FPL: 15 essential Fantasy Premier League tips from past winners and experts

Want to boss Fantasy Premier League this season? Of course you do – because you know that if Mike from accounts wins again, you’ll be furiously trawling for jobs on LinkedIn faster than he can squeal ‘Haaland!’ again.

Read on with these insightful Premier League fantasy football tips. Heed advice from people who’ve taken home the trophy and write about it weekly on the best players to pick, how to use the Fantasy Premier League features best and much more. Remember: the deadline is Friday, August 15 at 18:30 (BST).

Be sure to check out FantasyYIRMA and John Wallin (aka @FantasyGaffer) on X (formerly Twitter) and for all the best tips and tricks on all things Fantasy Football

Fantasy Premier League tips: 1. Did they play over the summer?

The FIFA Club World Cup took place over the summer with Manchester City and Chelsea partaking in the Stateside competition, in addition to the usual early June international fixtures. Keeping an eye on the teamsheets for friendlies in the weeks before the big kick-off should help steer your opening selections.

Assess the main players from the promoted sides. These teams always tend to offer kindly-priced options that help free up cash to spend elsewhere. Look for regular starters on set-piece or penalty duties and pinpoint defenders who perform well for clearances, blocks and interceptions, which helps their bonus point potential.

3. Who will be this season’s bolters?

Analyse the player list. There are typically one or two players who emerge from the budget bracket to cement a role in our starting XIs. Pinpointing any players who are wrongly classified and playing in a more advanced role can also give us the edge – a 3-5-2 could allow certain full-backs to be pushed up into midfield, for example.

Think back to Stuart Dallas in the 2020/21 season. The Northern Irishman was listed as a defender but in Marcelo Bielsa’s man-to-man formation, Dallas finished the season with eight goals and two assists.

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4. Which big club players to go for?

Utilise your three-player allocation for the top clubs wisely. Ruben Dias is a popular pick but generally offers little attacking threat compared to some of the more attacking full-backs on offer for similar prices. Focusing on the goal-getters or raiding defenders should reap greater rewards.

The general rule of thumb tends to be full-backs over centre-backs, unless those central defenders are especially useful at attacking set-pieces, like Arsenal’s Gabriel Magalhaes.

5. Forget the new signings

Don’t go overboard on new arrivals. It’s easy to succumb to the allure of a big-name signing, but there’s a definite risk in overloading your squad with players unproven in the Premier League. Give them time to acclimatise and then reconsider if they show signs of settling.

6. Which games to target?

Always keep an eye on the fixtures. Those teams with favourable upcoming schedules are more likely to bring in the points, so it’s wise to be aware of runs of easy or tough fixtures and plan your transfers accordingly.

7. Always check the injury news

A long-term lay-off can suddenly promote players from the fringes and has the potential to offer us a cheap option with the security of starts. This is particularly important when looking in goal.

8. You’ll need a strong bench

Keep your squad well stocked for Christmas. The threat of rest and rotation is rife over the festive period and strong benches are essential as top-flight managers shuffle their options to cope with the hectic fixture list.

9. When to cash in your ‘chips’

Be patient with your chips. Both the ‘Triple Captain’ and ‘Bench Boost’ chips are particularly effective when wielded during double gameweeks (DGWs). These are best played when explosive options such as Mo Salah or Erling Haaland are handed a pair of fixtures in a gameweek to maximise their points potential.

10. Watch out for influential players

Watch the matches. Studying the statistics can help to an extent but there’s nothing quite like scouting your targets in action to help guide those vital transfer decisions.

11. Have a solid pre-season

You need to do your research, starting in the summer. A few weeks before the season starts I’ll look at injury news, transfers and so on, trying to find those unknown players that other people miss. Then in the last week of pre-season, when it’s still unlimited transfers, I’ll just start throwing players in, tossing teams around – you’re looking for that good combination to start with.

Once you’re happy with your team – unless someone’s injured – then it kind of manages itself.

12. Don’t be afraid to gamble

It’s no good having the same team as everyone else. In defence, a lot of people go for five players from different teams, playing it safe. I’ll go for three from one, two from another. I’m only relying on two teams to keep a clean sheet then. You have to gamble a bit, especially at the end of the season.

Don’t be afraid to take form players out when they’ve gone cold – especially if you know most people around you have them in their teams.

13. But be mean in the market

Think like a real manager. A player might have a goal-rush, but is he actually any good? Would you normally want to buy him? You want the maximum games out of potential signings, so look at their upcoming fixtures, possible suspensions – no matter how desperately I want someone, I won’t buy them if they’re on four bookings.

And, most importantly, don’t make drunken decisions at 1am. You’ll only live to regret it.

14. Ignore reputations

The best players don’t always make the best team. I used to fall for the flashy, skilful players, but they weren’t earning enough points, and in most games defensive midfielders never win any.

Attacking full-backs are always good, because you might get points at both ends – I played three left-backs in some games. And this is something I got over a long time ago: don’t ignore players just because you don’t like them.

15. Recharge the batteries

People’s teams usually go wrong when they forget about them, so keep a regular routine. Thursday and Friday, follow the managers’ press conferences and check the predicted line-ups.

There are also some good Fantasy Football websites: but as soon as the weekend games are finished, unless there are midweek fixtures, switch off until Thursday again – you get too into it otherwise.