You are a new Fantasy Premier League manager. You found out about the game online or from your friends who would not stop talking about it. Every time, they are always asking “who made the assist” or “who was the goalkeeper” and you just could not understand what they were talking about. So you decided to check it out.
You downloaded the app (or went to the official website) and now you have a lot of questions. But of all of them, one seems to be the biggest: how do you pick a squad?
Not to worry, dear manager. Now that you are here, you are in good hands. In this article, we will be going over how to set up a squad and some other questions related to the process. You will learn also about a great way to get accurate predicted EPL lineups. You probably do not know what that means, but you will by the end of this article. Now, let’s get started.
Table of Contents
Setting up your squad
Fantasy Premier League puts you in the role of a Fantasy manager. You are given £100 million (nothing less, nothing more) to create a 15-player squad. The players can be any one of the current real-world Premier League players.
Player costs vary based on their (real-life) past season performances and their FPL potential. Their prices also vary depending on their subsequent performances and popularity, meaning prices can rise and fall as the game progresses.
Your squad must follow a strict division of 2 goalkeepers, 5 defenders, 5 midfielders, and 3 forwards. To make the game interesting, you can not select any more than 3 players per Premier League club. This means your squad will look a lot different from any Premier League squad you will ever find in the real world.
To select a player for your squad, you can either pick his club on the dropdown filter (which gives you access to the list of players in that club) and select the player or type the player’s surname into the menu search function to find him.
Alternatively, you can use the “autopick” function if you are unsure who to choose. The game will instantly build a squad for you. We do not recommend this, however. You will understand why as you read on.
How points are earned
There are 38 gameweeks, or rounds of fixtures, in every season. Every gameweek, you are to select 11 of your 15-man squad. They will be your starting XI and they will be the ones that will earn you points in the game.
Points are earned based on player performance in real life. If your goalkeeper gets a clean sheet, you get points in the game. If your striker scores in real life, you get points in the game. The more your points, the higher your ranking.
This is why you probably do not want to leave the decision of who is in your squad to an AI. The game cannot make as informed decisions as you can.
The official FPL website has a detailed breakdown of the points and how they are awarded.
Team formations
FPL allows you to choose any formation for your predicted EPL lineup so long as you have 1 goalkeeper, 3 defenders and 1 forward at all times. The game might not be the same as other football games (in that you aren’t controlling players on a field), but it at least needs to bear some semblance to football.
Deadline for team selection
The deadline for team selection is 90 minutes before the first match of the gameweek begins. Ensure all changes to your team are made before the deadline. To ensure fair play, FPL does not allow more than one team entry per manager.
How best to choose a squad
FPL is a guessing game. You are making a lineup based on predictions of which EPL player will perform well. The first and most important step to ensure success is to do your research. Watch football matches. Know who is playing well. Know who has potential. Know who got suspended or got injured. And most importantly, know who is starting! You don’t want to have a lineup where half the players don’t play.
Another step is to keep an eye on fixtures. Know if your players are going to have a rough time against an opponent or not. If their opponents are difficult, you might want to consider switching up your squad.
If you are not confident in your predictions, you can check predicted lineups online to see who has a high chance of playing. Websites like Drafthound gives you the opportunity to check predictions that are made by experts who have studied statistics, the news and the players, so you can’t go wrong by following them every so often. Good luck with your game, dear manager. Stay sharp!