FanTeam

FanTeam: A season-long strategy guide for 2025/26 EPL Fantasy

8 August 2025 135 comments
FPL Marc FPL Marc
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Sponsored by FanTeam

Now that our first FanTeam draft for EPL Fantasy is creating an online buzz, it’s time to discuss a good strategy that can bring success.

After all, with a guaranteed minimum prize pool of £175k up for grabs, managers will be extremely competitive when fighting to finish inside the top 10%. The season-long game costs £10 to enter.

FanTeam is back for 2025/26 EPL Fantasy

We at Scout are delighted to partner up with FanTeam, providing insightful articles between now and the opening weekend.

DON’T MISS OUT, CLICK HERE TO JOIN FANTEAM AHEAD OF AN EXCITING SEASON

WHAT IS FANTEAM EPL FANTASY?

Managers will be familiar with this simple, straightforward format that embraces the roots of Fantasy Football.

Just like Fantasy Premier League (FPL), managers have a £100m budget to select 15 players (no more than three per club), making weekly decisions about captaincy and how to use the latest free transfer.

FanTeam is back for 2025/26 EPL Fantasy 1

The only chip is a Wildcard – one for each half of the season. There aren’t any defensive contribution (DC) points either.

To ensure fairness, no late entries will be allowed this time. Everyone starts on a level playing field from Gameweek 1.

WHAT IS THE IDEAL FANTEAM STRATEGY?

On a basic level, FanTeam managers usually think the same thoughts:

  • Buy the attack-minded full-backs
  • Squad depth isn’t essential when there’s no Bench Boost chip
  • Choose your time to Wildcard based on good and bad fixture swings

However, while point-scoring is the same as FPL when it comes to clean sheets, assists and outfielder goals, some tiny differences may improve the FanTeam prospects of particular players.

FanTeam is back for 2025/26 EPL Fantasy 2

Pick a goalkeeper who makes lots of saves

Whereas FPL gives a singular point for every three saves, FanTeam rewards 0.5 after each one.

So if a goalkeeper stops five shots, he’ll gain 2.5 points rather than one – good news for busy ones!

Last season’s most frequent saver – Mark Flekken – has moved to Germany and second-best Aaron Ramsdale (£5.0m) is now Newcastle United’s backup. Following them were Jordan Pickford (122, £5.5m) and Matz Sels (120, £5.5m), but after that came potential £4.5m bargain Bernd Leno (113).

Another £4.5m guy, Bart Verbruggen, denied 91 attempts.

Shots on target receive points

Here, attackers get 0.4 points for each shot on target.

As well as the big names you’d expect – Erling Haaland (£13.0m), Mohamed Salah (£13.5m), Cole Palmer (£11.0m) and Alexander Isak (£10.5m) – this brings good news for Matheus Cunha (£8.0m), Antoine Semenyo (£7.0m), Ollie Watkins (£9.5m), Jarrod Bowen (£8.0m) and Chris Wood (£7.5m).

At the back, defenders receive 0.6 every time. Last season, we saw Daniel Munoz (£5.5m), Josko Gvardiol (£6.5m), Marc Cucurella (£5.5m), Fabian Schar (£5.5m) and Rayan Ait-Nouri (£6.0m) benefit from this.

Choose 90-minute attackers

It’s harder for midfielders and forwards to avoid being substituted. So those who successfully complete a full match are given an extra point.

Identifying such important players could prove fruitful in FanTeam. Bryan Mbeumo (£9.0m) did so on 35 occasions at Brentford but has just changed clubs. And new teammate Bruno Fernandes (£8.5m) completed 28 of the 33 starts where he wasn’t sent off.

Others to complete at least 25 were Salah, Haaland, Palmer, Semenyo, Bowen and Enzo Fernandez (£7..0m).

Make the most of some bargain £4.5m defenders

Meanwhile, this very exciting price point features James Tarkowski, Jarrad Branthwaite, Jake O’Brien, Patrick Dorgu, Maxim De Cuyper, Maxence Lacroix and El Hadji Malick Diouf, amongst others.

It’s feasible to begin with two or three of these and shift the remaining budget elsewhere.

Cover a range of price points

A smart tactic is to touch various popular values. Although the best players tend to be reliable for big scores, squeezing in too many will likely require lots of cheap colleagues.

Ignoring plenty of good, mid-priced options, such a sacrifice lacks flexibility. Should one or two of these hit spectacular form, jumping onto them would need a squad overhaul that uses lots of transfers – maybe even points hits.

