Fantasy Premier League (FPL) Tips For All Managers

The responsibility of organising your team weekly is a big task for FPL managers. There are so many talented players to choose from with a limited budget. Then there are injuries, suspensions and other availability factors to manage with limited weekly transfers and only a few chips for a long season. This page highlights nine useful FPL tips that managers of different skill levels can incorporate into their knowledge.

If you are new to FPL, you should read What Is Fantasy Premier League to familiarise yourself with the game before you read these FPL squad tips.

FPL TIP 1: Keep up to Date with the Fantasy Premier League Transfer Deadlines

A mistake that FPL managers may have made in the past is assuming that every Gameweek starts on Saturday lunchtime. This can lead to them missing the Gameweek deadlines that end before Friday night fixtures and the deadlines before the midweek fixtures traditionally played around the Christmas period.

This can be extremely frustrating for FPL managers if they have not made their transfers, as they could potentially lose the opportunity to score more points.

It is important that you check when the next Gameweek begins so you know when it is time to sort your team out and take advantage of anyone else who may have missed the deadline. Planning transfers and making informed future moves are crucial to optimise your team performance and maximise points in upcoming Gameweeks.

FPL TIP 2: Save your Chips for Double and Blank Gameweeks, unless you really need them

Chips are valuable in FPL, as they can give FPL managers a significant points advantage in a Gameweek if everything goes to plan. Using chips strategically can be a game changer for FPL managers.

The Triple Captain chip and Bench Boost chip are normally used in Double Gameweeks by FPL managers, because a player with a Double Gameweek has two fixtures in one Gameweek to score points, significantly increasing that player’s chances of scoring big points.

FPL managers can also use the free-hit chip to target Double Gameweek players, but this chip is usually activated by FPL managers on Blank Gameweeks. This is because there may only be a handful of teams playing, meaning FPL managers could have players who are in clubs that are not playing in that Gameweek. This makes the Free-Hit chip effective for Blank Gameweeks because it enables you to target players in that Blank Gameweek, score more points, then go back to your usual team when the regular Gameweeks resume with all the clubs playing again.

Wildcards are more useful when your team has an availability crisis, or when there are multiple Blank/Double Gameweeks close together. Using your Wildcard here can help navigate through those obstacles because you can build a new squad to manage those future Gameweeks.

Do not just use a chip because you had one bad Gameweek and you are desperate to catch your mate who has an early 50-point lead on you. Remember – the season is a marathon, not a sprint!

FPL TIP 3: Have Patience with your Assets

Fantasy football requires patience, especially when a player scores fewer points than expected in a Gameweek. This does not mean you should transfer a player for one underwhelming performance. This lack of patience could lead to the frustration of a player scoring big the week after you have transferred them out.

Remember that the players are not robots, so they are not guaranteed to score points in any Gameweek.

Before transferring out a player, it is important to consider how likely it is that they will score points in their next fixtures. To do this, see how easy their next fixtures are, check their expected goals and assists (xGA) in recent games and monitor how well they have played in recent games. If you feel it is likely that a player will bounce back from their blank, then give them another chance!

FPL TIP 4: Wait until after Press Conferences to make Team Changes

Shortly after a Gameweek, FPL managers will feel the need to transfer a player into their team days before their next fixture. This is very risky because players can pick up unnoticed injuries after a game or they could get injured in training.

An even worse idea would be transferring in a player before they go on international duty, where they could play 2-3 games.

FPL managers may argue that because of the price rises of players over the week, an early transfer is worth the gamble. If the price rise of a player will exceed your budget and you feel that the player is crucial to your team, then this would be an appropriate situation to risk the early transfer.

However, if the price rise of a player does not exceed your budget, or if there are alternative players within budget to select over that player, then the risk is not worth saving 0.1-0.2 million as a potential injury or absence could be even more costly for you.

FPL managers should try waiting until the press conferences to discover the availability of a player they are targeting and the players in their team who may need to be transferred out. Additionally, considering the upcoming Gameweeks is crucial when making team changes, as planning transfers and optimizing your starting 11 based on future fixtures can significantly impact your points.

