How to win at FPL - our experts give their best tips

The Fantasy Premier League season is just around the corner and, with more managers taking part, achieving that elusive top-10k finish is proving harder than ever.

That's where BBC Sport's four FPL experts for 2025-26 can help.

We've compiled the best advice from Pras, Holly Shand, FPL Heisenberg and Gianni Buttice to help you get ahead of the game.

And we've also spoken to Max Littleproud, winner of the BBC Sport FPL league last season with an incredible finish of fifth in the world.

Max's approach to the game was a little different last season - if xG and underlying data leaves you cold then you might prefer his advice.

PRAS: A good FPL manager plays the game like chess. It isn't about who to pick this week or even next, a good manager looks at blocks of fixtures and targets players with good medium-term fixture runs. Doing so avoids knee-jerking on moves, especially for players that only have one good fixture and then a not-so-great run. Have a plan and stick to it as much as possible.

HOLLY: Team form and upcoming fixture ease are two vitally important metrics to consider when making transfers. Keep a close eye on both when planning transfers, in order to pick up key players before their hot streak begins and steal a march on your rivals.

HOLLY: It's important to strike the right balance of premium players, particularly at the start of the season when form is more unpredictable.

For greater transfer flexibility, try to pick a premium player in each position in your gameweek one team and then make a captaincy matrix for upcoming weeks to hone in on your key transfer targets.

HEISENBERG: You have to acknowledge when you've made an error by either bringing a player in you shouldn't have, or by ignoring a player in hot form that needs to come in.

It happens to us all - the key is to rectify these situations as quickly as possible.

GIANNI: It's better to roll transfers and go weeks without one if you can. Stay patient, use your bench if you need to and accumulate transfers. With several free transfers you can make significant changes to your team structure and make moves for even the most expensive assets without taking hits.

HOLLY: I try to avoid early transfers wherever possible - information is always key and so I won't make my moves until a Friday afternoon. The exception to this rule is when there are no midweek European fixtures (like before gameweek two) or where you may be priced out of a move you have exact funds for.

MAX: Last season I changed the way I play. I didn't have as much time as before to be online and consume FPL content. Everything I did last season was purely gut instinct - I didn't look at any statistics!

I was changing my team 30 minutes before the deadline, going for players I really liked and trusting my gut. Even though I'm a maths teacher I stayed away from statistics as you can get bogged down in them and over analyse things.

PRAS: Sometimes, counter-intuitively, FPL is about picking the reliable players over flair players.

An example I used to use was even though Riyad Mahrez looked amazing on the eye, a player like Bruno Fernandes was always a far superior FPL pick, simply because he was nailed on to play 90 minutes, take free-kicks and penalties.

These points add up and make these picks more fixture-proof since a free-kick goal or penalty is not as dependant on the difficulty of the opponent.

When stuck between two players, always pick the guy taking penalties or set-pieces.

HEISENBERG: Watch full matches where possible and extended highlights of all the games. Watching more football allows you to spot things you may not notice from stats alone, while it also allows you to interpret data easier as you'll have the required context.

MAX: I watched a lot of games last season, so I was seeing players I enjoyed watching and going for them - using the good old eye test.

PRAS: FPL is a game of patience, but football is a very unpredictable sport. This is a recipe for a lot of regret.

You pick Bukayo Saka as your captain and he misses a penalty. This is an example of good decision, bad outcome.

Managers must understand there is an element of luck in the game but making good decisions over the long-term generally leads to good outcomes. Trust the process.

GIANNI: Some fans are not keen on expected goals (xG) as a metric, but it is important in FPL.

If an attacker is clocking a high xG but not converting that into goals, they're either a bad finisher or more likely, they're close to catching a big haul really soon.

GIANNI: Goals and assists will always be king but the new defensive contribution points will change how we build our FPL teams moving forward, especially when shopping for budget defenders and midfielders.

The first few weeks could be a learning curve so pay close attention and be ready to react.

MAX: I never spend a lot of money on defensive options. This year I'm going for two £4.5m defenders and two £4.0m

If they pick up clean sheets then great, and I'm banking on them making up the difference to more expensive picks with the new defensive contribution points.

I've never spent much on defence - with the exception of an FPL star such as Trent Alexander-Arnold - and once I've picked my defence I tend to set and forget.

HEISENBERG: Everyone wants to beat their mini-league rivals and finish with as high a rank as possible, but you can get stuck if you pay too much attention to other people's teams.

Don't try to be the same as them. Don't try to be different to them.

Simply focus on what you can control - your own team - to maximise your points. Your overall rank and mini-leagues will take care of themselves.