New year, new Mee* — now that’s a rather excellent 2025-inspired Fantasy Premier League team name.
We’re into the second half of the FPL season, which gets under way this weekend with Gameweek 20 (deadline 11am GMT; 6am ET) and dovetails nicely with the beginning of a new calendar year. How neat!
To get you pumped for chapter two of your FPL campaign, Holly Shand and Abdul Rehman have reflected on their fantasy favourites of 2024-25 so far, as well as the most frustrating players they’ve owned, the biggest lessons they have learned since August, and have also revealed their strategies for the rest of the season
(*This is a reference to Ben Mee, of course. It’s always good to explain a joke.)
Who is your FPL player of the season so far?
Holly Shand: It has to be Mohamed Salah (£13.6m), who has produced a record-breaking start to the FPL season. He has reached 200 points in the fewest gameweeks in FPL history (19) and is currently averaging just over 11 points per game.
He is well on course to outscore his own record of the most points in a FPL season, a record he set in his first season at Liverpool, 2017-18, when he scored 303 points. It’s been a pleasure to watch his output while having him as a set-and-forget captain in my FPL team each week and I’m excited to see what he will achieve by the end of the campaign.
Reaching 200 points in record time 🤩
Mo Salah is flying ✈️#FPL pic.twitter.com/X5Jyg8UqgU
— Fantasy Premier League (@OfficialFPL) December 29, 2024
Abdul Rehman: I’ll begrudgingly choose Matheus Cunha (£7.1m). Annoyingly, I haven’t owned him all season, but he has been the standout player when you take into consideration his price and value.
Salah has been phenomenal, but he’s been doing this for years, although this season, he has taken it to another level. Cunha is now the top-scoring forward in the game, which is even more amazing seeing as Wolves sit 17th in the table. It just goes to show that FPL assets can still be good even if they play for a poor team.
However, Cunha has massively overperformed so far — he has 10 goals with an xG (expected goals) of 4.0, so is no doubt on a hot streak, but if you have owned him, then he has done wonders for your rank.
Who has been the most disappointing player of the season so far?
Shand: Like many managers, I started the season with Crystal Palace’s Eberechi Eze (£6.6m), who I hoped would be the best mid-priced midfielder in the game.
He ended the 2023-24 season in red-hot form but produced just two goal involvements in the first nine gameweeks of this campaign, with the south Londoners picking up just six points in that run. I have been a little more encouraged by Palace’s form in recent weeks and they certainly have the fixtures to prosper heading into the new year, but, even with Eze scoring in Gameweek 19, it’s Ismaila Sarr (£5.9m) who looks to be the wisest investment from their attack at the minute.
Rehman: It has to be Erling Haaland (£14.8m). After 10 goals in his first five matches, I think we were expecting him to break all sorts of records. But since Gameweek 6, he has only managed four goals, which is diabolical really when you consider his price. He has actually fallen £0.2m below his starting price and deservedly so.
Although Haaland has been quite unlucky in that run not to have scored some more, it’s clear that Manchester City just aren’t the same force this season, so this has naturally had a knock-on effect for the Norwegian. I think we may see quite a bit of price drop for him next season, which may make things interesting.
Who do you think has been the differential of the season so far?
Shand: Spurs playmaker James Maddison (£7.7m) continues to go under the radar, despite being in the top 10 highest-scoring players this season and the best pick from his club. Spurs rank second for goals scored in this campaign and have scored three or more goals in half of their league games. Maddison has been involved in 13 of those returns, with eight goals and five assists.
He was a big differential in the game until Gameweek 18, when he became a popular replacement for the injured Bukayo Saka (£10.3m), taking his ownership over 10 per cent for the first time this season.
Rehman: I don’t think anybody would have predicted Ola Aina (£5.1m) to be the top-scoring defender in the game after 19 gameweeks. Nottingham Forest sit third in the league and it’s no fluke. They have conceded the third least goals (17) and have an xGC (expected goals conceded) of 18.9 (third-best). Only Arsenal and Liverpool best them for these metrics.
They are a very compact side and have a real chance of a top-six finish. Aina started the season at £4.5m and has two goals to his name, too. He and Forest have exceeded expectations. Also, a shout to Chris Wood (£6.6m), who has 11 goals and has been prolific. I didn’t expect him to do so well and although this Forest duo are not differentials anymore, they were for a long while.
Ola Aina has been a revelation in FPL so far this season (Shaun Botterill/Getty Images)
What are you aiming to improve upon in 2025?
Shand: Captaincy remains the biggest variance in the game from week to week and is an area in which I’m always looking to improve. It’s always tempting to overcomplicate the decision each week and go for the glory of a differential haul, which doesn’t always pay off.
Salah has been so consistent this season, going 11 consecutive gameweeks with a goal involvement, so while his form continues, I’m likely to stick with him for the armband regardless of fixture difficulty. I used my Triple Captain chip on him in Gameweek 18 for his goal in the 3-1 win against Leicester City, which earned him nine points.
