FPL Pod: Experts reveal their opening 2025/26 squads

Fantasy Premier League is back! Kelly Somers and the FPL Pod team discuss new changes and who they're picking

Fantasy Premier League has returned! And that means Kelly Somers and the FPL Pod team are back to talk about all the new changes to the game and who be in their squads.

They also discuss who to pick out of Mohamed Salah (£14.5m) or Erling Haaland (£14.0m), with the former coming in as the most expensive player in FPL.

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Listen to the FPL Pod

Running order:
- More chips (02m 27s)
- Defensive contributions (08m 05s)
- Assists changes (14m 59s)
- AFCON transfers (17m 55s)
- Squad reveals (28m 12s)
- Position-by-position analysis (30m 42s)

Podcast presenters
Kelly Somers

Kelly is a presenter and reporter who has become synonymous with FPL, hosting the FPL Pod for the past four seasons, alongside the Fantasy Show.

Alongside this, she also leads coverage on BBC Sport - including Football Focus, live Women's Super League and Final Score, and on radio for 5live Sport. She is also their England reporter - having been in camp at the last three major tournaments. 

This summer she was one of the lead presenters for DAZN’s coverage of the FIFA Club World Cup - a job that convinced her that Joao Pedro had to be one of the first names in her FPL team this season - and she’s also previously presented for Optus Sport, Channel 4 and Amazon Prime. 

Kelly is, by her own admission, a football and FPL obsessive - and says the only deadline she has ever missed is following the birth of her daughter! Somehow she still made the top 50k that year, but blames the continuous lack of sleep for her drop off last season - as well as Juls and Sam’s constant, successful attempts to influence her picks! Her new season resolution is to follow her gut and not leave her chips until the last minute.

Julien Laurens

Julien is a French football journalist based in London. He reports on the Premier League for RMC Sport, TNT Sports, BBC Radio 5 Live and ESPN.

He is a keen FPL manager who likes to get ahead of the curve by spotting high-performing differentials. Arsenal fan Juls always needs his boy William Saliba and all Paris born and bred players!

Juls watches every minute of football possible to make the most informed Fantasy decisions and help the FPL Pod listeners with their weekly dilemmas. The 2023/24 season saw Juls register his highest-ever FPL finish, inside the top 5k!

Sam Bonfield

Sam is an experienced FPL pundit and one half of the popular YouTube channel the https://www.youtube.com/c/fplfamily, with husband Lee.

In her 15 FPL seasons, Sam has developed a keen eye for spotting differentials. However, she prefers making sensible decisions supported by underlying stats and the eye test wherever possible to help her find those all-important green arrows.

Sam also regularly appears on the Fantasy Show, as well as Sky Sports News, talking all things Fantasy.