Every FPL pre-season produces a template — the set of players so widely owned that by Gameweek 1 they are less a choice than a starting assumption. With the 2026/27 game live and drafts pouring in, the shape of this season's template is already visible in the Statz FPL data. Here is who the crowd is backing, and where it might be wrong.
Erling Haaland is in 74.8% of drafts — at £15.5m, the most expensive player in the game is also its most owned by a distance. After 239 points and 27 goals last season, the crowd has decided he is not optional. Bruno Fernandes (£12.0m, 235 points, 24 assists) is next at 48.7% — which means nearly half the game is starting £27.5m deep in two players.
The surprise at the top is a Chelsea double act. João Pedro (£7.5m) sits at 48.6% after a 177-point, 15-goal debut Chelsea season, and Morgan Rogers — now listed at Chelsea in the game after 169 points and 10 goals — is in 34% of teams. Between them sits Liverpool's Dominik Szoboszlai (£7.0m, 160 points) at 45%: three mid-price midfield-and-forward anchors that half the game has agreed on before a ball is kicked.
Templates are built from the bottom up, and the cheap end has settled fast. Tottenham's Martin Dúbravka is the crowd's £4.0m goalkeeper at 24.8%, with Manchester United's £5.0m Senne Lammens (109 points last season) close behind at 20.1%. In defence, Luke Shaw (£4.5m, 113 points) leads the budget picks at 20.4%, followed by Ezri Konsa at 19.2% — more on that price band in our cheap defenders guide.
The promoted-team punts are in the template too, and they carry the most risk. Ipswich's £4.0m Issa Diop is owned by 21.3% of teams off 31 points, and Coventry's Milan van Ewijk sits in 17% of drafts with zero Premier League points behind him — ownership built entirely on price, not evidence. Cheap enablers are necessary; just know what you are buying.
Ownership is a popularity contest scored before kick-off, and it moves fast — a week ago Brentford's Igor Thiago led the premium ownership charts; he now sits at 16.8% despite a 22-goal, 181-point season, overtaken by the Chelsea pair. Meanwhile Ollie Watkins (16 goals last season) is in just 12.5% of drafts, Cole Palmer 13.2%, and William Saliba — 15 clean sheets — a barely-believable 0.5%.
The lesson from the data: the template tells you what the average team looks like, not what the best team looks like. Use the Statz My Team planner to test your draft against the projections rather than the crowd, and check which of the template picks actually have the fixtures to justify their place in our teams to target guide.
Who is the most owned player in FPL 2026/27? Erling Haaland, in 74.8% of drafts at launch — the game's most expensive player is also its most owned.
Who is the most owned budget player in FPL 2026/27? Tottenham goalkeeper Martin Dúbravka (£4.0m) at 24.8%, with Issa Diop (£4.0m) the most owned budget defender at 21.3%.