In need of making up ground on your mini-league rivals in Fantasy Premier League? Here, some of the world's best managers rank under-the-radar players who they think can flourish over the coming Gameweeks in order of priority and explain their reasoning.
Experts' picks
| Pick 1 | Pick 2 | Pick 3 | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Lee Bonfield | Milenkovic | Davis | Bowen |
| Pranil Sheth | Foden | Cunha | Maddison |
| Ben Crabtree | Foden | Johnson | Jimenez |
| Nick Harris | Maddison | McNeil | Lewis |
| Gianni Buttice | Madueke | Konate | Havertz |
| Az Phillips | Davis | Dibling | Foden |
| Sam Bonfield | Johnson | Delap | Ait-Nouri |
Lee Bonfield (@FPLFamily)
Nottingham Forest have been excellent defensively so far this season, and with a decent fixture run coming up, Nikola Milenkovic's (£4.5m) clean-sheet points should continue. He's also got decent goal threat, with four attempts from set-pieces this season.
Leif Davis (£4.5m) racked up 18 assists in the Championship last season, so the kind schedule for Ipswich Town should provide the full-back with opportunities to pick up some attacking returns.
I also feel West Ham United players have gone a little under the radar this season. With some reasonably obliging defences coming up in the short term in Tottenham Hotspur, Manchester United and Everton, I'd back the likes of Jarrod Bowen (£7.4m) to once again be in our thinking, particularly after his first double-digit haul of the season against Ipswich in Gameweek 7.
Pranil Sheth (@lateriser12)
Phil Foden (£9.2m) hasn't started the season well, but he's just about gaining full fitness now. Manchester City have a strong run of fixtures which could correlate to plenty of points for the midfielder.
See: Fixture Difficulty Ratings (FDR)
I also really like Matheus Cunha (£6.5m). Wolverhampton Wanderers have had a really tough start to the season and will soon have a long run of good fixtures. He's probably the most talented player in his price bracket and is a top budget forward.
Finally Spurs' James Maddison (£7.5m). He's been in good form since the start of the season in a very attacking Spurs team, who have a good run of fixtures now. His underlying numbers this season are very encouraging.
Ben Crabtree (@FC_CrabDogg)
As a Foden owner, I think he's under the radar due to his late return to the Man City team after his heavy involvement at UEFA EURO 2024. But as the cheapest of the big-hitters, he looks a great pick if he can return to his best.
Brennan Johnson (£6.6m) ticks all the boxes; cheap, on form, in an attacking team, high Expected Goals (xG) stats and good fixtures.
Meanwhile, Raul Jimenez (£5.6m) is a forgotten man of FPL, but is in great form, with Fulham looking good this season. He's got some good fixtures and is cheaper than other budget forwards such as Dominic Calvert-Lewin (£6.0m) and Chris Wood (£6.2m).
Nick Harris (@WGTA_Nick)
Maddison has been performing excellently and has an xG tally of 2.0 and an Expected Assists (xA) total of 3.1 over the course of the season. With Spurs' good run of fixtures, I can see him doing well over the coming Gameweeks.
Everton's Dwight McNeil (£5.7m) has been a name that has been around for a long time, but he's having his best start ever to a Premier League campaign. Everton have some excellent fixtures to come, with Ipswich, Fulham, Southampton, West Ham and Brentford up next.
Rico Lewis (£4.7m) has looked excellent for Man City and could potentially have his breakthrough season. City have some great fixtures to come and I can see him returning not only clean sheets, but also goals and assists.
Gianni Buttice (@GianniButtice)
Noni Madueke (£6.5m) is under 10 per cent owned, very affordable and a cheap alternative to Cole Palmer (£10.8m) from the Chelsea attack. He is the sixth-highest scoring midfielder this season, with 43 points.
Liverpool's Ibrahima Konate (£5.2m) impressively sits third among defenders so far, with 37 points. At under 12 per cent owned and playing for the best defence in the league to date, he offers great value. But most importantly, he's a lot cheaper than the other regular starters at the back for the Reds.
Finally, Kai Havertz (£8.3m) has five attacking returns from seven matches so far. Havertz has become super consistent and hasn't missed a minute for Arsenal so far this season, although at 20 per cent ownership, he is becoming less and less under the radar.
Az Phillips (@FPLBlackBox_Az)
Davis is just two per cent owned and costs a mere £4.5m. It was a poor defensive performance against West Ham, but Ipswich have looked solid in other matches, despite playing Liverpool, Man City, Brighton & Hove Albion and Aston Villa.
He takes corners and has an Expected Goal Involvement (xGI) of 0.86 over the last two Gameweeks, suggesting he's been unlucky not to get an attacking return. The fixtures are great too; no team has conceded more crosses down Davis' side this season than Gameweek 8 opponents Everton (82), with Gameweek 10 opponents Leicester City second for crosses conceded down his side, with 81.
Sam Bonfield (@FPLFamily)
Despite scoring six goals in his last six appearances in all competitions, Johnson is remarkably still only owned by five per cent of FPL managers. He can extend that form given Spurs' fixtures.
Liam Delap (£5.6m) has scored three goals in his last two Premier League outings. He has had 11 attempts on goal this season, with eight coming from inside the box. His four goals so far this season are second among forwards only to the 10 of Erling Haaland (£15.4m).
Rayan Ait-Nouri (£4.4m) has a horrible fixture in Gameweek 8 at home to Man City, so bench him for that. But after that, Wolves have a great run that should lead to their first clean sheets of the season. Ait-Nouri has created nine chances this season and also ranks third among Wolves players for shots on goal, with nine. The defender already has four attacking returns this season - the most in the Wolves squad.