EPL team reveal: Data analyst Harry West's squad + analysis

Harry’s Current EPL Supercoach Side (With An Alternative Twist)



Right, deadline&#8217;s tonight and you&#8217;re here for answers, not waffle.



This is my current draft thinking &#8211; this represents hours of analysis distilled into 15 players.



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The Strategy &amp; Quick Terminology



Let&#8217;s establish the language so we&#8217;re all on the same page:



<ul>
<li>Guns: Players £8.5m and above &#8211; your legitimate captain options</li>



<li>Mid-pricers: Players £6m-£8.5m &#8211; hoping these turn into guns with slightly more risk attached</li>



<li>Cheapies: Underpriced players selected primarily to generate cash and value</li>



<li>Lock: Players I&#8217;m 95%+ certain will be in my final team</li>



<li>Not Locked: Currently in but could swap based on late news or better alternatives</li>
</ul>



My approach? Build around premium captain options whilst maximising value generation through underpriced starters. It&#8217;s not revolutionary, but execution matters more than strategy.



<h2 class="wp-block-heading">Guns (The Captain Material)</h2>



Mohamed Salah (£13.55m) &#8211; Not Locked If I don&#8217;t pick Salah, I&#8217;m not watching Liverpool versus Bournemouth &#8211; he could score anything. Slightly overpriced perhaps, but the captaincy potential across multiple gameweeks justifies the investment.



Cole Palmer (£12.72m) &#8211; Lock Will captain him multiple times in Chelsea&#8217;s opening fixtures. Had a dull end to last season, which means there&#8217;s value in his current price. Chelsea&#8217;s fixture run is absolutely elite.



Mid-Priced (The Value Plays)



Martin Ødegaard (£7.91m) &#8211; Lock Feels underpriced after an injury-impacted year that included several games off the bench. As an Arsenal fan, needed someone other than keepers, but the value here is genuine.



Florian Wirtz (£8m) &#8211; Lock Big money signing should guarantee minutes. Expecting plenty of assists, which are worth double for forwards compared to FPL scoring. Could be this year&#8217;s differential.



Marc Cucurella (£7.65m) &#8211; Not Locked As discussed in the fixtures article, Chelsea&#8217;s opening run is phenomenal. Banking on attacking returns to justify the price tag.



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David Raya (£6.77m) &#8211; Lock Just want to lock away the keeper from the best defence in the league. Don&#8217;t love any keeper options this year, happy going with the most popular choice.



Jeremie Frimpong (£6.5m) &#8211; Lock Alex summarised Frimpong brilliantly in his Defenders article &#8211; hasn&#8217;t left my side since. The attacking potential is massive, just need him to hold on to minutes when Bradley is back.



Tijjani Reijnders (£6.5m) &#8211; Not Locked Risky pick with Pep roulette always a concern, but just bagged a brace in pre-season and loves a shot. Too cheap to ignore at this price point.



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<h2 class="wp-block-heading">Cheapies (The Cash Generators)</h2>



Elhadji Diouf (£3.75m) &#8211; Lock Finally up to 15% ownership, can&#8217;t talk about this player enough. Fun to own and watch those attacking returns roll in.



Simon Adingra (£4.66m) &#8211; Not Locked Honestly not one I researched extensively, but his 90-minute stats from last year look promising. Expecting good minutes at Sunderland.



Kiernan Dewsbury-Hall (£3.9m) &#8211; Not Locked Have him in FPL too. Slightly nervous about Grealish taking minutes, but KDH&#8217;s positional versatility should guarantee game time. Hoping pre-season form continues.



Karl Hein (£3.9m) &#8211; Lock Arsenal play late fixtures, could be helpful with looping strategies. Straightforward bench keeper choice.



Joe Rodon (£3.5m) &#8211; Lock Somewhat bullish on Leeds surviving the drop. Don&#8217;t want to play him often, but he&#8217;s there for defensive actions &#8211; clearances, tackles, etc. (see my FPL scoring breakdown article for details).



Lucas Estève (£3.9m) &#8211; Not Locked Similar to Rodon but worse team in my opinion. Strong Championship defence, though I expect them to finish 20th.



Iago Thiago (£3.75m) &#8211; Not Locked Wissa doesn&#8217;t look like playing, and Thiago was a club record signing who missed last year through injury. Some chatter about a new signing incoming, but hoping he generates cash meanwhile. 



<h2 class="wp-block-heading">The Alternative</h2>



<figure class="wp-block-image size-large"><img loading="lazy" decoding="async" width="1024" height="806" src="https://blog.scplaybook.com.au/wp-content/uploads/2025/08/Screenshot-2025-08-15-at-9.21.40 pm-1024x806.jpg" alt="" class="wp-image-2401950" srcset="https://blog.scplaybook.com.au/wp-content/uploads/2025/08/Screenshot-2025-08-15-at-9.21.40 pm-1024x806.jpg 1024w, https://blog.scplaybook.com.au/wp-content/uploads/2025/08/Screenshot-2025-08-15-at-9.21.40 pm-300x236.jpg 300w, https://blog.scplaybook.com.au/wp-content/uploads/2025/08/Screenshot-2025-08-15-at-9.21.40 pm-768x605.jpg 768w, https://blog.scplaybook.com.au/wp-content/uploads/2025/08/Screenshot-2025-08-15-at-9.21.40 pm-640x504.jpg 640w, https://blog.scplaybook.com.au/wp-content/uploads/2025/08/Screenshot-2025-08-15-at-9.21.40 pm-1200x945.jpg 1200w, https://blog.scplaybook.com.au/wp-content/uploads/2025/08/Screenshot-2025-08-15-at-9.21.40 pm.jpg 1372w" sizes="(max-width: 639px) 98vw, (max-width: 1199px) 64vw, 770px" /></figure>



The big switch I&#8217;m contemplating: Salah + Estève OUT, Haaland + Porro IN.



Re-reading Alex&#8217;s Forwards article has me second-guessing Salah versus Erling Haaland (£11.57m). I reckon I can make captaincy work without Salah, and Haaland&#8217;s definitely better value and a safe route into City&#8217;s lineup. Just means I&#8217;ll be too nervous to watch Liverpool, but maybe I&#8217;ve got enough coverage with Frimpong and Wirtz.



Pedro Porro (£9.11m) gives me an extra starter compared to the current draft. Love his fixtures and think he&#8217;s got more upside than the cheaper Spurs defenders. I hate picking Tottenham players though &#8211; it&#8217;s against everything I stand for.



The trade-off? Losing Salah&#8217;s explosive potential against Bournemouth for Haaland&#8217;s consistency and freeing up funds for a premium defender. Currently leaning 60/40 towards sticking with the Salah draft, but ask me again in an hour.



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<h2 class="wp-block-heading">The Verdict</h2>



This structure gives me multiple premium captaincy options whilst maintaining enough value generation through the cheapies. The mid-pricers are where leagues are won &#8211; if two of Ødegaard, Reijnders, and Cucurella pop off, we&#8217;re laughing.



If anything changes before the deadline, I&#8217;ll announce it in the WhatsApp group &#8211; that&#8217;s the plug for any last-minute pivots.



Deadline&#8217;s tonight. Stop tinkering, make a decision, and back yourself.

EPL team reveal: Data analyst Harry West’s squad + analysis

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