Fantasy Premier League 2026/27 Pre-Season Guide

07/30/2026 1873

The World Cup's behind us, club friendlies are underway, the transfer market is booming, and we've got three long weeks before the start of the Premier League! The fixtures list is available, however, and the Fantasy Premier League is open for FPL managers to fiddle with, as the hype builds up! Searching for advice ahead of Gameweek 1? Here is Forebet's quick Fantasy Premier League 2026/27 Pre-Season Guide on what you need to know before you start building your fantasy squad.

In this comprehensive guide we'll go over the recent changes to the FPL, position changes, long-term injury concerns, price shifts, chip planning, and more. As usual, we'll leave the week-by-week and player-by-player draft guides for separate weekly articles that will be available on the Forebet's Fantasy Premier League page. Instead, here we'll go over all other major fantasy football news and updates you might want to be aware of before the season starts.

Key Details for the Fantasy Premier League 2026/27 Pre-Season

The new FPL campaign is officially live! And there are some changes and updates new and old FPL managers alike need to be aware of. So, below we'll go over each of the following:

• Player position changes
• Injury list and concerns for GW1
• Major price changes after the World Cup
• Changes to the FPL itself

FPL Player Position Changes

As with any other Fantasy Premier League season, there are a few player position updates, to make sure the FPL reflects the players' real positions on the field. In the 26/27 season, this include 11 players, including some of last season's standouts.

The youngster Lewis-Skelly has been switched from defense to midfield, after his impressive displays last season, while Omar Marmoush has been moved from midfield to a forward position, as he played a lot upfront in the 2025/26 campaign. Below is the full list of changes.

Injury List and Concerns for GW1

Quite a few major players are still nursing long-term injuries, with a lot of them guaranteed not to be available for the start of the Premier League on the 21st of August, while many others are tentative "maybes.

Some of the notable guaranteed absentees will include:

• Hugo Ekitiké, Liverpool (Achilles injury, return not expected until the end of the year)
• Kulusevski, Tottenham (knee injury, unknown return date)
• De Ligt, Man Utd (back injury, unknown return date)
• Saliba, Arsenal (back injury, unknown return date)
• Rodrigo, Man City (back injury, unknown return date)

Many others players are with more uncertain statuses for GW1, making FPL managers' job even trickier as to whether to risk an injured pick or not. Notable mentions here include:

• Garner, Everton (groin injury, expected back 22 Aug)
• Grealish, Man City (foot injury, 75% chance of playing)
• Leoni, Liverpool (cruciate ligament tear, return expected on 31 Aug)
• Tielemans, Man Utd (hamstring injury, 75% chance of playing)
• Kamara, Aston Villa (knee injury, 75% chance of playing)

All of this is still subject to change, of course, which is why we'll wait a while longer before we start making our squad guide for Gameweek 1. However, FPL managers have unlimited free transfers before the start of the season, as usual, so you can start playing around with your Fantasy Premier League squad today if you want!

Major Price Changes After the World Cup

Player prices always fluctuate between seasons, but especially so in World Cup or Euro summers like this one. Quite a few Premier League players saw major value hikes over June and July, with Erling Haaland now valued at €220m, a €20 million increase since May, while Eliot Anderson's real-life valuation jumped with €35m, from €75m to €110m!

Enzo Fernandez and Morgan Rogers also saw value hikes, while many other World Cup standouts, such as Rice or Ødegaard didn't see much change in their evaluations.

It remains to be seen what the final prices will be in FPL terms by the time the season starts, but Erling Haaland is currently sitting at £15.5m, which is about a million more than his average price from last season. Will it still be worth it to build a team around him? Probably, given the form he was at in the World Cup.

Enzo Fernandez's price is at a more modest £7m, while Declan Rice is at £7.5m. FPL values Eliot Anderson at £6.5m right now, despite his real-life valuation sky-rocketing as fast as it did, so he might be a good budget option if you want to use one of your 3 Man City picks for him.

Changes to the FPL

As usual, the Fantasy Premier League has made a few tweaks and changes this pre-season as well, while keeping a lot as it was as too.

Notably, the Chips rules are remaining as they are, with all FPL managers still getting two sets of chips for each half of the season. In the 2026/27 campaign this means that the first set of chips must be utilized before the Gameweek 19 deadline at 13:30 GMT on Saturday 2 January.

There will be tweaks to the Bonus Points system, with it now intended to focus more on reducing the overlap between the defensive contributions of players and increasing the bonus point prospects of goalkeepers, full-backs, and attacking players, compared to last season.

The site's design is also seeing some improvements, with fantasy managers now able to switch around between the new squad views on the “Pick Team”, “Points” and “Transfers” pages, which should allow us to be able to see more player stats with ease.

A new Price Change Predictor tool has been added too, which will track the transfer activity of every player and give daily insight (at 00:00 GMT) on which players' prices are expected to rise and which - to fall. How accurate and useful the tool will end up being remains to be seen.

For newcomers to Fantasy Premier League, there will also be the option to get help with the squad selection through the FPL website.

So, Should You Wait or Begin Squad-Building Right Now?

With the Fantasy Premier League offering unlimited and free transfers before the start of the season on August 21, there's no reason not to start playing around and experimenting with the new tools and design if you want.

The summer friendlies are well underway and will result in constant changes in terms of player injuries and price movement, as will the transfer market. This is nothing new for experienced FPL managers, however, and fiddling around with the new Price Change Predictor tool and other functionalities of the FPL site ahead of time might be worth it. Just don't forget to log in before Gameweek 1 starts to finalize your squad, as well as keep an eye on Forebet's Fantasy Premier League page for our squad guide before that too!