Fantasy Premier League is back - and Daily Star Sport has a look at the hits and misses of Gameweek 1 with Erling Haaland-less managers left scratching their heads
14:46, 19 Aug 2025
Daily Star Sport rounds-up the FPL Gameweek
Daily Star Sport rounds-up the FPL Gameweek
The Premier League's opening weekend was wrapped up by Leeds' returning win over Everton on Monday evening.
And with it comes to an end of the first Gameweek of Fantasy Premier League for the season. Weeks and weeks of tinkering for managers all fell apart in moments for those who opted against Manchester City superstar Erling Haaland (£14.0m).
Haaland bagged two goals as City look to reclaim their crown from Liverpool - who themselves registered a win against Bournemouth with new boy Hugo Ekitike (£8.6m) coming up big, while Florian Wirtz (£8.5m) offers fans a dilemma.
Ekitike and Wirtz both come with hefty price tags - but it was the former with an 11 point haul.
However, Ekitike, and his team-mate Salah, were outscored by Haaland. And yet the biggest bang for buck in City's team appears to be Tijjani Reijnders (£5.6m), who bagged 10 points. According to FPL, over 570,000 managers have already subbed him in for Gameweek 2.
Erling Haaland #9 of Manchester City celebrates after scoring his team's third goal during the FIFA Club World Cup 2025 group G match between Juventus FC and Manchester City FC at Camping World Stadium on June 26, 2025 in Orlando, United States
Erling Haaland was back to his goal-getting best(Image: 2025 Sebastian Frej)
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At the other end of the cost spectrum, Josh King (£4.5m) was the only sub-£5.0m player to start in the first nine matches of Gameweek 1.
Managers had backed Sunderland's Marc Guiu to take this role - with over 20 per cent of players selecting the forward. However, he played zero minutes in Sunderland's 3-0 win over West Ham.
While on Monday evening, Gabriel Gudmundsson (£4.0) proved he could be one to watch as the Leeds defender racked up big points against Everton.
Hugo Ekitike
Hugo Ekitike was a big points scorer(Image: Liverpool FC via Getty Images)
And it those budget players that could allow managers to squeeze Mohamed Salah (£14.5) and Haaland into the same team.
Nottingham Forest provided an interesting watch for FPL managers - Elliot Anderson (£5.5m) had potential for the new defensive contribution points, but their clash with Brentford revealed he's also their first-choice corner taker.
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And that backed with Chris Wood (£7.5m) could provide managers with a unique route to some points to gain the edge on their rivals.
This wouldn't be complete with mentioning the three players who triple-captained Sunderland's Daniel Ballard (£4.5m) for a whopping 51 points.
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Player of the round: Erling Haaland
Flop of the round: Viktor Gyokeres
Best value of the round: Daniel Ballard