Editor’s note: The article was originally written in late July — the figures for the highest-owned players are likely to change based on form, fitness and injuries

In serious Fantasy Premier League circles, “the template” is regularly discussed — and is often seen as a dirty phrase.

That leaves many managers outside of those groups wondering what the template is and whether it’s a good thing or not.

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It’s time for a bit of an exploration. I have delved into its meaning, who makes the team and why it shouldn’t be feared for Gameweek 1.

What is the template in FPL?

It’s simply a draft of the highest-owned players selected in FPL. It has a bad reputation as it seems like an uninteresting approach just to pick the same core of players as everyone else.

However, the template generally emerges for good reason as the best players to own naturally come to the fore. All fantasy managers are working within the same constrictions of budget, player form, fixture difficulty and underlying numbers.

There is a huge element of luck involved in FPL, too, but by optimising all known variables, several players can seem like obvious picks.

Embracing the template at the start of the season can be a very wise strategy to keep pace with other managers early on.

Obviously, it’s nice to have a few differentials in there, too — and going with different picks is very important as the season progresses. Otherwise, you will simply perform as well as the average player rather than heading towards the top of the rankings.

But — and this is the important thing to note — don’t just pick players early on for the sake of being different.

If those punts don’t pay off then it’s easy to lose ground among your rivals and start the season on the back foot.

Obviously finding a low-owned player that performs will give you ultimate bragging rights in your mini leagues. This is a high-risk strategy, though, in the world of FPL. There will be plenty of flops along the way if you take this route — which is why the template is so useful.

Who makes the Gameweek 1 template team?

The Gameweek 1 template for 2023-24 (at the time of writing) has been fairly settled since the game launched in early July, with no significant changes to the starting XI over the past three weeks.

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Arsenal’s Aaron Ramsdale (£5.0m) has emerged as the goalkeeper of choice. He kept 14 clean sheets last season, with his side having a very decent run in the early fixtures.

In the last few days, West Ham’s Alphonse Areola (£4.0m) has eclipsed Ramsdale’s ownership as the best bench backup option.

There are rumours he could win the number one shirt from Lukasz Fabianski after Europa Conference League glory last campaign. That has led to a rise in his selection.

Brighton’s Pervis Estupinan (£5.0m) is one of three players owned by over half of managers. His advanced role in the final stages of the last campaign yielded plenty of attacking returns.

Manchester United’s Luke Shaw (£5.5m) has seen plenty of early backers. United have home games against Wolves and Nottingham Forest in the first three gameweeks.

The arrival of new goalkeeper Andre Onana (£5.0m) has amplified clean-sheet hopes at Old Trafford.

The popularity of Trent Alexander-Arnold (£8.0m) has waned a little. The Liverpool defender has dropped down a few percentage points for ownership in the past few weeks. He’s the most expensive defender in a decade — but has potential as an out-of-position prospect.

Alexander-Arnold’s dominance on set pieces fuels his popularity, along with fellow premium defender Kieran Trippier (£6.5m). This pair are among the most attacking defenders in the game given their set-piece responsibility.

Sven Botman (£4.5m) completes the defence in a 5-3-2 formation. He might be a bench option for many — but he does make this Template XI affordable.

Bukayo Saka (£8.5m) has seen his ownership grow to above 50 per cent after scoring over 200 points last season.

He’s the dominant Arsenal pick this pre-season with fellow midfielders Martin Odegaard (£8.5m) and Gabriel Martinelli (£8.0m) at 20 per cent and 14 per cent owned respectively.

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Marcus Rashford (£9.0m) beats Bruno Fernandes (£8.5m) to the template team. His current ownership is at 43 per cent compared to Fernandes’s 25.3 per cent. Rashford dominated the FPL-related categories at Old Trafford last season.

Kaoru Mitoma (£6.5m) leads the way among a stacked array of Brighton attackers. Among the FPL community, there are concerns already beginning to emerge around rotation.

Erling Haaland (£14.0m) continues to rise in popularity as he pushes for more records. He could be the most-owned player for FPL Gameweek 1 ever.

He currently sits in 86.3 per cent of squads with a hot start guaranteed to blow any non-owners out of the water in the early phases of the season.

Gabriel Jesus (£8.0m) completes the XI in around a third of sides at the time of writing as fantasy managers hunt for consistency in their attacks.

Inputting this XI of the template team into the Fantasy Football Hub My Team Tool gives an AI Gameweek 1 Rating of 95 per cent and an overall Team Rating of 93 per cent.

Their AI-predicted points gives a Gameweek 1 score of 66.9, which is not far off the AI Best GW1 Team, which is predicted to score 70.2 points.

(Top photo: Koji Watanabe/Getty Images)