Update (Tuesday 25 August) — the opening gameweek is closed. Fulham lost 2-3 to Chelsea, and Monday night changed a fair amount in this review.
The template partly recovered. João Pedro, owned by 65% of managers, scored and assisted for 11 points. Palmer added 13 and Rogers 8. That was enough to push the FPL-wide average from 36 up to 48 points, with the highest score in the game rising from 114 to 131. The conclusion below still holds where it concerns Haaland, Bruno and Mbeumo — two points each. But in fairness: managers with João Pedro came out of this gameweek in decent shape.
Our mini league is still ahead of the world. Our final average is 55.3 points against 48 across FPL, and 44 of 61 teams beat the global average. The league itself grew to 61 teams over the weekend.
| # | Team | Manager | Points |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | AVERAGEJOE | Jóhann Örn Kjartansson | 99 |
| 2 | yagu | Adrian Jaguszewski | 84 |
| 3 | Pogoń Bydło | Szymon Żaba | 80 |
| 3 | PTC Mistrzem Anglii | William Lewis | 80 |
| 5 | ***CHELSEA LONDON*** | Serafin Hyxxx | 75 |
The gameweek winner in our league is AVERAGEJOE on 99 points — against a global best of 131 and an average of 48, that is a strong start to the season. The live table, with a squad preview for every team, is on the mini league page.
Nine of the ten opening-round fixtures are done — tonight’s Fulham v Chelsea closes the gameweek. The theme is already clear, though: the template failed. The players half the game owns returned two points each, and the round was won by £4.5m footballers most managers had never heard of.
Results
| Fixture | Score |
|---|---|
| Arsenal – Coventry | 3-0 |
| Hull – Manchester United | 2-0 |
| Everton – Crystal Palace | 2-0 |
| Ipswich – Sunderland | 2-1 |
| Nottingham Forest – Leeds | 0-1 |
| Brentford – Tottenham | 3-0 |
| Brighton – Aston Villa | 4-0 |
| Manchester City – Bournemouth | 2-1 |
| Newcastle – Liverpool | 2-2 |
| Fulham – Chelsea | 2-3 |
Two results stand out. Hull, newly promoted, beat Manchester United 2-0 at home, and Brentford took Tottenham apart 3-0. On top of that, Brighton hammered Aston Villa 4-0.
The gameweek the crowd lost
The FPL-wide average was 36 points. Here is what the players most squads are built on actually did:
| Player | Ownership | Points |
|---|---|---|
| Haaland | 69.0% | 2 |
| Bruno Fernandes | 50.8% | 2 |
| Mbeumo | 37.8% | 2 |
| Calvert-Lewin | 30.5% | 1 |
| Semenyo | 25.9% | 2 |
Captaincy worked in reverse this week: anyone who handed the armband to Haaland got four points instead of two, and that was that. João Pedro, owned by 64% of managers, does not play until tonight.
The cheap and the unknown won it
The top of the gameweek is almost entirely low-priced players on single-figure ownership:
| Player | Price | Points | Ownership |
|---|---|---|---|
| De Cuyper (BHA) | £4.5 | 17 | 3.0% |
| Hinshelwood (BHA) | £6.0 | 16 | 1.0% |
| Mendy (HUL) | £4.0 | 15 | 1.7% |
| Ajayi (HUL) | £4.0 | 14 | 1.3% |
| Sangaré (BRE) | £5.5 | 14 | 4.5% |
| Stach (LEE) | £6.0 | 13 | 1.2% |
Two Hull players at £4.0m combined for 29 points against Manchester United. And we flagged Anton Stach as a differential before the deadline — at 1.1% ownership and a rating of 86.
Our mini league beat the world
Now the part we are happiest about. The average in our league is 44.5 points against 36 across FPL — and 45 of our 60 teams cleared the global average.
| # | Team | Manager | Points |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Joeari | Jóhann Örn Kjartansson | 75 |
| 2 | Pogoń Bydło | Szymon Żaba | 69 |
| 3 | Chelsea Champion | Champion Chelsea | 67 |
| 4 | Bosy Team | Kuba Augustyniak | 65 |
| 5 | ***CHELSEA LONDON*** | Serafin Hyxxx | 64 |
Joeari leads on 75 points — almost double the global average. The highest score anywhere in FPL was 114.
This table will still move. João Pedro plays tonight, and 73.3% of our league owns him — nearly everyone is waiting on the same points. The full live table, with a squad preview for every team, is on the mini league page.
What to check before Friday
The second gameweek deadline falls on Friday 28 August at 18:30 UK time. New fitness notes appeared over the weekend:
- Pedro Porro (TOT, 15.2% owned) — lack of match fitness, 75% chance of playing.
- Anderson (MCI, 7.5%) — knock, 75% chance.
- Van de Ven (TOT, 4.9%) — injury, only 50%.
Worth knowing too: prices still have not moved — not one of the 600 players has changed value since the season began. So there is no reason to rush a transfer “before he rises”.
Current ratings for every player are in our AI rankings, the full set of fitness notes is in the Injury Centre, and our suggested line-up is in the Recommended Squad.
Data: official Fantasy Premier League API, as of Monday 24 August ahead of Fulham v Chelsea. We will update this article once the gameweek is complete. Produced with the help of artificial intelligence. Fantasy PL Edge is not affiliated with the Premier League or the Fantasy Premier League game.