The BIGGEST FPL mistakes made every season and how you can avoid them - including hidden £4m trap

Every season, Fantasy Premier League managers tend to make the same mistakes - but there are simple ways to avoid them and get ahead of your mini-league rivals.

The Premier League opening fixture is just days away and while many fans are eagerly awaiting the season kicking off, Fantasy Premier League (FPL) managers are frantically putting together their final drafts.

More than 13 million people now play FPL each year, with the figure reaching new heights every season and so it's getting increasingly difficult to get high ranks.

However, one thing you can always count on is players making some costly mistakes in the opening weeks that allow you to slowly but surely climb your way to the top of the mini-league with your work colleagues, family or group of mates.

For the 2026/27 season, to make sure you're ahead of the pack and not one of those players making these costly mistakes, SPORTbible have put together a guide of the most common mistakes, and how you can easily avoid them

Missing deadlines

Starting off with a simple one that feels obvious, check the deadline every week.

With European competitions and both the FA and Carabao Cup to think about, sometimes the FPL deadline jumps around from early afternoon on a Saturday to late evening mid-week.

It's safe to say most people reading this have been caught out by a rogue FPL deadline at least once in their life before, and it can really mess things up.

This season, just make a mental note to check the deadline every week or, better yet, set your lineups the weekend before so that, even if you forget to make transfers, you're not completely caught out if life gets in the way and you forget the deadline.

Picking players from your club

It's easily done, but choosing your favourite players for the club you support can actually be a really bad idea in FPL.

I'm sure Ipswich Town fans are eager to put players like last season's top goal scorer Jack Clarke straight into their team, but let's face it, back-to-back matches against Manchester United and Liverpool in Gameweeks two and three are hardly easy games.

Even if you support a club with players who typically perform well in FPL each year, you need to consider form, fixtures and price when selecting who to include in your teams each season, even if it means picking a rival team's talisman.

Liverpool fans will no doubt be reluctant to have United captain Bruno Fernandes in the team, but he's one of the most essential players to start the season, explaining why he's in nearly 50% of teams so far.

READ MORE: Best FPL forwards with Erling Haaland the obvious FPL pick and an overlooked 5.2%-owned striker

Losing team value on high-owned cheap players

This is something that catches people out time and time again.

We get it, when you've put your team together and all you have left is £4.5million to pick your last midfielder or £4m to pick your second goalkeeper, it's easy to just trust other people have done the research and pick the highest-owned player at that price.

However, all being well, this player will never actually make it into your starting lineup for any Gameweek, so why pick a highly-owned player, only for them to sit and do nothing on your bench?

And you can guarantee that within weeks of the season starting, when managers realise that this player isn't actually starting matches or, at best, is scoring one or two points a week, they'll start selling him en masse and he'll drop in price.

This then either forces you to follow suit and waste a transfer to get rid of them, or accept that you're going to lose at least £0.1m in team value before the season really even starts, something which you can be sure you'll need somewhere down the line.

So, instead of picking 4.5m Will Hughes at Crystal Palace, who is in 11% of teams despite scoring just 45 points in 38 games, or Martin Dubravka, who is in 22% of teams despite being Spurs' second choice keeper, if you have to have a cheap player to fill out your squad, just pick a player who is hardly any FPL teams and plays for a club you won't ever want three players from and leave them to sit on your bench all season.

Martin Dubravka is arguably the worst pick in FPL this season, but he's in nearly 1/4 of all teams. (Image: Getty Images)

Focusing too much on last season

Speaking of Dubravka, the reason why he's in 22% of teams this season is that in 2025/26, the Slovak goalkeeper was one of the best picks in the entire game.

Despite being just £4.0m, Dubravka started 35 of 38 Premier League fixtures last season for Burnley, making him the perfect second-choice goalkeeper for everyone for the whole season.

But this doesn't mean he's a good pick again this year. He's not going to start for Spurs, and, as already mentioned, it's almost certain that he will drop in price at some point this season when people realise Dubravka in 26/27 isn't the same as Dubravka in 25/26.

The same can be said for players who had a bad season last campaign.

For example, Cole Palmer certainly didn't impress in the 25/26 season. However, let's not forget he's still arguably one of the best players in the Premier League and should absolutely be considered, especially for Chelsea's nice fixture run from Gameweek four onwards.

Reacting too early with chips and transfers

Finally, it's easy to panic after two or three Gameweeks if one of your friends who managed to nail the rogue player who starts the season well is sitting on top of your mini-league while you're down at the bottom with a disappointing start.

But the worst thing to do in that situation is start using up all of your chips (Triple Captain, Bench Boost, Free Hit and Wildcard), or worse yet, burn through transfers and take hits of -4 points or more.

Instead, unless there's a glaring issue to address, patience at the start of the FPL season is key, as each week that passes gives you more information, and hopefully more transfers, to help improve your team.

To be fair, there is actually a viable strategy to use up some of your chips early this season, with bench boosting in Gameweek one or two popular options, but unless you've got a solid plan in place, it's better to just hold fire and see where things are later in the season.