Three new clubs. Everyone is buying the wrong ones.
Promoted players have no Premier League history to price, so the crowd prices them on cost and name recognition. Here is what they actually did last season — goalkeeper, defender, midfielder, forward — next to what the game is charging for them.
How they came up
One won the league by eleven points. One conceded 66 goals and needed Wembley. That difference is the whole page.
Champions — up automatically on 17 April, 25 years after their last top-flight game.
97 goals and the best set-piece unit in the division. Their opening five is the cruellest of the three.
Runners-up — up automatically at the first attempt after relegation, then McKenna left management entirely.
The best defence of the three, £100m spent, and the only promoted side with a kind opening fixture.
Play-off winners — sixth, then Wembley, settled by Oli McBurnie in the fifth minute of stoppage time.
They conceded 66 goals to go up and have since lost their keeper, their loan striker and half a midfield to injury.
29 scored, 13 conceded. That swing would have ranked second in the Premier League last season.
The most-selected player at any promoted club — a £4.0m centre-back who has not played a minute for them yet.
Twenty-one more than Coventry. Hull are an attacking-returns team, not a clean-sheet team.
Goalkeepers
Two of the three clubs changed their number one this month. The cheapest name is almost never the one who plays.
The £4.0m enabler 2.6% of squads have bought. He was third choice last season. Owning him is a bet on price, not minutes.
5.9% of squads own the fourth-choice keeper because he costs £4.0m. He made ten appearances last season.
One Championship appearance and 2.0% ownership. Another price-driven bench slot that is unlikely to ever play.
123 saves, 45 conceded — a 73% save rate. Every minute of the Championship season and the division’s clean-sheet leader. Coventry paid Brighton £22.5m to keep him. He is not the most-owned Coventry keeper; Dovin is, on price.
95 saves, Golden Glove runner-up, players’ player of the year. Sixteen clean sheets and the club’s player of the year — but a pre-season foot injury and Scherpen’s arrival have opened the shirt up. O’Neil: “the number one shirt doesn’t just get given to somebody.”
£8.5m from Union SG, six foot nine, and he made his debut in the 3-0 win over Rayo on 8 August. That looks like the Gameweek 1 shirt.
Signed from Olympiacos for £20m on 5 August and started against Frankfurt three days later. With Butland out, he is the Gameweek 1 keeper — and almost nobody owns him.
Broke his arm against Frankfurt on 8 August. Surgery planned, roughly twelve weeks.
Defenders
Where promoted clubs are actually useful. Nine of these cost £4.0m — the price floor — and the gap between the best and the most-owned is the biggest single mispricing in the game right now.
Top-scoring Coventry defender. Three goals and four assists from centre-back in a side built on set pieces. Injury history is the only argument against.
Top-scoring Ipswich defender. Three goals from centre-back, made permanent from Reims.
Top-scoring Hull defender, 24 shots. Three goals from centre-back at £4.0m in a team that will spend a lot of time defending set pieces at the other end.
46 shots — almost all from set plays. A centre-back who shoots 46 times a season. That is a set-piece weapon, not a statistical quirk.
71 key passes — the most at the club. Scored twice against Rayo Vallecano on 8 August. A £4.0m left-back on free kicks and corners with the club’s best creative numbers. The standout data point of the whole pre-season at this level.
45 shots, 30 of them headers; 292 clearances; zero yellow cards. Every minute of the season, captain, and thirty headed efforts. A set-piece goal threat who never gets booked.
Long-throw specialist, 22 key passes. The long throw is a set piece. In a side that scored 80, that matters.
9.62 defensive contributions per 90 — the highest at the club. The best defensive-contribution rate in the squad, which is the new points source this season.
11.78 defensive contributions per 90 — the best at the club. Twice their young player of the year and the best defensive-contribution rate at the club. Out with a groin problem for the opener.
Most-backed Coventry player at 15.8% ownership. An attacking right-back at £4.0m with eight assists in the Championship. The cheapest real route into this defence.
48 chances created. The left-sided half of the same idea. Creates more than he finishes.
41 key passes; six of his eight assists went to McBurnie. The one Hull player who genuinely belongs in a £4.0m defensive slot. First on free kicks, on corners, and his deliveries have a proven target.
Captain, 37 key passes. Captain and a full season of minutes at the cheapest price in the game.
£15.4m from Eintracht Frankfurt and likely to walk into the side, which puts every other Coventry centre-back’s minutes in question.
£8.5m from Fulham and already in 19% of squads — more than any other promoted player. Premier League proven, but he has not yet played for this side.
