Stack the midfield

 

This is one of the most basic principles of FPL - yet still somehow many people deny it, or wilfully ignore it. They get seduced by the showy glamour of top strikers banging in goals every other week. These days, some star defenders have an alluring 'aura' too: fans may be convinced that a big-name centre-back like Van Dijk or Saliba is somehow going to give you more points than a strong fifth midfielder.

The thing is.....

The game has historically focused on goalscoring, and not much else. (There's been a significant shift this year with the introduction of additional 'defensive points', but I doubt if it will make that big of a difference.)

However, many of the most prolific strikers in the game are actually classified as 'midfielders' rather than 'forwards'. And there has been a general shift in tactics and playing styles over the last few decades which has blurred the distinction between 'midfielders' and 'forwards' anyway: many central midfielders are at least sometimes encouraged to push forward into the front-line, and to try the odd shot from around the edge of the penalty areaa, and even occasionally to time a late run into the six-yard box to poach a goal (Frank Lampard was a monster for this back in the day, occasionally scoring as well as many outright forwards; Enzo Fernandez and Declan Rice, although regarded as primarily 'defensive' midfielders, have sometimes shown similar potential today...); and, of course, the more creative midfielders, usually floating in the 'No. 10' space between the forwards and the midfield, have almost always had some goalscoring dimension to their games. But the BIG points-producers are always players like Salah, Mbeumo, Diaz, Bowen*, Son - who are primary goalscorers, earning points at the 'midfielder' rate.

And FPL's scoring system is heavily biased in favour of 'midfielders': they get 5 points rather than 4 for scoring a goal; and they can occasionally pick up a 'free' extra point for a team clean sheet, which 'forwards' do not. Moreover, because of their playing style (the game assigns position categories based on a player's 'heat-map' for the previous season, with the 'midfielder' classification indicating that they play predominantly in wider and/or deeper spaces, where they must play a major creative role as well as looking for goals), they tend to pick up far more assists than the game's outright 'forwards'.

Moreover, the best of them tend to be rather more consistent in their returns than the 'forwards'. Outside of a handful of 'premiums', they are generally more reasonably priced too, and. in particular, offer a lot of good value at the lower end of the price spectrum. And there are more to choose from.

In the overall player rankings for a season, you rarely find more than 1 forward in the Top Five - or more than 3 or 4 in the Top Ten (or the Top Fifteen, Top Twenty....).  And NO defenders!!  Draw the obvious conclusion: it is correct.

While there might be particular circumstances of form, fitness, or fixtures that prompt you occasionally to field a third forward or a fourth defender, it is NUTS to ever regard anything other than 3-5-2 as the optimum default formation for FPL.

And it is NUTS to skimp on your 4th and 5th midfield picks: that's where most of the differential value in points potential lies.

* NB: Jarrod Bowen has been moved into the forward category in FPL this year. Such reclassifications of players are quite common, and you have to watch out for them. Players being shifted from 'forward' to 'midfielder' is good for their FPL prospects; players moving from 'midfielder' to 'forward' is BAD. Bowen has been a top pick as a midfielder for the past few seasons; but he's likely to be quite an anonymous option among the other forwards in the game at the moment.