Rehman: Everything, really! But seriously, if I can hit my captain more often than not, this will be a big help. I will also look at gameweeks to take some risk when it’s a close call between two options and go for the player who is likely to be captained by fewer managers. This is a great way to make up rank if you are lagging behind without going too maverick and picking a team full of differentials. Captaincy is key in this game.
I also plan to save transfers where I can so I am more flexible and can react to fixture swings or structural changes to my team if needed. I have made a transfer in seven of the last eight gameweeks, for example, as I thought my team needed it, but I maybe could have held off a couple of those times and made better moves with two or three free transfers.
Saving more than two free transfers gives so much more flexibility and it’s something I may have underestimated at the start of the season.
Who is the one low-owned player you think everyone should have in their team in 2025?
Shand: Newcastle United are one of the form teams going into 2025, with 13 goals scored over the last four gameweeks and an appealing run of fixtures stretching into January. Midfielder Jacob Murphy (£5.1m) seems to have made the right-wing spot his own, with three goals and four assists in the last five gameweeks. He remains a relative differential in the game, in around four per cent of teams. Striker Alexander Isak (£9.2m) is now a key ‘template’ player, so doubling up on the Newcastle attack is the best way to capitalise against your rivals.
Newcastle’s Jacob Murphy — a low-owned differential (Ian MacNicol/Getty Images)
Rehman: I reckon Crystal Palace’s Eze will have a strong second half of the season. He hasn’t been great this term, but Palace were poor as a team at the start of the season, which didn’t help him, and he was also curtailed by numerous injuries.
He seems to be back to full fitness now and Palace have a nice fixture run for a while. Eze is the main playmaker in that team and is on some of their set pieces, too. He got a combined 21 goals and 10 assists in the league in the 2022-23 and 2023-24 seasons, so we know he’s a proven asset and a real talent. His upside is huge.
Who is the biggest trap that you think FPL managers should avoid in 2025?
Shand: Pedro Porro’s (£5.5m) ownership in the game still astounds me. He is in over a quarter of teams, with only Trent Alexander-Arnold (£7.1m) and the Arsenal centre-backs William Saliba (£6.3m) and Gabriel (£6.3m) more highly owned in the game when it comes to defenders.
Spurs have been on a dreadful defensive run and could start the new year without a fit recognised centre-back. They’ve conceded 15 goals in seven games since Fraser Forster (£4.3m) began deputising for the injured Guglielmo Vicario (£4.8m) in goal.
Rehman: This one may come back to bite me, but I will say Chris Wood. He has 11 goals with an xG of 6.8 and, as I mentioned, he has been overperforming. He’s not a bad asset, but I don’t think he continues his current rate of scoring.
Forest, as a team, actually don’t score many goals and so far, it’s just been Wood getting on the end of the majority of the chances they do create. Nuno Espirito Santo’s men are mainly doing well due to their solid defence. Therefore, I think Wood underwhelms going forward.
What do you think will be the biggest key to success in 2025?
Answer here: Chip strategy is going to be huge for 2025, with the second wildcard becoming available for Gameweek 20 and then the Assistant Manager chip in February. We are expecting fewer blank and double gameweeks this season given the new scheduling for the FA Cup rounds, however we do have the Merseyside derby to reschedule and disruption for the Carabao Cup final.
These will be the key windows to capitalise by playing Triple Captain (if you still have that chip available), Free Hit and Bench Boost.
Rehman: Planning, planning and more planning. In the second half of the season, it’s all about navigating the festive period and preparing for the double gameweeks. When the double gameweeks are announced, you really need to think about chip strategies and when to use them.
This season, there will be fewer double gameweeks, so we need to pick and choose which chips to play in the doubles. Planning the Assistant Manager chip is going to be vital as, in my opinion, it’s the most powerful chip — it can get you a lot of points if played at the right time. I would also recommend saving transfers where possible and picking long-term players for your team rather than short-term punts.
GO DEEPER
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What’s your strategy for the Assistant Manager chip?
Shand: If Arne Slot continues to work magic at Liverpool, that will be the key target for me utilising the Assistant Manager chip. It has the biggest potential of all the chips in the game, so playing it when Liverpool have a double gameweek will be the optimal time. With manager transfers permitted, I could pivot to a different manager in the gameweeks either side, but we need to be patient and wait for the fixture scheduling before locking in a firm plan here.
Rehman: I still have my Triple Captain chip and I plan to use it in Liverpool and Everton’s double, which is speculated to be in Gameweek 24 or 25. If I didn’t have it, then I would be looking to play my Assistant Manager chip for this double.
I can’t yet say exactly when I will use it as no double gameweeks have been announced, but I am fairly certain I will play it during a double gameweek. This way, I could get a minimum of four games rather than three.
The use of this chip will also depend on league positions, so in general, it’s a tough chip to plan so far in advance.
(Top photos: Matheus Cunha, left, and Mohamed Salah; Getty Images)
