Fantasy Premier League is just like real football: different FPL managers have different philosophies. With £100.00m to spend, where is all that money going to go?
There are many different ways to play. Some managers choose to go for goalscoring midfielders, as they have a higher reward for goals and assists and forwards. Others, however, would rather pick reliable forwards. Some managers want to cram in as many expensive players as possible, while others take more of a measured approach.
Which way is best? There's no way to say definitively - but we've collated all the different FPL philosophies in order to show you how you might want to structure your side.
What's the best way to spend your FPL money? The 5 Fantasy Premier League philosophies: 1. Go big in midfield
There are only a few midfielders worth over £10.0m. Of course, you can't pick all of them…
But you can go with four or five premium midfielders and then scrimp across the rest of the team. You get more goals for a midfielder than you do a forward – so if Salah and Erling Haaland were to have identical goalscoring seasons, you'd get more for Salah's.
You'll likely have to play a 3-5-2 or 4-5-1 all season – but this could be a risky yet rewarding strategy.
2. Quality in key positions
There are expensive players across all positions in FPL. You might fancy getting a few in each.
In this particular side, we went for an expensive spine that we expected to get us our majority of points. Big-name keeper, then two top talents in defence, midfield and attack to be in the starting line-up weekly. The others can then rotate around those stars.
It's a good tactic if you're hedging your bets around superstars this time around – don't know whether to go with Trent or Watkins? Get both! – but there is a caveat. You may not have much quality across the rest of the side.
Still, it's the most common tactic for FPL managers. And for good reason.
3. Strong at the back
Remember, you get more points for assists and goals from defenders. If you're feeling like parking the bus, this might be the philosophy for you.
The ever-presents in the Premier League tend to be defenders and goalkeepers. With that in mind, you can do a lot worse than picking the ones you think will perform, giving yourself a back-five formation and then choosing smaller talents up the pitch.
While this is a good philosophy for relying on those appearance and clean sheet points, the bigger values might be harder to come by. Those weeks that someone captains Salah and he gets a hat-trick? You're unlikely to have those. How strong is your nerve?
4. Team Chemistry
So many managers worry about whether or not their players are even going to play. So why not bring in your starting XI's replacement onto your bench, too?
When executed well, this idea is fantastic. Just look at the team above: we've three Liverpool attackers there, so if they have a good game, they're all going to get points: same with Manchester United and the three Chelsea defenders. Equally, if, say Nunez starts ahead of Gakpo in real life and we've got Gakpo starting in our FPL team, Nunez just comes in for him. Genius.
The one issue is the obvious one, however. If all these teams we backed to do well lose – a big possibility in the Premier League, let's face it – then none of our defence, attack or goalkeepers would score highly. Of course, you can't just pick players from in-form sides either – that'll be too expensive.
Use this tactic if you have a good feeling about a team as a whole. Maybe Brentford are underrated or Chelsea are on the up? It might also be a tactic to hedge your bets when trying to rack up points early.
5. Focal points
Identifying a team's focal point should be something you do with any FPL signing. Here, we've built an entire team of them.
For example, in this particular team, we've got six penalty-takers. The defensive players are ones from teams that we think will surprise a few – but still get through a lot of work at the back. The goalkeeper uses his feet a lot and could get an assist or two.
This philosophy means that you look less at the individuals involved and more at the tactical set-up of the teams in the league. The downside, however, might be that you're not great at identifying or second-guessing what managers are going to do. Maybe you're going to need a mix of philosophies to manage this FPL season…
More Fantasy Premier League stories
You can play Fantasy Premier League online on the Premier League website, or on the Premier League app, which is available on iOS and Android. Still missing something? Here's everything you need to know about FPL, including FourFourTwo's guides on the game. Enjoy!
