Fantasy Premier League 2025: Key City Assets to Consider

The countdown is on. Fantasy Premier League managers are back in familiar territory: endless drafts, torn-up plans, and that one player they swear they won’t go without.

With the Gameweek 1 deadline set for 18:30 (UK) on Friday 21 August, there’s still time for unlimited transfers and unlimited overthinking. But among all the tinkering, three City names are already cutting through the noise.

And they’re doing it in very different ways.

Haaland: The game’s ultimate luxury

Erling Haaland has broken FPL before. Now he’s breaking the bank.

Priced at £15.5m, the Norwegian becomes the most expensive Fantasy Premier League asset in history. It’s a number that would scare managers off most players. Not this one.

Haaland finished last season on 239 points – more than any other player in the game. He led the way for attacking returns with 35, a relentless stream of goals and assists that made him the default captain in millions of teams.

That dominance has translated straight into ownership. Despite the record price, 75.2% of FPL managers have already found a way to fit him into their early drafts. Three quarters of the game are effectively starting from the same place: build the squad around Haaland and work out the rest later.

Go without him, and you’re not just betting against a striker. You’re betting against the crowd.

Guehi: Clean-sheet machine with a sting

At the other end of the pitch, Marc Guehi has turned into a premium FPL defender in his own right.

Last season he collected 179 points, with only one defender in the entire game managing more. That return wasn’t built on one standout attribute; it was the full package.

Fourteen clean sheets formed the backbone of his haul, but Guehi added genuine attacking value as well: three goals, five assists, and 22 defensive contribution points, all topped up by 14 bonus points. Every type of scoring route you want from a defender, he hit.

It’s no surprise, then, that he comes in at £6.0m for the new campaign. Nor is it a surprise that FPL managers are buying into the reliability. Guehi currently sits in 24.7% of squads, a clear sign that he’s being treated as a set-and-forget option rather than a rotation risk.

If Haaland is the headline act, Guehi is the quiet constant that keeps a team’s score ticking over.

O’Reilly: From fringe pick to serious asset

Nico O’Reilly arrives at this season from a very different angle.

Twelve months ago, he was a marginal FPL consideration. Now he’s a genuine option in defence after a breakout 2025/26 campaign that transformed his fantasy reputation.

O’Reilly finished last season on 160 points. For context, that was 129 more than he managed in 2024/25 – a huge leap that signals a player who has found both form and opportunity.

His output was well-rounded: five goals, four assists, and 14 clean sheets. Those numbers are the kind that usually belong to established names, not emerging ones. The pricing algorithm has responded accordingly, pushing him up to £6.5m for the new season.

Even with that rise, managers are not shying away. O’Reilly is currently in 24% of teams, putting him right alongside Guehi as one of the most trusted defensive options from City.

He’s no longer the hidden gem. He’s part of the template.

As the first deadline looms and drafts swing wildly from one strategy to another, one thing is already clear: City’s FPL assets are shaping the early landscape. Haaland as the immovable captaincy giant, Guehi as the dependable rock, O’Reilly as the fast-rising alternative.

The question now is simple: who blinks first and dares to go without them?