This weekend's Fantasy Challenge, “Bargains”, sees all players priced £6.0m and under earn DOUBLE points.
With £100m available to pick 11 players, the flexible budget presents managers with an intriguing dilemma: do you continue backing the top premium picks? Or do you go all-in on cheaper options to maximise your points potential?
Pick your Fantasy Challenge team NOW!
Once a player's club have started their first match of the Gameweek, they will be locked from any changes. However, you can otherwise tweak any remaining slots in your team, and even enter a full squad, right up until 19:00 GMT on Sunday.
Here, Alex Dakers identifies some of the best budget Fantasy Challenge picks.
Saturday
17:30 GMT Fantasy Challenge deadline
Nottingham Forest v Aston Villa
Of the assets priced £6.0m and under, Nikola Milenkovic (£4.5m) and Murillo (£4.6m) continue to offer attacking threat, while Callum Hudson-Odoi (£5.4m) and Elliot Anderson (£5.0m) both produced assists last time out.
VIlla’s in-form forward Jhon Duran (£5.8m) could start over injury doubt Ollie Watkins (£9.0m) again after scoring in Gameweek 15 and then again versus RB Leipzig in midweek. Morgan Rogers (£5.4m) remains an ever-present threat, while Matty Cash (£4.4m) also scored last weekend before impressing in an out-of-position right-wing role in the UEFA Champions League on Tuesday, recording three shots in 70 minutes.
Sunday
14:00 GMT Fantasy Challenge deadline
Brighton v Crystal Palace
For Brighton & Hove Albion, Joao Pedro (£5.9m) has gone three matches without a goal but is still among the top FPL forwards for attempts in that time, with seven. Full-back Tariq Lamptey (£4.4m) has registered a goal and an assist in his last two starts, while Yankuba Minteh (£5.1m) scored last weekend and managed two shots in the box in just 20 minutes.
In the Crystal Palace ranks, right-back Daniel Munoz (£4.7m) continued his FPL resurgence by netting against Manchester City last weekend, giving him two goals and a clean sheet across his last three matches. Over his last six matches he ranks top among defenders for total attempts, with 10, and big chances, with five. Will Hughes (£4.9m) delivered two fine assists against the champions, including the corner that found the head of Maxence Lacroix (£4.5m).
16:30 GMT Fantasy Challenge deadline
Manchester City v Manchester United
In what could prove to be a season-defining Manchester derby, Amad (£5.1m) is the stand-out Man Utd option for this Fantasy Challenge, having notched his fifth assist in four league starts under Ruben Amorim against Forest last weekend while also firing off four shots in the box.
Diogo Dalot (£5.2m) managed two shots in Gameweek 15 and hasn’t missed a minute of league action under Amorim, while Andre Onana (£5.2m) is still FPL’s top-scoring goalkeeper despite a shaky performance against Forest and will surely have plenty of opportunities for save points against the side with the most attempts this season.
Very few of Pep Guardiola’s starters are priced £6.0m and below. Mateo Kovacic (£5.4m) could be back in action by Sunday, while Matheus Nunes (£4.9m) delivered his third assist of the season last weekend with a well-placed cross for Erling Haaland (£14.9m), before being used off the bench in Europe in midweek.
19:00 Final GMT Fantasy Challenge deadline
Chelsea v Brentford
Southampton v Spurs
Cole Palmer (£11.1m) justified his price tag again in Chelsea’s blockbuster Gameweek 15 win over Spurs, but Enzo Fernandez (£5.0m) - who also has a share of set-pieces duties - could run him close thanks to the double points on offer in this week’s challenge.
Fernandez has now registered six attacking returns in five Gameweeks and faces a Brentford side who have just a single point and a league-high 107 shots conceded away from home this season. The Bees are also third-bottom for goals scored away from home, which could raise faith in the likes of Marc Cucurella (£5.1m), who boasts two assists in three matches, and goalkeeper Robert Sánchez (£4.8m).
Brentford’s Nathan Collins (£4.5m) scored last weekend for his sixth attacking return this season, the joint-most among all defenders, while Kevin Schade (£5.1m) managed his sixth return in three matches despite playing just 17 minutes off the bench in Gameweek 15.
Southampton continue to struggle in front of goal, but Cameron Archer’s (£5.0m) underlying stats have at least ticked up a little recently, the forward accumulating an Expected Goal Involvement (xGI) total of 1.09 across three starts since Gameweek 13.
Most of Spurs’ main point-scorers are priced above £6.0m, but Pedro Porro (£5.6m) could deliver at both ends against the league’s most goal-shy attack and second-worst defence. Ange Postecoglou’s men have conceded the second-fewest goals away from home this season, with eight, although three of their last four away matches have ended in defeat.
Monday
AFC Bournemouth v West Ham
Boosted by their respective potentials for attacking and bonus points, the likes of Milos Kerkez (£4.6m), Illia Zabarnyi (£4.4m) and Dean Huijsen (£4.3m) are all worthy picks in an AFC Bournemouth backline whose home defensive record can be bettered only by Liverpool this season.
Further forward, Antoine Semenyo (£5.7m) is second in the league for goal attempts, with 58, and Justin Kluivert (£5.5m) is also worth a look. Evanilson (£6.1m) falls outside the Fantasy Challenge “bargain” classification but Enes Unal (£5.4m) has scored off the bench twice in the last four Gameweeks and could warrant a punt.
West Ham United are among the top teams for goal attempts but the worst for goals scored away from home. Still, there are worse options than the towering Tomas Soucek (£4.9m), who has two goals in his last four matches and plays in a side ranked top for set-piece attempts in away matches.
Full-back Aaron Wan-Bissaka (£4.6m), who scored in back-to-back matches recently, and Crysencio Summerville (£5.7m), who has racked up 1.41 xGI in his last 117 minutes of league action, are alternatives to consider.
