The Scout's panel of Fantasy Premier League experts discuss the main lessons they have learned from the season so far and how that impacts their plans moving forward.
Lee Bonfield (@FPLFamily)
In previous years, I've often turned to the "reassuringly expensive" players for captaincy - or just defaulted to Erling Haaland (£15.2m). This season, the captaincy conversation is far more varied and I need to be more open-minded. Just ask the managers who captained Dominic Solanke (£7.8m) in Gameweek 10 and benefited from his 16-pointer, or those who captained Bruno Fernandes (£8.4m) in Gameweek 11.
Pranil Sheth (@Lateriser12)
When a team lose a key player, react immediately to that information - like Rodri (£6.3m) with Manchester City and Martin Odegaard (£8.2m) with Arsenal. We need to adjust our perception there in terms of the potential impact on the defence and attack. Also, there is a lot of scope for rank gains this season. There are big swings every week due to the wide variety of options. Be patient.
Ben Crabtree (@FC_CrabDogg)
Fixtures look far more important than form. Although you can't keep swapping your whole team according to fixture swings, premium players with trickier periods of matches have been outscored by mid-price players. Banking transfers to attack good fixture runs, even at the expense of quality players, looks the way forward.
Nick Harris (@WGTA_Nick)
One lesson learned from the last week was to not attack the immediate fixtures without a long-term plan. Many managers jumped on Spurs assets like Solanke in fear of missing out of big returns against Ipswich Town. However, this did not pay off and with Spurs visiting Man City up next, some of those players may now need to be sold immediately.
Harry Daniels (@FPLHarry)
A big lesson for me has actually been understanding the change in bonus points made at the start of the season. We are seeing forwards get bonus points more consistently when they score goals, so a 3-4-3 formation is more favourable. Some of the cheap forwards are much more high-scoring than in previous seasons.
Pras (@Pras_FPL)
There are a lot of excellent picks in the game that are well priced. At various points some will embark upon a great set of fixtures. Pick your battles. You can't have them all.
Sam Bonfield (@FPLFamily)
This season, more than any other, getting the balance right between the premiums and the rest of the squad is so important. For most of the season I have owned Haaland, Trent Alexander-Arnold (£7.0m) and another premium midfielder - at different points, Bukayo Saka (£10.1m) or Phil Foden (£9.2m).
On Wildcard I decided to move away from Haaland. This has allowed me to have three premium midfielders, as well as a premium defender and a premium goalkeeper. Spreading the budget has enabled me to strengthen the rest of my team, give me a number of captaincy options every week and improve my route to points. It's also allowed me to own more of the mid-priced options and means I don't need a burner slot in my front eight. Use the budget wisely when it comes to premium investment.