Alternatively, spreading out the £100m budget more evenly means that picking the wrong individual can be quickly fixed by one transfer.

For example, if Phil Foden (£9.0m) returns to his stunning 2023/24 form, it’s a simple switch for Florian Wirtz (£9.0m) owners.

BEST-EVER WELCOME OFFER

New to FanTeam?

Registrations can take place in more countries than ever before, as some previously restricted territories are now eligible. Head to the registration page and check.

This time, there is a generous welcome offer that should attract new customers.

FanTeam is back for 2025/26 EPL Fantasy 4

Register, deposit £10 and play any paid contest, and you’ll get:

  • A free ticket to enter the 2025/26 EPL Fantasy Season Game
  • An additional £20 in contest tickets to use across a variety of sports

DON’T MISS OUT, CLICK HERE TO JOIN FANTEAM AHEAD OF AN EXCITING SEASON

In partnership with FanTeam, 18+, Play Responsibly | BeGambleAware.org | #ad

FPL Marc Broadcaster, writer and overthinker. Hoping that ‘differential potential’ will catch on.

135 Comments Login to Post a Comment
  1. Athletic Nasherbo
    • 9 Years
    8 months, 28 days ago

    New draft - appreciate any thoughts! Likely BB GW3.

    Kelleher
    Cucurella Porro Diouf
    Palmer Gakpo Rogers Ndiaye
    Haaland Bowen J.Pedro

    Dubravka Carvalho Collins Dorgu

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    1. teddy.
      • Fantasy Football Scout Member
      • 16 Years
      8 months, 28 days ago

      Why Pedro? No pens, competition from Delap and Jackson. I think Wood and Mateta are better bets at 7.5

      No Salah will hurt. He'll score well and the ownership will kill you.

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      1. MetallicaJack93
        • 2 Years
        8 months, 28 days ago

        Teddy if you had to pick one, wood or mateta?

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  2. Sgt Frank Drebin
    • 9 Years
    8 months, 28 days ago

    Who's going to be the main striker at Sunderland? Mayenda? Trying to evaluate Guiu's minutes, but doesn't seem like he's going to be starting most games?

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    1. teddy.
      • Fantasy Football Scout Member
      • 16 Years
      8 months, 28 days ago

      Indeed. Probably Mayenda. Maybe Guiu. Isidor also in the mix.

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  3. Valar(Keith)
    • 16 Years
    8 months, 28 days ago

    Kevin Dewsbury Hall is a gift. It's crazy the number of factors that were involved over the past year since he killed it for leicester for him to be priced at 5 million in a steady non just promoted EPL team

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    1. teddy.
      • Fantasy Football Scout Member
      • 16 Years
      8 months, 28 days ago

      Quite a bit of competition in that attack though - McNeil, Ndiaye, Alcaraz, Grealish incoming and possibly others.

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  4. Deulofail
    • 10 Years
    8 months, 28 days ago

    Omg nooooo every time I open a new tab on this site I get the LIMITED TIME OFFER modal window. Wtf is that? This shite is endless.

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    1. RedLightning
      • Fantasy Football Scout Member
      • Has Moderation Rights
      • 15 Years
      8 months, 28 days ago

      Sam and Reece say:
      "It will appear the first time you navigate to the site not signed in. If you sign in you will not see the popup.
      If you're signed in and open a new tab then the ad does not popup.
      The only situation this could happen (ad pops up each time) is if you open incognito/private tabs where the browser has no shared info between tabs.
      There is a chance that if you're signed in but not a member then opening a new tab could open a new 'session', but this is expected behaviour and the ad should show in that situation.
      The popup will also be disabled after early bird pricing runs out this evening, and may be shown again later in pre-season."

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      1. The Mentaculus
        • 4 Years
        8 months, 28 days ago

        That's not true. I'm getting the popup every time I open a new tab (not using private/incognito), and every time I close the browser and reopen it (even though still logged in)

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        1. The Mentaculus
          • 4 Years
          8 months, 28 days ago

          Also, while we've got your attention...

