Chelsea
Stamford Bridge
Chelsea FPL: Who To Own, Captain And Avoid
The call — Chelsea over the next six is a one-end team, and the tables on this page tell you which end. Our model has them as the second-sharpest attack in the league walking into a very kind run — Fulham away, Brighton at home, then Hull, Brentford and Bournemouth after the one awkward trip to the Emirates. The defence, meanwhile, sits mid-table…
What has not being with FFIQ cost you this season?
One squad, picked before a ball was kicked and run for six gameweeks on three transfers — no hits taken. Scored on FPL’s own results.
Your name and your FPL team name. That is all it takes, and we will have your answer before you have finished reading this sentence.
↓ Start here — your name, then your team.
No FPL password, ever. We only read what FPL already publishes.
The way in is João Pedro. He tops our projections for the whole squad over the six, he's nailed, and at £7.5m he's the rare Chelsea attacker priced for what he'll actually do most weeks rather than what he might do on his best day. About 7 in 10 managers already own him, which tells you this isn't a clever secret — it's the sensible default, and this desk likes sensible defaults.
The more interesting pair sit behind him. Rogers at the same price is a genuinely solid midfield pick — nailed, steady returns, and only about 1 in 4 own him. Palmer is the ceiling play: penalties, free-kicks, £9.5m, and remarkably just over 1 in 10 managers have him. He can go enormous in a home run like Hull and Bournemouth, but you're paying two quid more than Rogers for upside rather than certainty. If your squad needs a banker, Rogers. If you're chasing rank, Palmer. Our model narrowly prefers the striker to both, and so do I.
The defence is where I'd save your money. Lacroix leads the back-line projections and starts every week, but £6.0m for a defence our model ranks 14th, in a run it rates as genuinely tough for shutouts, is paying premium money for a coin flip. James carries set-piece involvement, which is his usual sales pitch, and his usual caveat applies: the minutes history is the risk, not the talent. Sánchez at £5.0m is at least cheap, but cheap and clean-sheet-starved is still clean-sheet-starved.
One thing that would change the picture: if the early weeks show the defence tightening up, Lacroix becomes interesting at that price. Until then, the call is simple — buy João Pedro now, add Rogers if you want a second route in, and don't spend a penny on the Chelsea defence.