How to Make the Best of the 2024/25 FPL

With the start of the season less than two weeks away, a lot of our focus turns to the beloved FPL game, with all its ups and downs. In this article we will discuss how to approach this season with our EPLNews Fantasy Premier League guide, taking its changes and challenges into account.

Big Changes

Up until now, managers could only bank up to two free transfers by simply not using them (or, since we’ve all been there, forgetting to use them) before a gameweek. Now you will be able to save up to five free transfers, which will be very helpful to those of you who like planning ahead.

It’s also worth mentioning that you can play the Wildcard or the Free Hit chips without worrying about your saved transfers being reset to zero.

There will also be a Mystery Chip, but we will have to wait until the end of the year to find out what it actually does once it becomes active in January 2025.

The pitch has been redesigned, along with the Player Cards, offering more information when making a substitution or a transfer.

There have been changes to the points scoring as well, with a goal scored by a goalkeeper being worth 10 points instead of the six it brought so far. The Bonus Points System (BPS) has been overhauled as well, offering players rewards and penalties for more different actions:

• A saved penalty now brings 9BPS, as opposed to the usual 15
• There will be a -4BPS penalty for goalies and defenders conceding a goal
• A goalline clearance brings 3BPS
• Winning a foul nets 1BPS
• A shot on target bring a player 2BPS

Lastly, the FA Cup schedule has been modified ahead of this season, meaning that managers will get fewer and smaller Blank and Double gameweeks.

Players Returning Late

It has been an eventful summer, with both Copa America and EURO taking place in June and July, so quite a few Premier League players are returning late to their respective clubs, leaving FPL managers with hard decisions to make.

Phil Foden might not start Manchester City’s matchday 1 away game against Chelsea, but plenty of people will be looking at the reigning champions’ fixture against Ipswich as a treasure trove for FPL points, so they might want to get him in their team regardless.

Important assets like Bukayo Saka or Cole Palmer are in somewhat similar situations, but they seem more nailed-on to start all available games than some of the City players who have had deep runs in international football this summer.

A good strategy would be to include mostly players who have had long summer breaks in your team, such as Eberechi Eze, Anthony Gordon, Martin Ødegaard, Mohamed Salah or Erling Haaland.

Speaking of which…

The Haaland Conundrum

The most expensive FPL player of all time. Priced at an eye-watering £15.0m, this is a player who has brought a ton of FPL points over the last two seasons, but would take a huge chunk of your budget.

Nevertheless, most FPL experts advise to include Haaland in your opening day squad and consider making him the captain of your team in at least three of the opening five gameweeks, as City are playing Chelsea (A), Ipswich (H), West Ham (A), Brentford (H) and Arsenal (H).

There is also the argument that the £2.5m saved by picking Salah over Haaland would let you build a more balanced squad, as you could include the likes of Palmer, Isak or Watkins.

What will you do about Haaland? You can let us know on our Facebook page.

Formations

As usual, the best advice about FPL is to not try to be too clever and build a ‘balanced’ squad. This is not Football Manager, where players need to link up with each other and build chemistry. The only thing that matters in FPL is getting as many points as possible.

We here at EPLNews favour 3-4-3 and 3-5-2, because these formations give you the opportunity to put on as many attackers and wingers (classified as midfielders in this game) on the pitch as possible. These are the players most likely to score and assist, as well as getting the bonus points, netting you the highest number of points possible.

With the quality of attackers for all sorts of prices on display this season, a 3-4-3 seems like a safe bet, especially if you consider how enticing it is to have Haaland, Isak and Havertz all in your attacking line.

In closing, there is also an interesting article about how to build your squad around the two most expensive FPL players right now, Haaland and Salah, and you can read it by clicking here.

All the best, everyone!