Adewale (The FPL Manual) previews the best forwards to pick in your FPL fantasy team for the 2025-26 English Premier League season.
Hello, Rotoballers! Welcome to our fourth and final preseason fantasy football preview for the 2025-2026 Fantasy Premier League season. This week, our focus is on sharing tips on the best forwards to have on your FPL team.
This positional preview will highlight key statistics from the previous year, as we seek to use data market projections to identify the best strikers who can score you the most FPL points between Gameweeks 1 and 6.
The Gameweek 1 deadline for the 2025-26 Fantasy Premier League season is Friday, August 15, at 1:30 p.m. EDT, when Liverpool hosts AFC Bournemouth. Check out the rest of our excellent soccer coverage as the squad gets you all set for every EPL and UCL slate with our EPL DFS lineup picks and betting picks.
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Whether it's your first, second, or 20th season playing Fantasy Premier League, don't miss our How To Play Fantasy Premier League Guide for the 2025-26 season. It covers squad building, transfers, and all the new strategies coming to this great game for the upcoming campaign.
The 2024/25 season was a memorable one for FPL managers who bet early on Chris Wood, who scored 20 goals and racked up 200 points, helping Nottingham Forest secure a spot in Europe.
As a result, this season, we will first consider a few strikers who are worthy of selection in practically every game. According to an overall season-long market estimate, Erling Haaland ranks top with a 28.6 xGI for projected goal involvement.
Newcastle's Alexander Isak and Arsenal's Viktor Gyökeres meet the minimum expected goal involvement of 20 xGI, while Brighton's Danny Welbeck ranks 51st with 10.9 xGI.
To avoid overwhelming our RotoBaller readers with too much data, we'll neatly evaluate the top forward picks for the first six gameweeks across these categories:
Despite a not-so-great 2024/25 season, the 25-year-old Norwegian international produced 25 goal contributions for Manchester City. Haaland totalled 108 shots and was fairly clinical, with a 20.3% goal conversion rate.
Based on market projections, Man City's star man is set to produce at least 4.5 xGI (expected goal involvement) between Gameweeks 1 and 6, with two favorable home matches against Tottenham in GW 2 and Burnley in GW 6.
If you dare to go against Mohamed Salah, Erling Haaland is the prime attacker to have in your team.
Ollie Watkins etched his name into Aston Villa's history books last season, becoming the club's all-time leading scorer with 75 goals. The 29-year-old registered 24 goal contributions (16 goals, eight assists) in 2024/25, racking up 186 FPL points.
It's intriguing, but Watkins has outscored Erling Haaland for FPL points in consecutive seasons, making him a great value even at his current price.
With five goals to his name in preseason and a favorable opening run against Newcastle, Crystal Palace, and Sunderland, Watkins looks set to continue his goal-scoring form this season.
Since joining Chelsea this summer, João Pedro has made an immediate impact, netting three goals in the knockout stage of the Club World Cup.
The former Brighton man scored 10 goals for the Seagulls last season, finishing with a total of 126 FPL points. With transfer speculation over Nicolas Jackson, Pedro looks set to be Chelsea's main striker this season.
Leeds United are back in the Premier League, and Joël Piroe is ready to make his mark. The Dutch forward tallied 26 goal contributions (19 goals, seven assists) in the Championship.
Piroe won the Sky Bet Championship Golden Boot award and is the second penalty taker for the Whites behind Pascal Struijk. At £5.5m, he has the potential to be a solid forward FPL pick when Leeds hosts Everton in Gameweek 1 and travels to Wolves in Gameweek 5.
After struggling to score for much of last season, the Gunners have recruited world-class striker Viktor Gyökeres. The Swedish international scored 97 goals in 102 appearances for Sporting CP and will be a key asset for Arsenal this season.
From a fantasy standpoint, Gyökeres might be ignored for the time being. Arsenal faces Manchester United, Liverpool, and Manchester City in their first five games, which may not be the best period to get in the goal machine.
However, we'll be watching closely to see how he adjusts to the Premier League when Arsenal has an easier matchup against Leeds in Gameweek 2.
Alexander Isak was fantastic last season, scoring 23 goals for Newcastle. However, due to ongoing transfer speculation tying him to a move to Liverpool, he skipped the team's preseason camp, and the Magpies are in the market to find his replacement.
The gaffer, Eddie Howe, has expressed concern over Isak's recent behavior and has now ruled him out of featuring in Gameweek 1. For now, it's best to avoid Isak in FPL, at least for August.
Two extra names to avoid are Brentford's Yoane Wissa and Tottenham's Richarlison. Wissa is in a similar situation to Isak, as he is unhappy and wants to leave the club. Meanwhile, Richarlison is a significant rotation risk when teammate Dominic Solanke returns from injury.