More so than in any other position, Fantasy Premier League managers are absolutely spoilt for choice when it comes to selecting their five midfield slots for the 2021-22 season. Midfielders are more likely to get goals and assists, and earn an extra point for a goal compared to forwards, plus an additional point for keeping a clean sheet.
This is why our premium midfielders need to be ‘captainable’ options. In most cases, you can’t get away with more than two premiums without sacrificing other areas of your squad. Picking the correct ones based on fixtures, where they are among the best captain options, is essential.
If you don’t have any premium midfielders in your FPL team then you’re doing it wrong. Some of them you’ll have to ignore due to your budget. While sometimes a player can be so popular that excluding them from your team can be the differential in itself. Here in this article, we give you the five best premium midfielders you can start your FPL campaigns with based on both historical evidence and present developments.
Honourable Mentions: Sadio Mané (£12.0m), Marcus Rashford (£9.5m), Jadon Sancho (£9.5m), Riyad Mahrez (£9.0m), Kai Havertz (£8.5m)
Also Read – FPL: RULES AND GUIDELINES FOR SPORTSKHABRI’s 21/22 FPL LEAGUE
#5 Raheem Sterling (£11.0m) | Manchester City
Raheem Sterling is an interesting option. He was another premium midfielder who had a poor season by his standards last season, only scoring 10 goals and providing nine assists. In his previous three Premier League campaigns, the English forward scored 20 goals and 6 assists, 17 goals and 15 assists and 18 goals and 17 assists respectively. And just like Kevin De Bruyne, Sterling was one of the main beneficiaries of Guardiola’s double creator system. Moreover, the 26-year-old was England’s star performer at Euro 2020 as the Three Lions suffered heartbreak at the hands of Italy in a penalty shootout last month. He is priced at £11.0m which is £1.0m less than teammate De Bruyne and also Sadio Mane. If Sterling has a season like his previous three before 2020/21, he could offer great value. A definite wait and see but I feel he may have a good season this year if Pep gives him ample game time.
#4 Kevin De Bruyne (£12.0m) | Manchester City
The Belgian maestro scored six goals and notched 12 assists in 23 starts for the Cityzens with 80 Shots, 26 Shots on Target, 38 Shots in the Box and 13 Big Chances. He also created 80 Chances (4th) and 20 Big Chances (1st). Considering his playing time last season, his creative statistics are off the scale. Despite playing 1100 minutes less than Bruno Fernandes, he still managed the same amount of Big Chances Created as he missed eight games through injury. But that was sub-par in terms of De Bruyne’s standards, the City captain managed 13 goals and 23 assists in the 19/20 season, eight goals and 18 assists in the 17/18 season and six goals and 21 assists in the 16/17 season. His output in seasons prior was largely down to Pep using two creators exploiting the half-spaces between opposition defences. David Silva was De Bruyne’s partner in crime, and with the introduction of Jack Grealish, you can expect De Bruyne’s numbers to shoot up exponentially as Pep will like to go back to his tried and tested formula.
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#3 Heung-Min Son (£10.0m) | Tottenham Hotspur
Son (£10.0m) has been a consistent FPL performer over the last several seasons as he put in his best points total to date last season with 228. The South Korean scored 17 goals and created 11 assists scoring 228 points to end up as the third-highest scoring midfielder. He registered 68 Shots, 36 Shots on Target, 44 Shots in the Box and 23 Big Chances (3rd) whilst also creating 75 Chances (5th) and 14 Big Chances (3rd). His partnership with Harry Kane was what provided many of those goals and assists but this season may be different. The England captain is strongly linked with Man City which will not only change Tottenham as a team but may result in Son playing in a different role. How that role will affect his productivity remains to be seen but a move to centre forward has the potential to make him even more valuable.
#2 Bruno Fernandes (£12.0m) | Manchester United
Since making his Manchester United debut against Wolves in Gameweek 24 of the 2019-20 season, Bruno Fernandes has accumulated more FPL points (361) than any other player in the Premier League. For context, he has scored 34 points more than Salah over that period. Last season the Portuguese midfielder scored a colossal 18 goals and 12 assists with 121 Shots (2nd), 51 Shots on Target (2nd), 48 Shots in the Box (6th), and 20 Big Chances (4th). He also created 95 Chances (1st) and 20 Big Chances (1st). With the added cushion in their backline in the shape of Raphaël Varane and Jadon Sancho’s explosiveness down the right flank, Manchester United’s favourable fixture run from Gameweek 1-7 could potentially see the former Sporting man hit the ground running. With many of their first-team starters less likely to be available for the first few Gameweeks, the bulk of the attacking output is expected to come from Fernandes. Don’t be surprised to see major point hauls from Bruno in the opening fixtures.
Also Read – TOP 10 DIFFERENTIAL PICKS FOR 21/22 FPL SEASON
#1 Mohamed Salah (£12.5m) | Liverpool
First, first, fourth, third. When it comes to year on year consistency, Mohamed Salah is quite simply unmatched as an FPL asset, finishing in the top four highest-scoring players in each of his seasons as a Liverpool player. And despite accusations that his form dipped in 2020-21, Salah ended his domestic campaign with 22 goals and six FPL assists. Moreover, he managed 126 Shots (1st in the entire league), 52 Shots on Target (1st), 98 Shots in the Box (1st) and 33 Big Chances (1st). He also created 57 Chances (11th) and 12 Big Chances (5th). Not bad given Liverpool’s shocking season marred by injuries. This season though, the Egyptian is helped by the fact that the majority of his first-team teammates are back from their long injury layoff. The Reds have one of the easiest opening sets of fixtures as they face teams like Norwich, Burnley, Leeds, Crystal Palace and Brentford in five of their seven game weeks. Salah helped himself to a 20-point haul on the opening day last season and is likely to be the go-to captain against Norwich in Gameweek 1.
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