          Why does the site now redirect to the top of the page every time you open & close the sidebar? It's really annoying if e.g. you want to check the fixtures while replying to a comment, needing to scroll all the way back down again to find the comment box

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          1. x.jim.x
            • 11 Years
            8 months, 28 days ago

            Profile pages are still absolutely goosed on mobile too

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            1. The Mentaculus
              • 4 Years
              8 months, 28 days ago

              Indeed

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            2. Deulofail
              • 10 Years
              8 months, 28 days ago

              Was going to report this weeks ago, but it's gotten too boring to do their QA for them

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      2. x.jim.x
        • 11 Years
        8 months, 28 days ago

        Not trying to be funny, but Sam and Reece should have checked this is the case (it isn't) before putting out this statement

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        1. Deulofail
          • 10 Years
          8 months, 28 days ago

          I imagine they didn't expect RedLightning to post it publicly. Still, the message could be better formulated or tested. I think their opening point is from the perspective of a premium member, but it's not clear. Most users, though, are not premium members... :/

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          1. x.jim.x
            • 11 Years
            8 months, 28 days ago

            They've clearly just tried it themselves (with premium accounts), saw nothing wrong, and put this out

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            1. Deulofail
              • 10 Years
              8 months, 28 days ago

              There is a chance (oh so very small) that some people might NOT have premium memberships. In this very extremely rare edge case, it's POSSIBLE that you MIGHT be unlucky enough to see an advert every time you open a new tab. Nothing we can do about that, because it's a new session, sorrehhhh

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          2. Plan FPL (Reece)
            • Fantasy Football Scout Member
            • 3 Years
            8 months, 28 days ago

            Hi, the information I provided Red Lightning was of course meant to be responded publicly.

            The logic for showing the limited popup ad is correct as per your comment further down this chat. It accounts for 99% of our users browsing behaviour based on our analytics. A very small minority of users browse the main website in multiple tabs. In these few days where we're running the early bird popup a small selection of users who are not members will see the popup ad once per session only, with 1 click to dismiss it for the entirety of the remainder of that session. Due to browser behaviour a new tab does unfortunately mean a new session.

            Unfortunately there is never a one size fits all approach for some things, so of course apologies for the short term inconvenience.

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            1. Plan FPL (Reece)
              • Fantasy Football Scout Member
              • 3 Years
              8 months, 28 days ago

              Apologies, this was meant to be a reply to Deulofail's response above, but I clicked the wrong reply button.

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              1. Deulofail
                • 10 Years
                8 months, 28 days ago

                It looks to me like you have replied to the correct post! 😀 The new design is working well, then!

                Thanks for your response. I won't try to start a debate here, but there are choices and solutions that can avoid these kinds of things. I'm assuming this won't be the last time you use this intrusive advertising method, and if my way of navigating the site is not a consideration in the requirements, then this site is not for me. I will voice my distain for the short-term inconvenience or leave.

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            2. x.jim.x
              • 11 Years
              8 months, 28 days ago

              The simple solution would have been to include a 'do not ask me again' check-box, which is then applied at the user level, but what do I know?

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      3. Deulofail
        • 10 Years
        8 months, 28 days ago

        "If you're signed in [as a premium member] and open a new tab then the ad does not popup"
        "If you're signed in but not a [premium] member then [open] a new tab [...] the ad should show in that situation".
        Also, if you're not signed in, the ad will show every time you open a new tab.

        Is that right?

        If so, you're just confirming what I'm complaining about. All instances of opening a new tab as a non-premium-member present an ad that blocks the screen. Thanks for trying, but it makes navigating the site too annoying for me. Crosses a line. And my opinion of FFS sinks even lower.

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      4. TheBiffas
        • 5 Years
        8 months, 28 days ago

        Wrong

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    2. Deulofail
      • 10 Years
      8 months, 28 days ago

      For feck's sake, RedLightning deleted his own comment, which in turn, deleted mine. Mods on this site have been doing this sh*t for too long

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      1. Plan FPL (Reece)
        • Fantasy Football Scout Member
        • 3 Years
        8 months, 28 days ago

        That was me in this case as we had long repeating explanations of the ad logic that were just not needed.

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        1. Deulofail
          • 10 Years
          8 months, 28 days ago

          Not cool

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  5. DavvaMC
    • Fantasy Football Scout Member
    • 5 Years
    8 months, 28 days ago

    Which one would you bring in and start?

    A. Mateta
    B. Evanilson
    C. Larsen

    Cheers

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    1. teddy.
      • Fantasy Football Scout Member
      • 16 Years
      8 months, 28 days ago

      A

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  6. AC Pilkington
    • Fantasy Football Scout Member
    • 10 Years
    8 months, 28 days ago

    Reckon Bizot (Aston Villa GK) at 4.5m for just BB1 is ok? Then almost perma-bench

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    1. Haa-lala-land
      • 5 Years
      8 months, 28 days ago

      Would it not be sensible to start with a long term 4.5 playing GK, rather than a temporary 4.5 Bizot Vs New

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