After a strong start to the season from the three promoted clubs - Burnley, Leeds United and Sunderland - The Scout looks at why Fantasy Premier League managers should consider starting their players ahead of Friday's 18:30 BST deadline.
Typically, the main appeal of budget-friendly players from promoted clubs is their price tags, as they are great options to sit on your bench and call upon in emergencies.
But the performances of players from this season's promoted trio are forcing a reassessment of that strategy, with a number of stars showing they are worth considering for your starting XI.
Burnley’s Jaidon Anthony (£5.6m) climbed to second in the midfield standings with his side’s only goal in Saturday's 5-1 loss to Manchester City, highlighting the quality that's been displayed by players from promoted clubs this season.
Sunderland, meanwhile, were the only team to keep a clean sheet over the first nine matches in Gameweek 6, with a 1-0 win at Nottingham Forest. Goalkeeper Robin Roefs (£4.5m) and defender Omar Alderete (£4.0m) have both returned 39 points this season, placing them first and third in their respective positions in Fantasy.
Similarly to Sunderland, Leeds United remain unbeaten in three home matches after their 2-2 draw with AFC Bournemouth. Centre-back Joe Rodon’s (£4.0m) goal means he has produced seven points in each of his first three matches at Elland Road, also collecting two clean sheets.
Who are the top-performing promoted players?
Sunderland supply as many as four of the top eight performers from the promoted clubs this season.
Alderete and Roefs rank joint-second, just one point behind the 40 of Burnley's Anthony.
And when it comes to value in Fantasy in terms of points per million (ppm) returned, Alderete and Roefs are the top two players this season.
Most points for promoted players
| Player | Goals + assists | Clean sheets | Value (ppm) | Pts |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Anthony | 5 | 2 | 7.1 | 40 |
| Alderete | 2 | 2 | 9.8 | 39 |
| Roefs | 0 | 3 | 8.7 | 39 |
| Stach | 3 | 2 | 6.2 | 31 |
| Cullen | 2 | 2 | 6.2 | 31 |
| Rodon | 1 | 2 | 7.2 | 29 |
| Xhaka | 3 | 3 | 5.8 | 29 |
| Isidor | 3 | N/A | 4.8 | 27 |
Scroll across to see the full table on mobile
Centre-back Alderete has combined a goal and an assist with two clean sheets to collect 39 points. At a cost of just £4.0m, this means he has returned 9.8ppm.
Roefs has three clean sheets, six save points and six bonus points. Priced at £4.5m, he has returned 8.7ppm.
Their team-mates Granit Xhaka (£5.0m) and Wilson Isidor (£5.6m) also feature. Midfielder Xhaka has supplied an assist in three of the last four Gameweeks, while forward Isidor has scored three of Sunderland's seven league goals.
Burnley and Leeds both supply two players in the table above, with cut-price midfielders Josh Cullen and Anton Stach (both £5.0m) joining their respective team-mates Anthony and Rodon.
Promoted clubs are defensively better this season
A quick comparison against the three promoted clubs at this time last season shows why Sunderland and Leeds have made particularly strong starts.
After six Gameweeks of 2024/25, Leicester City, Ipswich Town and Southampton had each conceded at least 10 goals and 20 big chances, which are situations where the player is expected to score.
Sunderland and Leeds have allowed only nine and eight big chances, respectively, which places both clubs among the best eight defences.
Whereas last season's trio of promoted clubs had just one clean sheet between them after six Gameweeks, Burnley, Leeds and Sunderland already have six to their name.
Burnley can also take some comfort from the statistics here - their 18 big chances conceded are still fewer than last season's promoted clubs at this point.
Promoted clubs 2024/25, first six Gameweeks
| Club | Goals conc. | Clean sheets | Big chances conc. |
|---|---|---|---|
| Leicester | 12 | 0 | 25 |
| Ipswich | 10 | 1 | 22 |
| Southampton | 12 | 0 | 21 |
Scroll across to see full table on mobile
Promoted clubs 2025/26, first six Gameweeks
| Club | Goals conc. | Clean sheets | Big chances conc. |
|---|---|---|---|
| Burnley | 13 | 1 | 18 |
| Sunderland | 4 | 3 | 9 |
| Leeds | 9 | 2 | 8 |
Scroll across to see the full table on mobile
Who's best for defensive contribution points?
