Brentford’s Early Fixtures Signal FPL Opportunities
The fixtures are out, and Brentford have quietly been handed one of the softest landings of the new Premier League season. For Fantasy Premier League managers, that matters.
Keith Andrews took the Bees to ninth in his debut campaign. Now the calendar gives him – and you – a chance to hit the ground running in 2026/27.
Across the opening five Gameweeks, Brentford dodge every one of last season’s top five. They host Tottenham Hotspur, Sunderland and Chelsea, and travel to Leeds United and AFC Bournemouth. On the Fixture Difficulty Ratings, that run averages 2.8 – second only to Liverpool over the same period.
For a club that already punched above its weight, that’s an invitation.
Thiago, the penalty caveat – and why it still doesn’t matter
Igor Thiago was one of last season’s breakout Fantasy stories. Twenty-two goals, one assist, 181 points. He started at just £6.0m. That bargain is gone.
Nine of those goals came from the spot, which will make some managers twitchy. Strip away the penalties, though, and the numbers still scream one thing: this is Brentford’s attack, and Thiago sits right at the heart of it.
He racked up 41 big chances – 19 more than his closest team-mate, Kevin Schade. No one else in the squad came close to that level of service. Thiago also created six big chances for others, taking his total big-chance involvements to 47. The next best, Dango Ouattara, finished 17 behind on 30.
Look at the clock, not just the totals. Thiago was involved in a big chance every 69.8 minutes. That’s elite volume for a mid-priced forward, even before you factor in penalties.
He will cost more. He should. The role, the data and the fixtures still line up.
Ouattara vs Schade: the second man in
If you want to double up on Brentford’s attack, the numbers draw a clear line.
Ouattara and Schade were almost inseparable in raw big-chance involvement: 30 for Ouattara, 29 for Schade. On the surface, it’s a coin flip.
The tempo tells a different story. Ouattara’s 30 involvements came at a rate of one every 77.1 minutes. Schade needed 94.6 minutes per big-chance involvement. Across a season, that gap is huge.
Ouattara also balanced his threat more evenly: 18 big chances of his own and 12 created for others. Schade produced 22 big chances and seven created. Both profiles are useful, but if you’re looking for the player who operates closer to Thiago’s level of involvement, Ouattara is the one who keeps popping up in the right areas, at the right time.
Thiago remains the standout pick. As a partner, Ouattara edges it.
Kelleher’s dilemma at the back
At the other end, Caoimhin Kelleher turned in a quietly outstanding Fantasy season. He finished as Brentford’s second-highest scorer and the second-best goalkeeper overall, with 143 points from a starting price of £4.5m.
That price is almost certain to rise. The question is whether his value rises with it.
Kelleher kept 10 clean sheets – solid, but not spectacular. Five other goalkeepers bettered that tally, and he finished nine shutouts behind Golden Glove winner David Raya. His final points total leaned heavily on three penalty saves, the kind of high-impact moments that rarely repeat on demand.
With a tougher price tag, managers will need to decide whether they trust those heroics to continue, or whether Brentford’s defensive ceiling has already been reached.
The fixtures invite investment. The data points to clear attacking priorities. For FPL managers, the real decision is simple: how many Bees can you live without in Gameweek 1?
