How do you pick an FPL team?

How do you pick an FPL team and how is your £100m budget allocated?

We answer these questions below as part of our FPL Training Academy series, covering all the basics of the game.

Our How to Play FPLpage covers everything you need to know, with guides for complete beginners and managers who want to gain an edge over the competition and win their mini-leagues.

For everything else, including our tips on best players and expert team reveals, see our Ultimate Guide to FPL – there’s plenty of free information but for access to our best stuff and incredible toolbox, you’ll have to become a Hub member.

How to pick an FPL team

Once you’ve signed up or logged into the Fantasy Premier League website, you’ll be prompted to pick your FPL team.

You’ll be given a budget of £100m and, with that, you’ll need to buy 15 players.

Each player is assigned a price based on their perceived ability to score points.

There isn’t an exact formula used to determine a player’s price, but a player’s history, his likelihood of starting matches and the strength of his club are all factored in.

How is your budget allocated in Fantasy Premier League?

Player pricing is designed to prevent managers from choosing the 15 best players, which means we have to be resourceful with how we allocate our funds.

This is where your expert football knowledge and research comes in. You’ll need to find undervalued players – affordable players that you believe will score you points.

You’ll pick 11 starting players and four bench players. Your team will consist of:

• Two goalkeepers
• Five defenders
• Five midfielders
• Three forwards

Fantasy Premier League only allows you to pick a maximum of three players from each Premier League team, meaning you can’t build a squad solely of Manchester City players, for example.

Your bench is only used if one of your starting players does not play. You order your bench from one to three, so put your best player with the best fixture as number one so they are subbed in first.