well last season as he didn’t play much due to injury. but we all know what he is capable of. We believe that this attack is a bit weaker than Team 1, but it’s the cost we have to pay for having a better midfield.
Goalkeepers: Raya – BRE (5.0 m), Pickford – EVE (4.5 m)
Defenders: Gabriel – ARS (5.0 m), Botman – NEW (4.5 m), Akanji – MCI (5.0 m), Martinez – MUN (5.0), Tarkowski – EVE (4.5 m)
Mid Fielders: Saka – ARS (8.5 m), Salah – LIV (12.5 m), Odegaard – ARS (8.5 m), Foden – MCI (7.5 m), Soucek – WHU (5.0 m)
Forwards: Harry Kane – TOT (12.5 m), Calvert-Lewin – EVE (6.0 m), Wissa – BRE (6 m)
Fantasy Team 3: Including both Erling Halaand and Mohd. Salah
Is it possible to have both Haaland and Salah on the team without weakening the other departments of the team? Well, the answer is if we choose a couple of 4-4.5 m defenders wisely, and with one budget midfielder, we don’t have to compromise much on the overall balance of the team.
Defense:
We have to let go of our go-to goalkeeper Raya, and have to pick another impressive goalkeeper of last season in the form of Leno. We can keep juggling between Leno and Pickford depending on the fixtures. Similarly, we let go of Akanji, and selected Beyer, who is a sure starter for Burnley to squeeze in an extra million to use in midfield.
Midfield:
We don’t have to compromise in the midfield department as it’s exactly same as the Team 2.
Attack:
The only change from Team 2 is that we included Haaland in place of Kane. With Haaland as our go-to man, Wissa will be our second attacking option. Whereas Calvert-Lewin is our backup attacker whose fitness we will be looking at before giving him the start in playing 11.
So our overall take is that this team is if not better but by no means lesser than Team 1 and Team 2.
Goalkeepers: Leno – FUL (4.5 m), Pickford – EVE (4.5 m)
Defenders: Gabriel – ARS (5.0 m), Botman – NEW (4.5 m), Beyer – BUR (4.0 m), Martinez – MUN (5.0), Tarkowski – EVE (4.5 m)
Mid Fielders: Saka – ARS (8.5 m), Salah – LIV (12.5 m), Odegaard – ARS (8.5 m), Foden – MCI (7.5 m), Soucek – WHU (5.0 m)
Forwards: Haaland – MCI (14 m), Calvert-Lewin – EVE (6.0 m), Wissa – BRE(6 m)
Thanks for reading! What’s your take on the best fantasy premier league team for 2023-24? Please email your thoughts to footbalyticsofficial@gmail.com
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Akshay is an author at Footbalytics. His love for football started way back in 1998 when Ronaldo (Not Cristiano) was his first football hero, and the list keeps getting longer ever since.
Though Akshay is a Teacher by profession, he firmly believes that there is no better classroom than the Sports field and no better Teacher than Sports.