FPL TIP 5: Try to avoid Point Hits, unless you are Confident they will Pay Off

Point hits can seem tempting as they enable FPL managers to make an extra transfer or two. However, to win in fantasy football mini-leagues, you should try to limit these as much as possible, unless you believe that it will result in you scoring more points after the deduction. Try and calculate the points that you expect from the players you are transferring out and compare it to the points you expect from the players you are transferring in (include the deduction). This is good to do because if the duo you are transferring out score 10 points for example, and the transferred in duo score 12 points, then the -4 deduction will take it to 8 points. This shows how the power of a deduction can make these transfers unnecessary.

The only time that point hits would make more sense would be if you had multiple injuries and/or suspensions throughout the squad, as unavailable players cannot score points, limiting the risk of a points hit. However, it could be better to look towards your bench if you see potential for them to score points.

FPL TIP 6: Prioritise Premium Assets for Captaincy (Excluding Goalkeepers)

Premium assets are expensive for a reason. They have a proven history of scoring big points in the previous seasons.

For example, Mohammed Salah, who has historically been one of the most expensive assets in FPL, has finished first in points per game (PPG) in three seasons from 2017/18 – 2022/23. Salah has also been at least top three overall in PPG in all of those seasons.

Another example of an expensive asset is Erling Haaland, who averaged 7.8 PPG in his debut Premier League season, after topping the Bundesliga scoring charts the season before that. This makes him another great option for weekly captaincy.

Players like Salah and Haaland are more likely to score more PPG than everyone else because of their consistent numbers in previous seasons. This makes them important captain choices, because their points get doubled, making their hefty prices worth it.

FPL managers do not have to always captain premium players though. If there is a one-off Gameweek where you feel a non-premium player has a fantastic opportunity to outscore your premium players, captain them!

Avoid captaining goalkeepers. Their likelihood of point hauls are significantly lower than premium outfield players. This is explained further in the goalkeeper section in FPL Team Selection Tips.

FPL TIP 7: Have a Low-Cost Bench, but make sure they are Playing for their Clubs!

It can be tempting to have the cheapest bench possible so that you can splash the cash on your starting eleven, but it is important that you have a bench of players who regularly play for their clubs. This is because during the season, FPL managers will encounter injuries and suspensions. Transfers can only help you so much, so having a reliable bench can help reduce the need to waste points on transfers.

Make sure your bench consists of players who have a chance to score points but are not too expensive to significantly impact the quality of your starting eleven. In fantasy football, you should always plan to use these substitutes in a future round if any of your starting eleven are unavailable.

A good example of an effective substitute was Andreas in the 2022/23 season, who averaged 3.7 PPG while only costing 4.5m at the beginning of the season. This shows that there is value in having a cheap bench if FPL managers select the right players.

FPL TIP 8: Prioritise Transferring Out and/or Substituting Injured and Suspended Players

Injuries and suspensions in your team can pile up if you ignore them. Making informed decisions about future moves is crucial when dealing with injured and suspended players. Transferring and/or substituting them should be a top priority for FPL managers, not replacing someone who is out of form. This is because the out of form player is simply more likely to make an appearance for their club and register points.

FPL TIP 9: Follow the Advice of FPL Experts, but Consider your own Research and Observations

The FPL experts are known as experts for a reason. They are regularly competing against the top FPL managers for points scored in a season. This makes their advice important to listen to, as they can give FPL Managers more insight into any selection or captaincy conundrums.

However, do not be reliant on them by doing what they are doing because like the average player, they can make the wrong calls with captaincy and transfers. Therefore, it is good to do your own research into players. This can be looking at:

• Checking a player’s ICT Index

• Checking a player’s xGA in recent games

• Checking the FDR to see a player’s upcoming fixtures

• Comparing a player’s price to other players you are interested in

You should also watch how a player you are interested in is performing through highlights or even live matches if you can. Do not just rely on stats!