Fantasy Premier League: What's the best way to spend your FPL money? Here's the guide on whether to buy big strikers, midfielders or defenders

Bruno Guimaraes is a key player for the Magpies and is expected to be again this season (Image credit: Getty Images)

Fantasy Premier League is just like real football: different FPL managers have different philosophies. With a mere £100m to spend, in today's market, that isn't much. Where is all that cash going?

There are many different ways to play. Some managers choose to go for goalscoring midfielders, as they have a higher reward for goals and assists than one who is just known for scoring. Others would rather pick reliable forwards. Some managers want to cram in as many expensive players as possible, while others take more of a measured approach. It's what makes the game glorious.

Which way is best? There's no way to say definitively - but we've collated all the different FPL ideologies to show you how you might want to structure your side for the 2025/26 season.

What's the best way to spend your FPL money? The 5 Fantasy Premier League philosophies: 1. Go big in midfield

There are only a few midfielders worth over £10.0m. Of course, you can't pick every single one...

But you can go with four or five premium midfielders and then scrimp across the rest of the team. You get more goals for a midfielder than you do for a forward – so if Mohamed Salah and Erling Haaland were to have identical goalscoring campaigns, you'd get more for Salah at Liverpool.

You'll likely have to play a 3-5-2 or 4-5-1 all season – but this could be a risky yet rewarding strategy. Who knows, the choice is yours.

2. Quality in key positions

There are expensive players across all positions in FPL. You might fancy getting a few in each one, we think.

In this particular side, we went for an expensive spine that we expected to get us our majority of our points overall. A solid, well-known keeper, then two top stars in defence, midfield and attack to be in the starting line-up weekly. The others can then rotate around those options.

It's a good tactic if you're hedging your bets around superstars this time around – don't know whether to go with Cunha or Watkins? Get both! – but there is a slight problem. You may not have much quality across the rest of your team.

Still, it's the most common tactic for FPL managers. And for good reason, too.

3. Strong at the back

Remember, you get more points for assists and goals from defenders. If you're feeling like stopping the goals at the back, this might be the philosophy to go for.

The ever-presents in the Premier League tend to be defenders and goalkeepers. With that in mind, you can do a lot worse than picking the ones you think will perform, giving yourself a back-five formation and then choosing those lesser talents up the pitch.

While this is a good philosophy for relying on those appearances and clean sheet points, the bigger values might prove harder to come by. Those weeks that someone captains Cole Palmer and he gets a hat-trick? You're unlikely to have those. How strong is your nerve overall?

4. Team Chemistry

So many managers worry about whether or not their players are even going to play. So why not bring in your starting XI's replacement into your subs?

When executed well, this idea is fantastic. Just look at the team above: we've three Liverpool attackers there, so if they have a good game, they're all going to get points: same with Manchester United and the three Chelsea defenders. Equally, if, say, Bukayo Saka stars ahead of Martin Odegaard in real life, and we've got Hojlund starting in our FPL team, he just comes in for him. Brains.

The one issue is the obvious one, however. If all these teams we backed to do well lose – a big possibility in the Premier League, let's face it – then none of our defence, attack or goalkeepers would score highly. Of course, you can't just pick players from in-form sides either – that'll be too expensive and won't reap you any benefits.

Use this tactic if you have a good feeling about a team as a whole. Maybe Brentford are underrated, or Brighton are on the up? It might also be a tactic to go with your gut when trying to rack up points early.

5. Focal points

Identifying a team's focal point should be something you do with any FPL signing. Here, we've built a massive team full of them.

For example, in this particular team, we've got six penalty-takers. The defensive players are ones from teams that we think will surprise a few, but still get through a lot of work when defending. The goalkeeper uses his feet a lot and could get an assist or maybe even two.

This philosophy means that you look less at the individuals involved and more at the tactical setup of the teams in the Premier League. The downside might be that you're not great at identifying or second-guessing what managers are going to do. Maybe you're going to need a mix of philosophies to manage this brand new FPL season…