Fantasy Challenge: How to spend TIGHT budget wisely

The theme of the latest Fantasy Challenge is "Economise". Managers need to select a seven-a-side team using a budget of just £45.0m.

This is a skill that all FPL managers have to master in the main game. This week in FPL Challenge is going to be all about finding the players who provide the best value to ensure that you can stay within the budget. 

Here, FPL expert Sam Bonfield reveals her approach for Gameweek 12.

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With Mohamed Salah (£12.9m) facing Southampton, he feels like an essential pick. Even if he takes up 28.6 per cent of the budget! Having Salah means that there is £32.1m left to spend on the other six picks. 

Goalkeepers 

I will go for Caoimhin Kelleher (£4.5m) in goal. He kept a clean sheet in his last Premier League match against Aston Villa and offers great value for money. He also faces a Southampton team who have scored the fewest goals in the league so far this season, with seven. At £4.5m, he also enables some more expensive picks across the rest of the squad. 

Defenders 

There have only been 45 clean sheets so far this season. This is the fewest there have been over the opening 11 Gameweeks of a season since 2011/12.

PL clean sheets from GW1-11 since 2011/12

The lack of clean sheets so far this season suggests that it is better to look for defenders with attacking threat or those facing sides who have scored the fewest goals so far. Southampton are the lowest scorers so far, but with an economised budget, affording players like Virgil van Dijk (£6.3m) and Andy Robertson (£5.9m) will likely be too difficult. So Ibrahima Konate (£5.4m) could be the best route into the defence most likely to keep a clean sheet this weekend.

Konate has also registered two attacking returns this season, tied for the most along with Van Dijk among Liverpool defenders. He's registered eight attempts from set-pieces, more than any team-mate, while opponents Southampton have conceded 58 attempts from such situations, the third-most in the competition.

The second defender slot needs to be a player priced under £5.0m in order to make the budget work. Rayan Ait-Nouri (£4.7m) has a difficult fixture on paper at Fulham. Both these sides have scored 16 goals this season and therefore Ait-Nouri would be picked purely for his attacking threat. The Wolverhampton Wanderers defender has registered five attacking returns, more than any other defender in Fantasy this season.

Meanwhile, Villa's Lucas Digne (£4.7m) also looks a promising option. Digne has five attacking or defensive returns this season, including three assists. Moreover, Digne recently registered two assists for France against Italy. Villa host Crystal Palace in Gameweek 12, and with only Southampton scoring fewer goals than the Eagles's total of eight, he looks to have a good opportunity to collect a clean sheet.

Another good budget option is Manchester United's Noussair Mazraoui (£4.6m). Man Utd's Gameweek 12 fixture at Ipswich Town will be new head coach Ruben Amorim's first match in charge and therefore it will be important to monitor the teamsheet in case of a change of personal at the back. However, Mazraoui registered a clean sheet and two bonus points in Gameweek 11, so providing he starts, he boasts good potential.

Midfielders 

Salah takes the first of the two midfielder slots. The Liverpool star is the only player this season to have registered more than 100 points to date. He is averaging 9.7 points per start and has had the international break off, after he wasn't selected by Egypt. Salah has played 11 times against Southampton in the Premier League. In that time he has registered seven goals, four assists and six clean sheets. The Egyptian will be my captain this week. 

Alongside Salah, a budget-friendly midfielder will be key. If money wasn't economised this week, I would have added Bruno Fernandes (£8.4m) or Cole Palmer (£10.9m). However, with £17.5m for the remaining three picks, this would mean having a non-starting player in the forward slot and downgrading Kelleher to a £4.0m goalkeeper.

Morgan Rogers (£5.4m) is the perfect pick here. He both enables the economised budget, as well as being a good pick. Since Gameweek 5, Rogers has registered five attacking returns, with only three midfielders (Salah, Palmer and Bryan Mbeumo (£7.9m) bettering that tally. In that time, Rogers has averaged 5.3 points per start. 

There are other budget-friendly options that I considered before settling on Rogers. Emile Smith Rowe (£5.7m) has five attacking returns this season and he is currently averaging 5.3 points per start. Smith Rowe delivered his second double-digit haul of the season in Gameweek 11 and faces a Wolves side who have kept only one clean sheet so far this season. 

If managers have go for two defenders priced £5.0m and under, or go for a Fabianski in goal, then it is possible to budget for a midfielder up to £6.4m. This means that both Noni Madueke (£6.4m) and Alejandro Garnacho (£6.4m) would be affordable. Madueke has registered five attacking returns so far this season, while Garnacho has four attacking returns, including a goal in Gameweek 11. 

Forwards 

I would have loved to have been able to afford Alexander Isak (£8.5m) up front, but with Salah taking a large chunk of the budget, the Newcastle forward is unaffordable. Isak has been in outstanding form since returning from injury, producing three goals and an assist across his last three outings. He faces a West Ham United defence who have struggled for clean sheets this season and are conceding an average of 1.7 goals per match.

Much like Isak, Rasmus Hojlund (£6.9m) also looks like a good option this week, unless managers are prepared to have two £4.5m defenders. Hojlund has yet to catch fire since his arrival in the league, however under Amorim this could change against Ipswich on Sunday.

I have opted for two cheaper forwards in order to allow for a more expensive defender in Konate. Yoane Wissa (£6.1m) has been the standout forward of the season. Despite only starting seven matches due to injury, the Brentford star has registered eight attacking returns, something that only Erling Haaland (£15.2m), Nicolas Jackson (£7.9m) and Chris Wood (£6.6m) have managed among forwards. This is despite Jackson playing 294 minutes more, Wood logging 310 minutes more and Haaland a staggering 421 minutes more.

Brentford visit an Everton side in Gameweek 12 that have conceded 17 goals so far this season. Given Wissa's form, he could exploit their defensive weaknesses. Wissa is currently flagged in the game as an injury doubt, but in Fantasy Challenge, this isn't an issue, as if he isn't selected in the starting XI, he can be changed. In that scenario, I would move to AFC Bournemouth's Evanilson (£6.0m). The forward has registered attacking returns in each of the last four Gameweeks, registering 28 points. 

Currently, I have opted for Joao Pedro (£5.5m) in the second forward slot. The Brighton & Hove Albion forward returned from injury in Gameweek 11, coming off the bench to register 11 points, thanks to a goal, an assist and all three bonus points. However, we are yet to understand how the Seagulls will line up now that the Brazilian is available again and whether he will come straight back into the starting XI.

If Joao Pedro doesn't start, there will be a tricky decision to make. The forward can produce as a substitute, as we saw in Gameweek 11 and multiple times during the 2023/24 season. But with this Fantasy Challenge team, I have left £0.6m in the bank, so I could go for his team-mate Danny Welbeck (£6.0m) instead.