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. Updated for deadline week — Gameweek 1 kicks off Friday, and with millions of drafts now locked in, the final shape of the template is visible in the Statz FPL data. Here is who the crowd is backing, and where it might be wrong.
Erling Haaland is in 71% 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. The deadline-week surprise is who is second: João Pedro (£7.5m) has overtaken Bruno Fernandes, 59.4% to 48.7% — a £7.5m forward out-owned only by Haaland, after his 177-point debut Chelsea season.
The deadline-week riser is Bryan Mbeumo — 30.1% of teams now carry Manchester United's £8.0m man, roughly triple his ownership at launch. Behind him, Chelsea's Morgan Rogers (26.7%), Liverpool's Dominik Szoboszlai (41.2%) and Arsenal's £5.5m Riccardo Calafiori (25.7%) fill out a mid-price core the crowd has settled on — with Leeds' Dominic Calvert-Lewin (26.9% at £6.0m) the late-arriving forward bargain of the window.
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 21.9%, with Manchester United's £5.0m Senne Lammens (109 points last season) at 18.5%. In defence, Luke Shaw (£4.5m, 113 points) leads the budget picks at 22.8%, followed by Ezri Konsa at 15.1% — 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 18.1% of teams off 31 points, and Coventry's Milan van Ewijk sits in 14.7% of drafts — both drifting as the deadline approaches and drafts get more careful 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 deadline week has torn up the launch template: Bournemouth's Eli Kroupi, once a third of all drafts, has collapsed to 1.7% — his side's brutal opening schedule did the damage — while Igor Thiago sits at 17.5% despite a 22-goal, 181-point season. Ollie Watkins (16 goals last season) is in just 12.4% of drafts, Cole Palmer 10.7%, and William Saliba — 15 clean sheets — a barely-believable 0.4%.
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 71% of drafts going into the Gameweek 1 deadline — 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 21.9%, with Issa Diop (£4.0m) the most owned budget defender at 18.1%.