The article, titled "Fantasy Premier League 2025-26: Top tips on how to win at FPL this season," offers comprehensive advice from a panel of BBC Sport's FPL experts and a former league winner, Max Littleproud, who finished fifth in the world. With the Fantasy Premier League season approaching and competition intensifying, the piece aims to equip managers with strategies to achieve a coveted top-10k finish. The experts — Pras, Holly Shand, FPL Heisenberg, and Gianni Buttice — along with Max, provide a diverse range of insights, from data-driven approaches to more intuitive methods, highlighting that success in FPL requires a multifaceted strategy.
A central theme emphasized by Pras and Holly Shand is the importance of long-term planning over short-term point chasing. Pras likens FPL to chess, advocating for managers to analyze "blocks of fixtures" and target players with good medium-term runs, thereby avoiding impulsive "knee-jerking" transfers based on single good fixtures. Holly reinforces this by stressing the consideration of "team form and upcoming fixture ease" to identify key players before their "hot streak begins." This strategic foresight is crucial for gaining an early advantage over rivals. Complementing this, Holly also advises on balancing premium picks in the Gameweek 1 team, suggesting a premium player in each position to ensure "greater transfer flexibility" as the season progresses and form becomes clearer.
Another critical aspect of successful FPL management is transfer discipline. Gianni Buttice and Holly Shand both strongly advocate for avoiding "hits" (point deductions for extra transfers) and "early transfers." Gianni suggests "rolling transfers" and accumulating free transfers to make significant structural changes without penalties, even for expensive assets. Holly warns against making moves before Friday afternoon to gather crucial information, with exceptions only for situations like no midweek European fixtures or when price changes threaten to make a desired move unaffordable. This patient approach allows managers to react to the latest news, injuries, and form fluctuations, minimizing the risk of regrettable decisions. FPL Heisenberg adds a crucial psychological element: the necessity to acknowledge and rectify mistakes quickly, whether it's bringing in a poor performer or ignoring a player in hot form. Stubbornness, he implies, is a significant impediment to success.
The article presents a fascinating contrast in approaches regarding data and intuition. While Gianni Buttice champions the importance of expected goals (xG) as a metric, viewing high xG without conversion as an indicator of an imminent "big haul," Max Littleproud, a maths teacher by profession and a world-class FPL player, surprisingly advocates for trusting your gut instinct and the "eye test." Max, who achieved his incredible rank by changing his approach to rely less on statistics and more on watching games and picking players he genuinely liked, suggests that over-analyzing data can lead to being "bogged down." Heisenberg and Max both stress the value of watching as much Premier League football as possible to spot nuances not evident in stats alone and to provide context for data. Pras, however, leans towards a more analytical, yet practical, approach by advising managers to pay attention to minutes, set-pieces, and penalty takers. He argues that "reliable players" who consistently play 90 minutes and are on set-piece duty are often superior FPL picks, as their points are less dependent on opponent difficulty.
Finally, the experts touch upon the psychological resilience required for FPL. Pras advises against "panic buys and rage sells," urging managers to "back your decisions" and understand the element of luck in football. He emphasizes that "making good decisions over the long-term generally leads to good outcomes," advocating for trusting the process even when outcomes are initially unfavorable. Gianni highlights the need to know the new rules for the 2025-26 season, particularly the "new defensive contribution points," which will influence team structure and budget defender choices. Max Littleproud's strategy of saving money in defence by opting for budget defenders (e.g., £4.5m and £4.0m options) aligns with this, banking on the new points system to make up for the cost difference. Heisenberg concludes with a powerful piece of advice: stop caring about other people's teams. He argues that focusing solely on maximizing points for one's own team, rather than trying to mimic or differentiate from mini-league rivals, is the most effective path to success, as overall rank and mini-league performance will naturally follow. The article collectively paints a picture of FPL as a game demanding strategic planning, disciplined execution, adaptability, and a strong mental game.