These FPL benches will give fantasy football managers nightmares

Points really do win prizes in the Fantasy Premier League, so to see them left on the bench can be frustrating.

The FPL rules require a manager to select a squad of 15 players – 11 of those are picked for each week’s starting XI and four are left on the bench in case a starter isn’t picked.

But what happens when the substitutes score points and the starting line-up all play? ‘Regret’ is the answer.

That’s a pretty tough bench to swallow, with 25 points rendered useless. But it’s far from the most painful bench of the 2018-19 season.

This manager for example was tripped up by Southampton’s 3-2 win over Arsenal before Christmas, with both Danny Ings and Henrikh Mkhitaryan bagging braces.

More points on the bench than in the starting XI? Ouch.

Elsewhere braces caused further pain for FPL managers, including one from Lucas Moura during Tottenham’s 3-0 win against Manchester United.

Meanwhile, can you blame this manager for failing to predict two goals and a clean sheet for defender Fabian Schar?

The hat-trick from Diogo Jota wasn’t ideal either…

Here’s something you don’t see every day – four dream team players all on the bench.

Has any bench outperformed its starting XI this comprehensively?

Some managers have been unfortunate enough to leave 50 points and more on the sidelines this year.

How close was hat-trick hero Gerard Deulofeu to coming on for this manager? As first-choice substitute there may well have been a chance.

And finally, surely this is one of the worst cases of bench-itis this season?

A grand total of five goals, three assists and one clean sheet gone to waste.

It could all have been so different for those managers had they selected their teams differently.

However, with the help of the bench boost chip – which managers can use once per season – others have avoided such pitfalls.

Beware the bench.