How to Play Fantasy Premier League?
So your mates have roped you into playing FPL, but you have no idea what it is or how to play? You’ve come to the right place. This guide will teach you exactly how to play Fantasy Premier League (FPL) – everything from picking an initial squad, captaincy, Wildcards and chips (no, not the eating kind!).
What is FPL?
FPL places you in the role of a fantasy manager. Your role is to pick a squad of real-life players who score points for your team based on their performances on the pitch. To get started, head here to register with the official game.
How do I pick a squad?
You’re given a £100 million kitty. Each player is given a value – for example, Mo Salah is worth £12.5 million and Charlie Daniels is worth £4.5 million – and you have to pick a 15 man squad:
- 2 Goalkeepers
- 5 Defenders
- 5 Midfielders
- 3 Forwards
11 of those 15 will start, you get to choose who cuts the mustard each Gameweek. Your team can play in any formation providing that 1 goalkeeper, at least 3 defenders and at least 1 forward are selected at all times.
What is a Gameweek?
The FPL season is divided into 38 Gameweeks. You can make changes to your squad before each Gameweek, which includes 1 free transfer, picking your starting XI and choosing your captain. Deadlines will be one hour before the kick-off time in the first match of the Gameweek.
How do players earn points in FPL?
Goals, assists, appearance points, clean sheets, penalty saves and bonus points. Points can also be deducted through yellow and red cards, own goals, penalty misses and goals conceded (if they are a defender/ goalkeeper). Full list below:
FPL Captaincy
Your captain earns double points. If your captain doesn’t play, your vice-captain will earn double points. If neither your captain nor vice play, you’ll get nothing.
What are chips and when can I use them?
Learning how to play fantasy premier league is generally pretty simple (that the beauty of it), but there are times when you can get a serious jump on your rivals. There are three chips and two wildcards (strictly speaking these are also technically chips).
The three chips allow you to play all players on your bench (bench boost ship), triple your captain score (triple captain chip) and swap out your team for one week (free hit chip).
What are wildcards and when should I use them?
FPL wildcards are the most powerful tool in the game as they offer a complete overhaul of your team. You get two and can play one before new years day and one afterwards. Getting these right is absolutely crucial to doing well. You can learn more about chips and wildcards, and how to take full advantage of them, in our How To Win at FPL Guide.
What is ‘team value’ and does it matter?
Players go up and down in price like a stock market but can’t rise or fall more than £0.3 million during a Gameweek. And yes, team value is very important. The more you look after your team by making the right transfers, the more your team value will increase, which over time should allow you to purchase more premium player options. We’ll be going over strategies for increasing your team value here.
Will I lose my transfers if I don’t use them?
You can roll one transfer meaning you can play two the following week. But two is the maximum if you save another one you will lose it. Where possible, it’s a good idea to save one transfer as it gives you a lot of flexibility.
What is a ‘points hit’ or simply a ‘hit’?
When you use more than the free transfer/s you have available, you take a -4 point deduction per transfer. These can be useful, but should not be played too often. We’ll be going over strategies on how to take points hits effectively in this members’ guide.
Some FPL Terminology (there are lots, but this should get you started):
FPL – Fantasy Premier League
Differential – A player with low player percentage ownership who your fellow players might not have
Gameweek – Each round of Premier League fixtures, from an FPL point of view, is referred to as a Gameweek (GW). On social media, there are abbreviations used for each GW – GW1, GW2, GW3, GW4, GW5, etc.
Green/Red Arrows – Depending on your performance for any given Gameweek, your overall rank, and your positions in mini-leagues may vary. If you did well, you’re likely to have a green arrow, and if you had a nightmare of a week, your arrows will be red.
Dead Teams – These are inactive players whose accounts have not made transfers, or maintained their squads, for some time.
What tools can I use to do well?
We’ll be discussing these in more detail in our How To Win at Fantasy Premier League Guide, but to get you started every fantasy manager needs a good fixture ticker and a basic understanding of the key stats. Best place to find these is on our new OPTA data stats tool.
How Do I Beat My Mates?
This guide has been on how to play fantasy premier league. In the next guide, we’ll be teaching you how to win at Fantasy Premier League and beat your mates, everything from formations and team structure to how to use statistics and key fantasy resources you need to do well. It comes as part of our membership package that literally covers everything you need to do well at FPL!
Video Guide Preview
Click here to view our How To Win at FPL Video Guide.
