Fantasy Premier League Gameweek 1 Picks: Isak, Mbeumo, Tzolis, Ballard
The Scout has nailed colours to the mast ahead of the 2026/27 Fantasy Premier League curtain-raiser, picking out four players who could explode in Gameweek 1 before Friday’s 18:30 BST deadline. These are the early-season gambles that can tilt a mini-league before it’s even found its rhythm.
Alexander Isak (Liverpool) £9.0m
A fit, hungry Alexander Isak at a cut price. That’s the headline.
Last season never really started for him. Injuries restricted the Swedish striker to just eight Premier League starts in 2025/26, a frustrating campaign that felt permanently stuck in second gear.
That’s gone now. A full pre-season, a World Cup in his legs, and sharpness returning fast. In his penultimate warm-up match, Isak produced a goal and an assist against Monaco, the sort of all-round display that made him one of Europe’s most coveted forwards.
The pricing only adds to the temptation. His starting value has dropped from £10.5m to £9.0m, despite what we already know he can do across a full season. His last complete Premier League campaign, with Newcastle United, brought 23 goals, six assists and 211 FPL points. Those are premium numbers at something close to a mid-range fee.
There’s also a vacancy at Anfield. With Mohamed Salah gone, Liverpool’s penalty-taker is up for grabs. Dominik Szoboszlai (£7.0m) has a claim after deputising last season, but if Isak steps up from the spot as well as from open play, his ceiling climbs even higher.
Crucially, he has the stage almost to himself. Hugo Ekitike (£7.5m) is sidelined with a long-term injury, leaving Isak with little real competition for the central role. The fixtures help too: none of Liverpool’s first five matches rate higher than three on the Fixture Difficulty Ratings scale.
Gameweek 1 brings a twist of narrative. Liverpool face Newcastle, a club in transition after Eddie Howe’s departure and the exit of several key players. It’s the kind of unstable backdrop that can be ruthlessly exposed by a confident striker. Isak has the form, the price, and the storyline to make a flying start.
Bryan Mbeumo (Man Utd) £8.0m
Bryan Mbeumo is listed as a midfielder. He’s playing as a striker. Fantasy managers know exactly what that means.
With Benjamin Sesko (£7.0m) still recovering from injury and missing the entire pre-season, Mbeumo has spent the summer leading the line for Manchester United. He hasn’t wasted the opportunity. Three goals and an assist in his last three friendly starts underline just how dangerous he looks in that advanced role.
The schedule only sharpens his appeal. United open against Hull City and Ipswich Town, two of the Premier League’s new arrivals. Hull conceded 66 goals in the Championship last season; only three sides let in more. That sort of defensive record is exactly what attacking assets dream of on opening weekend.
Mbeumo also comes in fresh. Cameroon’s failure to qualify for the World Cup meant a proper summer break and a full pre-season with his club, without the late returns or managed minutes that can derail early Gameweeks.
Like Christos Tzolis at Arsenal, he faces a promoted side straight away. Unlike many of his team-mates, he’s already in rhythm and already in position to do maximum damage. If United click from the off, Mbeumo is likely to be right at the heart of it.
Christos Tzolis (Arsenal) £6.5m
Christos Tzolis has walked into a champion’s dressing room and instantly looked like he belongs.
Arsenal’s new signing from Club Brugge has been one of the standout stories of pre-season in north London. One goal and six assists tell their own tale; no team-mate matched his seven attacking returns over the summer.
While many of Arsenal’s internationals have filtered back late from the FIFA World Cup, Tzolis has been embedded since July. He featured in all six of the Gunners’ pre-season matches, including Sunday’s FA Community Shield, where he supplied another assist in a 3-0 win. Every time he has started for the reigning Premier League champions, he has delivered.
This isn’t a one-off hot streak either. Last season in the Belgian top flight, Tzolis piled up 17 goals and 23 assists. Those numbers demand respect, even before you drop him into one of the league’s most fluent attacking systems.
Gameweek 1 hands him a soft landing, at least on paper. Promoted Coventry City are first up for Mikel Arteta’s side. With his fitness, form and familiarity with Arsenal’s patterns already in place, Tzolis looks poised to carry his pre-season spark straight into the Premier League spotlight.
Dan Ballard (Sunderland) £5.0m
Plenty of managers will eye up Sunderland’s Luke O’Nien (£4.0m) as the perfect Bench Boost enabler in Gameweek 1. The price is right. The problem is time.
Omar Alderete (£5.0m) and Nordi Mukiele (£5.5m) are expected back from injury soon, and O’Nien’s minutes beyond the opening weekend suddenly look fragile. If you want a Sunderland defender you can pick and leave alone for weeks, Dan Ballard is the safer anchor.
Ballard’s numbers from last season back that up. He averaged 10.9 defensive contributions per 90 minutes in 2025/26, hitting the required threshold in 58 per cent of his starts. He’s not just there to make up the numbers; he’s a central piece of Sunderland’s defensive structure.
There’s a bit of upside at the other end, too. Ballard produced four attacking returns last season and ranked seventh among defenders for shots in the box with 25. For a centre-back, that’s a serious set-piece threat.
Ipswich Town, another promoted side, visit in Gameweek 1, offering clean-sheet potential right out of the gate. Sunderland’s fixtures do tighten in Gameweeks 4 and 5, but that can be managed. A simple rotation with, say, a Leeds United defender during their run of two home games keeps Ballard viable right through to Gameweek 9.
He’s not the flashiest pick. He might be one of the most useful. And in the chaos of a new season, that kind of reliability often separates the early leaders from the chasing pack.