Free from Newcastle and already the most-owned Hull defender at 2.7%. Premier League experience is the whole case.
Midfielders
Championship goals do not translate one-for-one, but set-piece duty does. Look at the badges before the goal column.
Most-booked player in the Championship — 13 yellows. Officially first on penalties, which contradicts every manual set-piece table. Also the most-carded player in the division, which is a real risk in a side that will chase games.
A full season of minutes at £4.5m, on corners, and 2.0% owned. The cheapest way to hold a Hull midfielder.
Knee. Reported as season-ending.
Thigh. Around three months.
First-choice free-kick taker. Seven goals and the set-piece licence — but he is carrying a shoulder problem and is only 75% for the opener.
Scored against Espanyol on 8 August. Seven Championship goals from the right.
Team-leading seven assists. First on direct free kicks and the primary creator. The cheapest route to Ipswich set pieces.
Every minute of the season, captain. Captain, ever-present, on corners and third on penalties. The safest midfield minutes at the club.
Second on both free kicks and corners. Started the Frankfurt game and carries set-piece duty behind Giles.
The division’s fourth-top scorer; 90 successful dribbles. Sixteen goals from wide, second on penalties, and on free kicks and corners. The most productive attacker any promoted side brings up.
Hat-trick in a 5-0 win over Sheffield United. Eleven goals and third on penalties. A hat-trick already on his record at this level.
10 goals from midfield. Ten goals, second on penalties and second on free kicks. The most complete attacking-return case in the squad.
10 goals. The other ten-goal midfielder, and the most expensive Coventry player in the game.
£20m from Leicester. Premier League minutes already behind him, which almost nothing else in this bracket can say.
£8m from Celtic. Relentless off the ball, which is what O’Neil’s sides ask for.
Forwards
Three of these scored 17 goals last season. Only one of them has a settled penalty.
2.5% owned at £4.5m — a bench forward bought on price, with two Championship goals behind him.
0.71 goals per 90 from only 15 starts. Thirteen goals in barely a third of a season of starts. If Lampard starts him, he is underpriced.
0.63 goals per 90. A third forward with thirteen goals. Coventry’s problem is picking one; yours is the same.
First on penalties. Eleven goals and the penalty — though every manual table has Clarke taking them instead. The official order says Hirst.
Scored in both the Osasuna and Le Havre friendlies. In form, if not in the team.
17 goals; took and scored all three Coventry penalties. Seventeen goals and the penalty. He converted all three Coventry won last season, which is exactly the sort of thing the official order gets right.
17 league goals, plus the play-off final winner at Wembley. Seventeen goals, the Wembley winner, and second on penalties in a squad that has lost its other two double-figure scorers. He is carrying this attack alone.
£24m from Toulouse, the biggest fee any promoted club has paid, and he scored against Rayo on his way into the side.
The shortlist
Every player above with a genuine Gameweek 1 case, in one place, most-owned first. If you take one thing from this page, take this list.
An attacking right-back at £4.0m with eight assists in the Championship. The cheapest real route into this defence.
Three goals and four assists from centre-back in a side built on set pieces. Injury history is the only argument against.
Scored twice against Rayo Vallecano on 8 August. A £4.0m left-back on free kicks and corners with the club’s best creative numbers. The standout data point of the whole pre-season at this level.
Every minute of the season, captain, and thirty headed efforts. A set-piece goal threat who never gets booked.
Seventeen goals and the penalty. He converted all three Coventry won last season, which is exactly the sort of thing the official order gets right.
Seventeen goals, the Wembley winner, and second on penalties in a squad that has lost its other two double-figure scorers. He is carrying this attack alone.
Every minute of the Championship season and the division’s clean-sheet leader. Coventry paid Brighton £22.5m to keep him. He is not the most-owned Coventry keeper; Dovin is, on price.
The one Hull player who genuinely belongs in a £4.0m defensive slot. First on free kicks, on corners, and his deliveries have a proven target.
£8.5m from Union SG, six foot nine, and he made his debut in the 3-0 win over Rayo on 8 August. That looks like the Gameweek 1 shirt.
Sixteen goals from wide, second on penalties, and on free kicks and corners. The most productive attacker any promoted side brings up.
Captain, ever-present, on corners and third on penalties. The safest midfield minutes at the club.
Ten goals, second on penalties and second on free kicks. The most complete attacking-return case in the squad.
