It's that time of the season again. The FPL run-in. With only a few rounds remaining, one mistake can derail a season's worth of good work. These GWs are probably the most important of the year, but also the most challenging.
As a result, we have complied 5 top tips to keep you in good stead for the FPL run-in. These tips have been provided by members of the FPL community, and we have explained why the tips are relevant and useful.
Chief's Tip (@FPLHints)
If you want to protect your rank, captain safe picks.
At this stage of the season, picking the wrong captain could be fatal. Whilst you have a low score for the week, thousands of other FPL managers could have used one of their remaining chips successfully, giving them a massive rank boost.
So, if you are happy with your rank, look to consolidate by playing it safe and picking a proven, in form FPL asset who is popularly owned. By doing this, you are significantly reducing the chance of a large rank drop, because if your captain fails, so will the captain of most other FPL managers too.
If want to gamble on a player, but you don’t want to risk a large rank drop, you can bring a differential in, but captain highly owned players.
In the words of Chief, to consolidate your rank, be boring in terms of captain picks at this stage of the season.
Stag's Tip (@FPLStag)
Focus on points only now, not team value.
A major focus of FPL managers is trying to transfer in players who are going to rise in price, and transferring out players who are going to drop in price. This is so in order to build up team value, which enables FPL managers to fit in more expensive players into their teams.
However, according to Stag, FPL managers should not focus too much on team value at this stage of the season.
Instead, focus should solely be on points. With so little GWs left, you should be putting all your effort into attaining as many points as possible.
In this way, if you still feel a player is worthy of selection in your FPL team, do not take them out just because they are dropping in price. Similarly, don’t bring a price rising player in over another player just because of the price rise – bring in the player you think will score the most points.
As Stag says, there’s no reward at the end of GW38 for having a massive team value. Seb's Tip (@WFC_Seb)
Plan ahead.
There are not many things worse in FPL than thinking up of a great transfer, only to be just short in terms of cash.
So, to prevent this from happening, be sure to plan ahead at this stage of the season.
Look at the fixtures of each team, and think about who you will be wanting and when you will be wanting them.
Once you have examined the fixtures, write down who you want in/out in a certain GW. For example, ‘GW35: Aubameyang > Jesus.’ Do this until you have all the players you want in your team.
After this, go through each transfer week by week on the FPL transfers page and see if you have sufficient funds to make your desired moves. If not, think of a different player to take out, or a cheaper player to bring in. Do this until you can fit all the transfers in, and make sure to leave about £0.3-£0.5 in the bank to cater for price rises.
If you do this, you will cut out instances where you are just short of being able to make a transfer.
Furthermore, planning ahead means that FPL managers will be less likely to burn transfers unnecessarily, as they will be aware that the transfer will be required down the track.
Luke's Tip (@WFC_LS_Potzi) Fixtures are key.
Although many of the final games of the Premier League season can be chaotic, where upsets occur due to the desperation of some clubs to avoid relegation or cement a top 4 spot, it is also a period of the season where FPL managers are looking to solidify their rank.
For many FPL managers, they see a dip in their overall rank at this time of the season due to taking unnecessary risks and transfer hits in order to win mini-leagues and claim off-season supremacy and bragging rights.
For managers to not see a decrease in overall rank, it is a good measure to pay close attention to fixture difficulty and fixture certainty.
By the back end of the season, it has become vastly evident what EPL clubs are proficient or deficient in certain areas of the field. Aston Villa (59) and Norwich (56) have conceded the most and second most amount of goals in the league to date so with Aston Villa facing Wolves, Liverpool and Manchester United in the next three games, it is a best bet to stock up on opposition attackers like Jiménez, Salah and Rashford.
This seems like a no brainer for FPL managers, but many of us slip into the train of thought that we need to take risks on players that have a 50-50 chance of performing well, in order to get the edge on mini-league or overall rank opponents. From the past, the likes of Dusan Tadic come to mind, who one week can score a 24 point return and then go invisible and blank for 10 weeks. Instead, look to bring in players whose team you know will either score goals or keep clean sheets over the next period. For example, someone like Aaron Wan-Bissaka plays in a backline that has been defending well recently and who you know will keep clean sheets in the run home. Conversely, someone like Matt Ritchie does have upside, but his upcoming games are just as losable for Newcastle as they are winnable.
Remember - fixtures are the main element in maintaining your overall rank right up until the end of the season, so keep checking those fixture ratings. Ben's Tip (@BenDinnery)
Ensure you have a deep bench and be flexible.
It’s great to plan ahead, but you also need to be flexible. This is especially so because rotation will be prevalent throughout the run home given the short turnarounds teams will face.
Don’t go into the back end of the FPL season with limited tactics available. Make sure you have 15 players in your team that regularly start for their side.
Having 15 starting players will ensure that even if someone is rested, you will have points coming off the bench.
Moreover, a deep bench will enable your team to switch between different formations depending on which players are available and in or out of form.
Being flexible by having starting players on your bench as well as multiple players who would make top captain picks will limit the likelihood of moments of panic should one of yours players get injured or be rested.
Special thanks to Chief, Stag and Ben for their input.