Chelsea’s Cole Palmer vs Arsenal’s Bukayo Saka: who will have a bigger impact in 2025-26?
Expect these two FPL midfielders to dominate conversations among the FPL community building up to Gameweek 1, as we use last season’s numbers to help judge whether Cole Palmer (£10.5m) or Bukayo Saka (£10,0m) will make a bigger FPL splash over the course of the 2025-26 Premier League.
Although injury restricted Saka to just 1,724 minutes of Premier League football last season, the Arsenal and England star still managed to accrue six goals and 11 assists with an xGI (expected goal involvements) of 14.7. It would be a surprise if Saka doesn’t hit 25 attacking returns this campaign if he remains injury free.
Cole Palmer heads into the new campaign in excellent form following a Club World Cup campaign that saw him record five attacking returns and win the Golden Ball as Chelsea lifted the trophy. In the Premier League, it was a tale of two halves for the Chelsea talisman, but despite a cold stretch in the second half of the campaign,
Palmer still came away with 15 league goals, ten assists and 214 FPL points. He also underperformed his xGI, which stood at 26.3.
Both players are regular penalty takers although unlike Palmer at Chelsea, Saka is not the undisputed number one penalty taker at Arsenal. The likelihood is that little will separate the pair from an FPL standpoint across the full Premier League season assuming neither suffer an injury.
But with Chelsea having an easier start to the campaign on paper, this may tip the scales in Palmer’s favour for FPL managers.
Verdict: Cole Palmer (£10.5m)