An assessment of the top-performing players among the three clubs for defensive contributions shows that both Alderete and Cullen have each collected eight points in the first six Gameweeks.
See: What are defensive contributions
Alderete has been slightly more reliable. He has earned two extra points in four of his five starts, which is an 80 per cent success rate, whereas Cullen has achieved the feat four times over six starts.
By taking each player's position for his club into account, the Sunderland centre-backs and the Burnley midfielders could be the ones to target here.
The Black Cats' Nordi Mukiele (£4.0m) has been awarded defensive contribution (DC) points in three of his four starts, while Burnley's Florentino (£5.0m) has started the last two Gameweeks and earned extra points on both occasions.
Defensive contribution points for promoted players
| Player | Starts | % successful | DC pts. |
|---|---|---|---|
| Alderete | 5 | 80.0 | 8 |
| Cullen | 6 | 66.7 | 8 |
| Mukiele | 4 | 75.0 | 6 |
| Ekdal, Esteve, Xhaka | 6 | 50.0 | 6 |
| Florentino | 2 | 100.0 | 4 |
| Ampadu, Longstaff | 4 | 50.0 | 4 |
| Rodon, Stach, Struijk | 6 | 33.3 | 4 |
Scroll across to see the full table on mobile
Who has the most attacking threat?
Anthony's numbers indicate his four goals and an assist over his first six outings are no fluke.
His four big chances rank third among midfielders this season and are matched by Leeds' Dominic Calvert-Lewin (£5.5m) in the assessment.
Whereas Anthony's 12 shots and seven chances created also help to show his all-round attacking potential, Isidor is all about goal threat for Sunderland. The forward's 15 shots lead the way in the table below, although he has failed to created a single chance for his team-mates.
Xhaka's set-pieces have helped him create three big chances, while Alderete's six shots - all in the box - are a reflection of his threat from those free-kicks and corners.
Leeds' Stach, meanwhile, is the only player from those clubs to have double-figures for both shots and chances created.
It's noticeable, though, that he hasn't been involved in many quality scoring opportunities - he's had one big chance and also created one, giving the midfielder a total of two big-chance involvements.
Most big-chance involvements for promoted players
| Player | Shots | Chances created | Big chances | Big-chance inv. |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Anthony | 12 | 7 | 4 | 4 |
| Calvert-Lewin | 7 | 3 | 4 | 4 |
| Xhaka | 2 | 8 | 0 | 3 |
| Aaronson | 7 | 4 | 0 | 3 |
| Isidor | 15 | 0 | 2 | 2 |
| Stach | 11 | 13 | 1 | 2 |
| Longstaff | 4 | 8 | 0 | 2 |
| Alderete | 6 | 1 | 1 | 1 |
| Cullen | 1 | 7 | 0 | 1 |
Scroll across to see the full table on mobile
Who has the best fixtures?
A look at the upcoming schedules suggests Burnley, Leeds and Sunderland's key assets can continue to bring in the points.
According to the Fixture Difficulty Ratings (FDR), where the difficulty of each fixture is ranked from one to five - with one being the easiest possible match and five being the hardest - all three have two matches which score only two over Gameweeks 8-11.
Burnley's home encounter with Leeds in Gameweek 8 has already been earmarked by some managers as a potential time to play their Bench Boost chip, allowing them to earn points from all 15 players in their squad.
Both clubs face West Ham United, while Sunderland are at home to both Wolverhampton Wanderers and Everton.
Promoted clubs' schedules, GW8-11
| Club | GW8 | GW9 | GW10 | GW11 |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Burnley | Leeds (H) | Wolves (A) | Arsenal (H) | West Ham (A) |
| Leeds | Burnley (A) | West Ham (H) | Brighton (A) | Nott'm Forest (A) |
| Sunderland | Wolves (H) | Chelsea (A) | Everton (H) | Arsenal (H) |
*Matches in bold are rated 2 in the FDR. Scroll across to see full table on mobile