FPL Promoted Teams 26/27: Coventry, Ipswich & Hull Picks

Every single defender at Coventry, Ipswich and Hull launched at exactly £4.0m — and between them, the three promoted clubs supplied 26 of the 46 £4.0m defenders in the entire game. That flattened the usual price signal completely: with every option costing the same, the thing separating a shrewd budget pick from a wasted squad slot is role and minutes, not price. Here's how we read all three squads club by club at launch, which of their £4.0m and £5.0–5.5m players looked worth a place, and how to re-check those calls now the season is under way — prices on the players table, starting roles on the lineups page.

Coventry City: back up as champions

Coventry won the Championship title outright to seal automatic promotion — their first season in the Premier League in over two decades. The opening fixture was tough on paper: Arsenal away on the Friday-night curtain-raiser (20:00, Gameweek 1), and Coventry also ran into Manchester City early in the campaign. That context shaped every Coventry pick below — this was a squad to own for the medium term, not necessarily to start in Gameweek 1.

Van Ewijk and Thomas were our squad picks; Rudoni was a fitness check first. We actively avoided Dasilva (£4.0m) at left-back — his starting spot looked under threat pre-season, and a £4.0m defender who isn't playing is worth nothing. Check who is actually starting before you revisit any of them.

Ipswich Town: back up as runners-up, and the softest fixtures of the three

Ipswich secured an immediate return by finishing as Championship runners-up. Of the three promoted sides, they drew the kindest opening schedule — including Sunderland at home in Gameweek 1 — which made an Ipswich player the safer bet for anyone fielding a promoted-club player from the opening weekend.

Davis was the headline pick: a genuine set-piece and crossing threat at the cheapest price in the game. Pre-season, right-back Harry Clarke was being chased by other Championship clubs, and his exit would have handed the corners to Davis outright — check who is taking Ipswich's set pieces now rather than relying on the summer reports. Diop was a squad gamble, not a certainty, and the front three were watches until a starting XI settled; the lineups page shows who has since nailed down a role.

Hull City: up via the play-offs, straight into the fire

Hull won promotion through the play-offs, and the fixture list wasn't kind. Manchester United visited in Gameweek 1, then Aston Villa, Chelsea and Newcastle all followed inside the first five matches — the toughest early run of any promoted side this season. With that opening run now played, judge Hull players on their minutes and the next run on the fixture grid rather than on August's schedule.

Hughes was our pick for defensive-contribution points; Giles a corner-taking upside pick if his fitness held up; Butland a straightforward keeper route; McBurnie bench cover rather than a starting striker.

The picks, ranked

Strip out price — everyone here launched at £4.0m or a touch more — and a short list separated itself from the field. This was our pre-season order; re-check each player's minutes before acting on it:

1. Leif Davis (Ipswich, £4.0m) — the best single buy of the three clubs. An elite creator at Championship level, the softest opening fixtures of the promoted sides, and more set-piece upside if Clarke left.
2. Van Ewijk (Coventry, £4.0m) — the standout on raw output, but his opening fixtures said hold, not start. Coventry opened away at Arsenal and faced Manchester City early; with that run played, check the grid for whether their schedule has eased.
3. Charlie Hughes (Hull, £4.0m) — the defensive-contribution specialist. Hughes' defensive-action rate was the best of any promoted player in 2025/26.
4. Bobby Thomas (Coventry, £4.0m) — the set-piece angle. Goals and assists from a centre-back are rare at this price.

Two we left out at launch: Dasilva (Coventry), whose starting spot was in doubt, and Rudoni (Coventry), flagged doubtful in the game — recheck both on the lineups and injuries pages before ruling them in or out. For the goalkeeper slot, Butland (Hull, £4.5m) was a straightforward alternative to the usual budget picks. For forward-line cover on the bench rather than the starting XI, Haji Wright, McBurnie and Emersonn (all £5.5m) were the most credible options at launch — cheap enough to park, not yet nailed enough to start.

Fixture context: why the run matters more than the price tag

Because every promoted defender launched at the same £4.0m, fixtures did the differentiating that price couldn't. The opening runs looked like this:

• Ipswich had the softest opening run of the three, including Sunderland at home in Gameweek 1 — the safest promoted club to field from the start.
• Coventry opened away at Arsenal on the Friday-night curtain-raiser and faced Manchester City early too — Van Ewijk and Bobby Thomas were squad holds rather than Gameweek 1 starters.
• Hull's first five was the roughest of any promoted side, with Manchester United, Aston Villa, Chelsea and Newcastle all inside it — Hughes and Giles were squad depth until the schedule turned.

Those runs are behind all three clubs now. Check the fixtures page for what comes next, and our best fixtures guide for how the promoted clubs compare with the rest of the league gameweek by gameweek.

None of this is guesswork you have to do from scratch. Every promoted-club player sits in the same price list as the rest of the league, so you can compare Leif Davis against an enabler from an established club side by side at today's prices — see our budget enablers guide for the framework. One honest caveat: at launch our expected points model treated every promoted-club player as a cold start, with no top-flight history to draw on — so this guide leans on Championship output and confirmed roles, not model numbers. A few Premier League gameweeks are still a small sample, so weigh minutes and role alongside any projection. Build your squad around it in the planner, where you can test a Davis-and-Hughes budget base against paying up for an established defender instead.