Sports editor Joel Lim explains the newly updated 25/26 Fantasy Premier League football game, with top tips on how to succeed.
Following an unprecedentedly popular 24/25 season, Fantasy Premier League (FPL) is back! While the game mechanics and concept of 25/26 FPL remain largely similar to the previous iterations that we know and love, this year’s FPL has undergone significant tweaks with significant changes to chip allowances and the new addition of defensive contribution points.
As you make your initial 15 player picks before the first Premier League kick-off on 15 August, these are some updated features, key players, hidden gems and crucial pieces of information about the upcoming Premier League season that you should keep in mind.
How FPL Works
If you’re new to FPL, fret not, because FPL is a game that is well-regarded for its simplicity! All managers start off with £100 million to spend on 15 players – 2 goalkeepers, 5 defenders, 5 midfielders and 3 forwards. Of these 15 players, all managers have to select a starting 11 and a captain (whose points will be doubled) every gameweek (GW), with the goal of accumulating as many FPL points as possible.
FPL points are awarded to all Premier League players based on their performances in their games. For example, a goal by a forward will earn him 4 points, while an assist by any player will earn him 3. The full breakdown of how points are given can be found on the official Premier League website. Between GWs, managers will get to make one free transfer, with a 4 point deduction for any additional transfers. Managers all around the world will battle it out over the 38 GWs.
Of course, there are also other elements in the game that makes FPL a far more nuanced and interesting challenge. One key component are the chips that managers get to apply to their teams in any chosen GW. There are 4 types of chips available for managers to use – triple captain (tripling the chosen captain’s points), free hit (allowing managers to have a completely new team for one GW, following which reverting back to their original team), bench boost (adding all 15 players’ points to the manager’s point total) and wildcard (allowing unlimited transfers in a GW).
For a more detailed breakdown of the rules, check out the official FPL website.
Top Transfer Tips
For a start, it is important to take into account a player’s upcoming fixtures and form when making transfers. Managers often look favourably towards offensive players with fixtures against a weaker defence or defenders against a weaker offence. For example, the record for the most FPL points scored in a game last season belongs to Chelsea’s Cole Palmer, who scored 25 FPL points (4 goals). This came against Brighton and Hove Albion, a team that finished the season with the 14th worst defence in the league in terms of goals allowed. Be sure to leverage the various fixture tracking tools online to assist you with this!
A player’s form can also contribute greatly to his likelihood of getting an impressive FPL points haul. Isak’s 9 goal contributions in last season’s GW 15-20 is a great example of this, as it is not uncommon especially for attacking players to go on very hot streaks. Be on the look out for players in good form and make sure to hop on the bandwagon before they become too expensive for you to afford!
Beyond these, seasoned managers often also take into account advanced metrics when assessing players. Whether a player’s actual goal contribution statistics are backed up by their expected ones or the number of shots or key passes made by a player per 90 minutes are commonly things that many managers also look out for.
Changes for 2025/26
While FPL chips have been a mainstay in the game since the 15/16 season, this season will be the first time managers get two sets of all of them. Managers will be able to use one set of all 4 FPL chips both in the first half and second half of the season, meaning that you no longer have to save your triple captain chip for only double GWs!
Another crucial change in the FPL rules this season is the introduction of a new concept: defensive contributions. With the introduction of this rule, players will be awarded 2 points for any blocks, tackles, interceptions, clearances and recoveries (for midfielders and forwards) made in the game. The addition of this rule greatly benefits defensively minded players who may have been traditionally disadvantaged by FPL’s previously largely offensively centric scoring metric.
Some managers may also be concerned about the state of their teams come December-January due to the biennial African Cup Of Nations (AFCON) tournament. Fret not, however, as FPL will be giving 5 free transfers in GW 16 before the start of the tournament, allowing for managers to transfer the likes of Salah, Mbuemo and Marmoush at no cost.