Signed from Olympiacos for £20m on 5 August and started against Frankfurt three days later. With Butland out, he is the Gameweek 1 keeper — and almost nobody owns him.
The ownership traps
Four players bought almost entirely on price. Between them they sit in 13% of squads, and the Championship record does not support any of them.
5.9% of squads own the fourth-choice keeper because he costs £4.0m. He made ten appearances last season.
The £4.0m enabler 2.6% of squads have bought. He was third choice last season. Owning him is a bet on price, not minutes.
2.5% owned at £4.5m — a bench forward bought on price, with two Championship goals behind him.
One Championship appearance and 2.0% ownership. Another price-driven bench slot that is unlikely to ever play.
Where the set-piece tables disagree
A penalty is worth roughly a goal every four attempts. At two of these three clubs, nobody can tell you who takes them — so here is both readings rather than a confident guess.
Hull’s penalties: Crooks or McBurnie?
McBurnie scored seventeen and won the play-off final. Crooks scored four and was booked thirteen times. One of these tables is wrong and it changes the case for a £5.5m striker.
Ipswich’s penalties: Hirst or Clarke?
Clarke scored sixteen and Hirst eleven. At £5.5m against £5.0m, the penalty is most of the difference between them.
Coventry’s penalties are the one thing nobody disputes
Coventry won three penalties last season. Wright took and scored all three. This is what a settled order looks like.
How pre-season went
Friendly results are close to worthless as a predictor. Who scored in them is a different matter — it tells you who is in the team.
Buy the defence, not the attack — and not until the fixtures turn in Gameweek 4.
The only promoted side you can justify a Gameweek 1 defender from, and there are three worth the slot.
One player worth owning before Gameweek 6, and it is a £4.0m left-back with eight assists.
Put one of them in and see what the engine says.
Rate My Team scores your fifteen against our projections and flags the picks the numbers disagree with — including the £4.0m ones everybody is copying.
Questions people actually ask
Short answers, same data.
Which promoted club players should I pick in FPL 2026/27?
Leif Davis of Ipswich at £4.0m has the strongest case: a left-back on free kicks and corners who made 71 key passes in the Championship and scored twice against Rayo Vallecano on 8 August. Milan van Ewijk of Coventry, also £4.0m, had eight assists from right-back. Dara O’Shea played every minute of Ipswich’s season and had 45 shots, 30 of them headers. Up front, Haji Wright scored 17 for Coventry and takes their penalties, and Oli McBurnie scored 17 for Hull plus the play-off final winner.
Which promoted club has the best FPL fixtures at the start of 2026/27?
Ipswich, comfortably. They open at home to Sunderland, then face Manchester United away, Liverpool at home, Crystal Palace away and Everton away. Coventry have the worst start of the three: Arsenal away and Manchester City away inside the first three gameweeks. Hull open at home to Manchester United.
Who takes penalties for Coventry, Hull and Ipswich?
Coventry are settled: Haji Wright is first, then Victor Torp, Matt Grimes and Brandon Thomas-Asante. Wright took and scored all three penalties Coventry won last season. Hull and Ipswich are disputed. The official FPL order lists Matt Crooks first for Hull and George Hirst first for Ipswich, while the manually maintained set-piece tables list Oli McBurnie and Jack Clarke instead.
Are the £4.0m promoted club defenders worth it in FPL?
Some are, and the crowd has largely picked the wrong ones. Issa Diop of Ipswich is in 19% of squads without having played a minute for the club, while Leif Davis — a set-piece taker with 71 key passes — is in about 4%. Coventry’s defence is the strongest bet on clean sheets: they conceded 45 in the Championship and had a plus-16 non-penalty set-piece goal difference, which would have ranked second in the Premier League. Hull conceded 66 and are an attacking-returns team, not a clean-sheet team.
How did Coventry, Hull and Ipswich get promoted in 2026?
Coventry City won the Championship with 95 points and 97 goals, returning to the top flight for the first time since 2001. Ipswich Town finished second with 84 points and the division’s best defensive record of the three at 47 conceded. Hull City finished sixth and came through the play-offs, beating Millwall over two legs and then Middlesbrough 1-0 at Wembley through an Oli McBurnie goal in the fifth minute of stoppage time.
Prices, ownership, injury text and set-piece order are the official Fantasy Premier League feed, read on 2026-08-09. Championship appearances, goals, assists and clean sheets are the clubs’ 2025/26 season records, cross-checked against an independent goalscorer table. Pre-season results and scorers are the clubs’ own match reports. Nothing on this page is a projection — those live on the squad pages and update daily.