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Welcome to the 2023/24 Fantasy Premier League season, RotoBallers! The FPL game launched on July 5 and all the prices are revealed. Today, we will continue our team previews with Brentford and work through the EPL teams, looking at what catches our eye as well as their FPL outlooks.
We began our FPL coverage two years ago and are going big for the upcoming 2023/24 campaign. We will have position previews, team previews, and reactions to the most significant transfers in the preseason. Then, during the year, we will bring you our usual Staff Roundtable, weekly rankings, and a new monthly article: the Watchlist.
The first game of the 2023/24 Fantasy Premier League season is August 11 at 3:00 PM ET. Also, look out for the rest of our excellent soccer coverage as the squad gets you all set for every English Premier League and UEFA Champions League with our EPL DFS lineup picks and betting picks.
FPL Team Preview: Brentford
Brentford followed up their debut EPL season, when they finished 13th, with a ninth-place finish last season. They were just two points off the European qualification places. With the FPL's highest-scoring goalkeeper and third-highest-scoring striker, The Bees were a good source of FPL production. However, they enter this season with some serious question marks hanging over them. So can they repeat last year's top-half finish or will things go south this time around?
Last Year's Brentford Stats
- League Finish: Ninth, 59 points
- Most goals: Ivan Toney, 20 goals
- Most assists: Bryan Mbeumo, nine assists
- Most FPL Points: Ivan Toney, 182 FPL points
Who is your favorite Brentford defender for the upcoming FPL campaign?
- At £4.5m, I do like Rico Henry. The left-back started 37 games last season and his 112 points were only topped by Ben Mee (143) among Brentford defenders. He tallied 51 shot-creating actions last season, which was the fourth-most on the team. Despite not finding the net last season, his 22 shots were the sixth-most on the team. He's an attack-minded full-back who just lacks a final cutting edge and that could change with another EPL season now under his belt.
Which Brentford midfielder is catching your eye?
- Bryan Mbeumo was on my radar as soon as the Ivan Toney suspension was announced. At £6.5m, he's one of my "must-roster" plays this season. Only 12 midfielders scored more points than Mbeumo last season (150). In the three games Toney missed to end the season, he scored three and assisted two. His attacking threat from the right could be crucial to any success Brentford has this season.
The Brentford forward who will be bagging us some FPL points is...?
- With Toney set to miss more than half of the season, there aren't many options. Yoane Wissa might surprise a few people. He stepped in when Toney missed the final three games of last season, scoring twice and bagging an assist. He only started 16 games last season but still ended the campaign with seven goals and four assists. At £6.0m, Wissa is certainly an intriguing option.
What run of fixtures favors Brentford the most for the 2023/24 FPL season?
- Three home games in their opening four fixtures, with Tottenham being the most difficult tie on paper, definitely has some appeal to kick things off. I do like their run of games to end the season with five consecutive games, which have a "Fixture Difficulty Rating" of two. That's followed by a season finale at home to Newcastle United, which could be a game with nothing on the line for the visitors.
How many Brentford players will you have in your Gameweek 1 squad?
- As mentioned, Mbeumo is a definite starter for me, especially given their opening fixtures. I probably would have preferred him as a striker given the amount of quality midfield options there are but I'm still rolling with Mbeumo. If I go with a Brentford goalkeeper, I'll also double-up the clean-sheet potential with Rico Henry. But I want to see how things play out with David Raya and whether or not he's a Brentford player to start the season.
What is one bold FPL prediction for any Brentford player?
- Brentford paid £14m to sign Aaron Hickey last summer, which was a considerable amount of their transfer budget to spend on a right-back. After an impressive start to the season, Hickey suffered an ankle injury and missed nearly four months. He finished the season strong and I wouldn't be at all surprised if the 21-year-old Scottish international tops 100 points this season and ends as a top-20 defender.
