Fantasy Premier League 2026/27: Key City Assets to Consider
The countdown to the new Fantasy Premier League season has started, and the tinkering has already gone into overdrive.
With the Gameweek 1 deadline locked in for 18:30 (UK) on Friday 21 August, managers have been handed the annual pre-season gift: unlimited transfers. Wildcards without the chip. Drafts torn up and rebuilt in an instant. And right in the middle of that chaos, three City names are dominating early selections.
Haaland: The game’s first £15.5m man
Erling Haaland has broken almost everything since arriving in English football. Now he’s broken FPL’s pricing model.
After racking up 239 points last season – more than any other player – and delivering 35 attacking returns, the Norwegian has been installed as the most expensive FPL asset in history at £15.5m. It is a number designed to make managers think twice, to force a decision on structure, to test how much “essential” really means.
So far, the answer is clear. It hasn’t scared anyone.
Haaland sits in a huge 75.2% of early drafts. Three out of four managers are building around him, accepting that if you go without and he starts fast, your season can be shredded before September. Captaincy, coverage, fear – call it what you like. Haaland remains the pillar around which most FPL teams are being constructed.
Guehi: The premium rock at the back
Further down the pitch, Marc Guehi has quietly become one of the most reliable defensive picks in the game.
His 179 points last season left him behind only one defender in the overall standings. That return was no accident. Fourteen clean sheets, three goals, five assists, 22 defensive contribution points and 14 bonus points tell the story of a defender who offered far more than just the odd shut-out.
FPL has responded with a firm price tag of £6.0m. That puts him in the premium bracket, the territory where managers usually demand attacking upside or ironclad clean-sheet potential.
Yet Guehi is still finding his way into squads at an impressive rate. He is currently owned by 24.7% of managers, a quarter of the game trusting him to anchor their backlines from day one. In a season where budget distribution will be tested by Haaland’s fee, that level of investment in a defender speaks volumes.
O’Reilly: From fringe pick to fantasy force
If last season belonged to the established names, it also opened the door for a new FPL favourite in Nico O’Reilly.
The 2025/26 campaign was a breakthrough year for the defender. He delivered five goals, four assists and 14 clean sheets, powering his way to 160 fantasy points. The leap is staggering: 129 more points than he managed in 2024/25.
That kind of surge never goes unnoticed. O’Reilly has been rewarded with a rise to £6.5m, a price that places him firmly among the serious options rather than the budget punts. Even so, managers are not shying away. He already features in 24% of teams, his ownership almost mirroring Guehi’s.
The message is clear: last season was no fluke in the eyes of the FPL community.
Unlimited transfers will vanish the moment that Friday deadline hits. Drafts will be locked, regrets will begin, and the long grind of the 2026/27 season will start to bite.
For now, though, three City assets are shaping the template: Haaland as the immovable premium up front, Guehi as the dependable defensive cornerstone, and O’Reilly as the newly-minted star who might just define the season for those who back him early.