Players to keep an eye out for
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It is difficult to argue that the 24/25 FPL season belonged to any other player aside from arguably FPL’s best player of all time – Mohammad Salah. With over 2000 points in just 294 career premier league games, the ‘Egyptian King’ smashed his previous single player FPL record set back in 2017/18 by 41 points, accumulating a whopping 344 points (over 100 more than any other player last season). Though he is priced as the most expensive player this season at £14.5 million, his undeniable offensive threat, great influence on Liverpool’s attack and goal scoring prowess make him a player difficult for FPL managers to look past.
However, the first week of FPL saw a forward eclipse Salah in popularity – Chelsea’s new signing, Joao Pedro. Pedro’s price tag of £7.5 million and blistering form in the Club World Cup, where he scored 3 goals in 163 minutes, places him as a potential top FPL player at a great price point. His statistics from last season with Brighton also point towards a fruitful season with Chelsea, yielding 0.74 goal contributions per 90 minutes and an expected 0.64 goal contributions per 90 minutes. However, it is also important to note that Pedro is unlikely to take the penalty-taker role from Cole Palmer, and almost half of Pedro’s expected goals were penalties last season. Additionally within Chelsea’s large squad set up it is uncertain Pedro will always have a place in the starting 11.
This summer’s transfer window has also seen the transfer of big money wing-back signings. Liverpool’s new right wing-back Jeremie Frimpong and City’s new left-back Rayan Aït-Nouri are both priced at £6.0 million. While both start the FPL season as the game’s most expensive defenders, this price point may still prove to be a bargain should they live up to expectations. Aït-Nouri hit 0.32 goal contributions per 90 minutes last season with Wolves and Frimpong reached 0.39 goal contributions per 90 minutes with Bayer Leverkusen, displaying their offensive talent.
Arsenal’s esteemed centre-back, Gabriel, also at £6.0 million, is expected to reach one of the highest point tallies amongst defenders this season as well. This comes at no surprise, with Arsenal establishing themselves as the Premier League’s best defence last season, topping both the goals allowed and expected goals allowed rankings, as well as with the introduction of defensive contribution points.
Value-for-money FPL assets
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One of the signings of the summer, Tottenham’s Mohammed Kudus, may also turn out to become one of the FPL signings of the season by the end of the 38 GWs. Priced at only £6.5 million, cheaper than his Spurs counterparts: Johnson, Maddison and Son, Kudus’ natural attacking flair and direct offensive approach place him as a real attacking threat in new head coach, Thomas Frank’s, revered offensive system. If Kudus manages to develop to become Frank’s new Mbuemo (FPL’s second highest scoring player last season with 236 points) as some expect him to become, he may very well end the season as one of the most value-for-money players in FPL history.
This year’s group of £4.5 million defenders is also forecasted by many FPL enthusiasts to contain some of the best value players this season. Players like Wan-Bissaka, Van de Ven, Konsa, Guehi and Udogie who have proven themselves to be capable starters may end up topping the points-per-million FPL chart next season.
Further, with the new defensive contribution points system, managers should also keep a lookout for defenders or defensive midfielders at the heart of their defensive systems as they may now offer great value for their relatively cheap prices. For example, Chelsea’s Moises Caicedo would have added a whopping 42 points to his total tally last season just from this. Having established himself as one of the first names on the Chelsea teamsheet and being priced at only £5.5 million, Caicedo may be one of the most value-for-money players this season.
ROAR news starting 15
And finally, to wrap it all up, these are the 15 FPL players that we will be starting our season with.
Goalkeepers: Sanchez and Dubravka
Defenders: Gabriel, Konsa, Van de Ven, Guéhi, Wan-Bissaka
Midfielders: Mohamed Salah, Cole Palmer, Florian Wirtz, Eberechi Eze, Mohammed Kudus
Forwards: Dominic Solanke, Jørgen Strand Larsen, Beto
Have a great FPL season and may the FPL gods be on your side!
Fantasy Premier League can be played on the official FPL website.
