Fantasy Premier League 2026/27: Key Manchester City Assets
The Fantasy Premier League itch is back.
With the 2026/27 Premier League season looming and the Gameweek 1 deadline fixed at 18:30 (UK) on Friday 21 August, managers are already ripping up drafts, chasing value, and trying to squeeze one more premium into their squads. Unlimited transfers before a ball is kicked means one thing: ownership numbers tell a story.
At Manchester City, three names are setting the early FPL agenda.
Haaland: The £15.5m Question You Can’t Really Ask
Erling Haaland has broken the game again.
After racking up 239 FPL points last season – more than any other player – and delivering 35 attacking returns, the City striker has been handed the highest price tag in FPL history at £15.5m. It’s a number that would normally scare managers off, force them into awkward compromises across the rest of their squad.
It hasn’t.
A huge 75.2% of FPL managers have already locked Haaland into their early drafts. Three out of four teams, built around one man. His price is less a deterrent and more a tax on ambition. You want to compete? You pay it.
The logic is brutal and simple. When the most explosive asset in the game is also the most-owned, going without him is less a bold strategy and more a weekly stress test.
Guehi: Premium Returns from the Back
Not every City asset comes with a record-breaking fee attached, but Marc Guehi isn’t exactly hiding in the budget bracket either.
Priced at £6.0m, the England defender arrives off the back of a superb campaign that yielded 179 FPL points – a total bettered by only one defender in the entire game last season. His numbers read like a checklist of reliability and threat: 14 clean sheets, three goals, five assists, 22 defensive contribution points and 14 bonus points.
That blend of solidity and end product has not gone unnoticed. Guehi currently sits in 24.7% of FPL squads, a significant chunk for a defender at his price. Managers are clearly banking on City’s defensive structure holding firm and on Guehi remaining central to it, both in real life and in the points column.
He isn’t just a plug-and-play pick; he’s a statement that you’re willing to invest heavily at the back for consistent returns.
O’Reilly: From Breakthrough to Mainstay
If last season was about emergence, this one might be about expectation for Nico O’Reilly.
Listed as a defender and priced at £6.5m, O’Reilly turned the 2025/26 campaign into a personal launchpad. Five goals, four assists and 14 clean sheets combined for 160 FPL points – a staggering leap of 129 points compared to his 2024/25 total.
That kind of jump forces a re-evaluation. He’s no longer a cheap punt or a hidden gem; the price rise reflects that. At £6.5m, managers are paying for a defender who behaves like a midfielder in the final third while still plugging into a clean-sheet machine.
And they’re buying in. O’Reilly currently features in 24% of teams, his ownership almost mirroring Guehi’s. Two City defenders, both heavily backed, both priced as premium options. It’s a clear sign that FPL managers trust City’s back line as much as they trust Haaland’s finishing.
So as the countdown to that first deadline ticks away and drafts get torn up for the fifth, sixth, seventh time, one pattern is already locked in: if you’re serious about this FPL season, Manchester City’s spine – Haaland up top, Guehi and O’Reilly at the back – is shaping the template. The only real decision is whether you dare to step outside it.
