Summarize this content to 400 words In just 72 days, the Premier League will be back under way for the 2023-24 season — and so will the English top flight’s ultimate companion game: Fantasy Premier League.Last Sunday, the 2022-23 season came to close, giving 11 million-plus players a respite from transfers, chips, captaincy matrixes, and scouring Twitter for early team news leaks.So this feels like the perfect time for Holly Shand and Abdul Rehman to take a look back at the heroes and villains of the season, reflecting on the biggest lessons they learned, as well as making a couple of bold predictions for when the world gets hooked on FPL once again.Who is your FPL player of the season?Holly Shand: There’s only one name in the frame here and that’s Erling Haaland. He’s absolutely broken the game and become a cheat code as the best goalscorer the Premier League has ever seen.He’s made captaincy in FPL irrelevant and that’s only going to be amplified as we look ahead to next season, the first straightforward campaign since 2018-19. This season may not go down in fantasy folklore since he didn’t break the positional or overall record for points in an FPL season but his return from 33 starts is incredible, with 7.8 points per game. He’s certainly given himself the opportunity to further improve on those tallies next time.GO DEEPERHas Erling Haaland broken FPL?Abdul Rehman: Most will say Haaland but for me, it has to be Harry Kane.He has had a phenomenal season, which has been overshadowed by the Norwegian’s monstrous debut, but it’s worth remembering that Kane scored 30 goals and got nine assists. The Tottenham striker recorded his best-ever goals tally in the league and also his best FPL points total (263). He only finished nine points behind Haaland.The level of consistency he displayed in a relatively poor Spurs side made it even more impressive. He is the perfect FPL player: nailed to start and play 90 minutes every week, on penalties, and has both goal and assist threat. He started all 38 league games and registered one or the other in 30 of those.Who has been the most frustrating player?Shand: Callum Wilson has definitely been the biggest thorn in my side. I brought him into my side for Gameweek 15 on the back of five attacking returns in two games, only for him to then be benched for two games.We’ve seen a number of disappearing acts from the team sheet since then before Wilson went on to score eight goals in April, despite only starting two games for Newcastle that month. He was the better option on paper for Double Gameweek 36 but I was priced out by £0.1 million, so went with his team-mate Alexander Isak instead. I wasn’t expecting there to be much between their points totals but a 34-point swing definitely cost me that coveted top-100,000 finish in FPL this season.Abdul: For me, there are a few contenders for this title but I think I will have to say Ederson.I bought him in Gameweek 31 as he was the most nailed defensive asset from Manchester City, and he also had a run of great fixtures, with two double gameweeks to come. City also had the best defence in the league.He only got me one clean sheet in the last nine gameweeks and was benched three times! To rub salt in the wound, he was benched for one of the games (against West Ham) in Double Gameweek 34, where his replacement Stefan Ortega kept a clean sheet and scored seven points. He has also benched for both games in Double Gameweek 37, where Ortega again kept a clean sheet against Chelsea, amassing an 11-point haul.When Ederson eventually did start in Gameweek 38 against Brentford, City decided to concede late in the game again in the 85th minute. I know that in FPL you should put emotions and sentiment to the side, but I don’t think I could ever own him again… (Photo: Michael Regan/Getty Images)Who has been your favourite differential?Shand: I’ve always had a soft spot for Bruno Fernandes since he joined the Premier League and he was a great differential for my squad and was also a nice way to double up on Manchester United attackers given Marcus Rashford’s popularity at times.I brought him in for Double Gameweek 22 and he earned me 27 points in three gameweeks. He returned to my side on wildcard and he proved to be a great differential for the run-in, with five attacking returns in the final six gameweeks, which helped me to “halve” my overall rank in that time.It will be interesting to see how he’s priced for the next campaign in relation to Rashford; I’d still back his consistency over the course of a full season if he were to remain on penalties but the potential arrival of a new No 9 at Manchester United could impact him.Rehman: My favourite differential this season has to be Dominic Solanke. He was ridiculed as a pick on social media and in FPL corners, but ended up getting six goals and 10 assists for Bournemouth, and provided fantastic value for only £5.6million.I jumped on him originally from Gameweek 10 to Gameweek 16, where he scored two goals and three assists, picking up 36 points and averaging 5.1 points per game.I really enjoyed owning Solanke as he was so cheap and also acted as an enabler. FPL is a lot about squeezing the best value out of players.What’s the biggest lesson you’ve learned?Shand: World-class talent shouldn’t be underestimated.I’ve always been wary of players new to the Premier League and rarely back them from Gameweek One. I thought I was being clever by going with Kane over Haaland for the start of the season, but it left me on the back foot early doors and was a huge contributing factor to my poor start to the season.Even when I did transfer Haaland in, I didn’t trust him with the captaincy soon enough either, which certainly hindered my progress as he quickly emerged as a permanent captaincy option, with fitness worries and rotation concerns never really coming to fruition. It will be interesting to see how the makers of FPL price him next season — they might need to force managers to make a decision on whether to own him or not.Rehman: For me, it was a reminder of how much variance plays a part in this game. After five seasons of top finishes on the bounce, it’s easy to forget that.I know I had a lot of good luck over those seasons and in my other top finishes. It’s human nature to forget the good fortune and only focus on the bad, so I had to remind myself that this season was just the luck evening out. All the 50-50 calls with huge swings which I hit over the years, I was on the wrong side of this time.At the end of the day, we play FPL primarily for enjoyment and, although there is skill involved, it’s ultimately a game which requires a lot of luck to get a good rank. There is so much we cannot control. Once the deadline passes, that’s it. Reminding myself of that fact and humbling myself has been my biggest lesson.Who is the one player (not named Haaland) that you think everyone should have in their team next season?Shand: It frustrates me how underrated Kane has been this season, particularly in FPL. At his age and particularly with Spurs having such a difficult season, it’s impressive that he’s achieved his best-ever FPL return.He’s scored against 16 Premier League sides, registering a tally of 30 goals, and he finished the season less than 10 points behind Haaland in the overall standings. Instead of picking between this duo, I’m already planning to go with both next season — regardless of the outlay needed.My only concern is that uncertainty over his Spurs future has seen him miss the opening game of the season before, so his situation must be resolved by Gameweek One for me to pick him. (Photo: Justin Setterfield/Getty Images)Rehman: I am really looking forward to what price Trent Alexander-Arnold comes in at. I think he will be a must-own next season as it looks like Jurgen Klopp will continue to play him in his new role, which pretty much transformed his season late on. Alexander-Arnold…
FPL season review: Game-breaking Haaland, underrated Kane and bold predictions for next season
