Avoid These 5 FPL Mistakes

FILLING YOUR TEAM WITH DIFFERENTIALS

The first mistake to avoid is filling your team with differentials early on (by differentials I mean players with very low ownership).

I know we all want to find that gem that nobody else has in their teams but that comes with higher risk than usual at the start of the season.

Of course, picking one or two differentials is fine but filling your team with them is not the best idea at the start of the season.

You can’t win your mini-league in the first 6 gameweeks of the season but you can lose your mini-league in the first 6 gameweeks of the season.

Think of the FPL season like a long distance running race.

Starting with a load of differentials would be like sprinting right out of the gate and then trying desperately to hold onto that lead for the rest of the season.

I’m not saying you have to just pick all of the template players but don’t go different just for the sake of it or you will potentially be playing catch up for the rest of the season.

IGNORING PENALTY TAKERS

The second mistake to avoid is ignoring penalty takers in your team.

This divides opinion slightly as penalties are not a predictable event that we can apply any stats or numbers to.

However, they do exist in football and are a very easy route to points for some players.

For example, 9 of Salah’s goals last season were penalties.

Some other notable penalty scorers last season:

Kluivert - 6

Mbeumo - 5

João Pedro - 5

Palmer - 4

Isak - 4

A penalty is a chance worth in the region of 0.8 xG that is gifted to a player, often by having done nothing themselves to earn it.

A 0.8 xG chance in open play is very hard to come by so a player picking up 5 or 6 of these over the season is extremely valuable.

Again, I’m not saying that you should just fill your team with penalty takers (although that wouldn’t be the worst strategy) but it is good to consider whether a player is on penalties when picking your initial team.

PICKING PLAYERS WITH DODGY MINUTES

It’s been proven time and time again that players who play the most minutes will outscore players who play fewer minutes.

This is, of course, a blanket statement and just picking nailed players from bad teams won’t get you points.

However, it’s impossible for a play to score points when they’re not on the pitch.

Sometimes a player not getting good minutes is unavoidable if they get suspended or injured but generally you can ensure that you are picking safe players.

Again, I’m not saying that you should just pick a full team of boring players in order to ensure you get good minutes from your FPL teams.

But don’t fill your team with players that won’t get reliable minutes.

PICKING A TEAM WITH NO BENCH

We all want to maximise our starting 11 as they are the only players that can score us points each week but having a bench is very important.

One or two bench options can save you from having to use more transfers than you need to.

For example, if one of your starting 11 gets suspended or injured then you don’t have to replace them right away (or at all) if you have a viable option on your bench.

Of course, you don’t want to spend a lot of your bench and you don’t need a full bench of good options.

However, I would recommend having 2 good options which is likely to be a £4.5m defender and a £5.5m midfielder this season.

FILLING YOUR TEAM WITH NEW TRANSFERS

The summer transfer window is always exciting with top players moving to new clubs and naturally, we get excited about their FPL prospects.

Picking a lot of new transfers at the start of the season isn’t the best idea though.

Firstly, players can take time to adapt to a new league or just a new club if they’ve already played in the Premier League.

Secondly, it can be unknown what position the player will play and how many minutes they’re likely to get.

Whereas, we have a much better gauge on this information for players that played in the league last season.

Picking one or two new signings is fine but I wouldn’t fill your team with the likes of Aït-Nouri, Mbeumo, Cunha and Ekitike just yet.

Drop me a follow on X and Instagram @BradMayorFPL and send me a DM if you have any questions on your team.

Brad