The Premier League is back, and so is Fantasy Premier League
By Tom Vinall
The 24/25 Premier League campaign kicks off on Friday night as Manchester United welcome Fulham to Old Trafford. With it, the popular Fantasy Premier League (FPL) returns.
Over ten million people play FPL worldwide, making it the largest fantasy football game of any domestic league.
Let's take a look at which Tottenham Hotspur players you should be looking to add to your team.
It is important to remember when playing FPL that it is not as simple as: better player = more valuable FPL player. There is a lot more nuance involved. A player can be "better" than another player in general, but less valuable on FPL.
That could be because a player who is seen as inferior to the other is still able to contribute with more goals/assists because they play a more advanced role. It could be because the player you think is better is not an opinion the manager agrees with, and they don't get as much game time. Finally, it could be because the better player is reflected by costing more, and the worse player represents better value for money.
Dominic Solanke at £7.5m represents good value for money. The striker scored 19 goals in the league last season, and told FPL this summer, whilst at Bournemouth, that 20+ is the aim for this season and that he is a player you should put in your team.
Alexander Isak only scored two more goals than Solanke last season, and yet costs another £1m more. Ollie Watkins also scored 19 goals, albeit with a fair few more assists - costs £1.5m more at £9m.
It remains to be seen if Solanke will be on penalties, but it is quite possible. The new Spurs striker has scored twelve from fourteen penalties in his career, whilst another possible taker Heung Min-Son has scored twelve from seventeen attempts from the spot.
Solanke is a good FPL option even without being on penalties, but should he be placed with the responsibility from twelve yards, it makes him a borderline must-have.
Dejan Kulusevski at £6.5m could be another value pick. The Swedish forward impressed in pre-season and whilst he won't be playing as a striker during the 24/25 season, he has made it hard for Ange to leave him out of the starting line-up and could feature in a more central role.
With Solanke joining the club, Kulusevski's chances of providing assists have increased and Spurs as a collective should improve. The 24-year-old would often manage to find Harry Kane with inswinging crossed towards the back post and that is something we may see with him and Solanke.
As for Heung Min-Son - at £10m, perhaps not the best value from all of the Spurs players. This goes back to the earlier point that the better players do not always equal the best picks when playing FPL.
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Son will not be featuring up-front as he did for numerous periods last season, with Ange saying he wants to play the Spurs captain off the left this season, and of course the signing of Dominic Solanke.
Of course, most would say that that is not a bad thing, considering he generally plays better from the left and is a similar goal threat from there. But, with the signing of Solanke, you would imagine Son will be less of a focal point than he was last season, and may not register the same amount of goals.
However, this could mean he gets more assists and with a striker who scored as many as Solanke last season you can definitely picture Son providing him assists throughout the season.
As a midfielder, Son's goals will count for five points, rather than the four for those listed as forwards in the game. He will also get an extra point whenever Spurs keep a clean sheet, although time will tell if that's actually any use or not.
Porro and Udogie by far represent the best value out of Spurs defenders. Porro costs £5.5m, and is owned by 31.1% of players in the entire game. Udogie meanwhile comes in at a measly £5m.
Whilst, as touched on above, Spurs may not keep too many clean sheets - Porro will get plenty of attacking returns. The Spurs defender registered three goals and seven assists in the Premier League last season, and you would fancy him to go better next season.
It is worth remembering that the FPL assist threshold is a lot softer than that of the Opta official definition. If Porro were to drive in one of his raking long shots, which gets parried by the keeper to the likes of Son, Solanke, and co to tap in - Porro will get the FPL assist.
Udogie may not get quite as many attacking returns as Porro, but at .5m cheaper than his fellow full-back, the Italian defender may be the play. He showed at times what he is capable of going forward last season, and with the acquisition of Solanke may find himself with more assists this time out.
Left field shout - Lucas Bergvall. The vast majority of managers will fill their bench with 4.5m options to make up the numbers and allow for the best starting XI possible. Most of the 4.5m options are players from newly promoted teams, players who never play, or generally not very good players.
Whilst Bergvall will not be a starter straight away, he has impressed in pre-season and could get minutes at some point. As a bench option, he could be someone to keep an eye on as the season develops. At 4.5m there is nothing to lose from starting the season with the Swedish midfielder on the end of your bench.