The FPL bench is an extremely important aspect of Fantasy Premier League.
The set up for your FPL team is 11 starting players and 4 bench players. 1 player being the other goal keeper and the other positions depending on your formation. For example, if your starting players formation is 3-4-3, then you will have 2 defenders and 1 midfielder on the bench. This is because for your team, you have to choose 2 goalkeepers, 5 defenders, 5 midfielders and 3 forwards.
These players are automatically substituted on, meaning their points will count to your overall total, if a player in your starting 11 doesn’t play any minutes.
There is also an option to use the bench boost chip, meaning all of your bench player’s points will count. This, however, can only be used once per season so should be used carefully.
Read on to discover more about how the FPL bench works.
Do you get points from FPL bench players?
The idea of the bench is that they don’t initially score points. However, if one of your players in the starting line-up doesn’t play any minutes, then one of your bench players will be automatically subbed on at the end of the game week.
It is a common misconception that if a starting player scores 0 points, he will be replaced with a player from the bench, but this isn’t the case. This might occur if, for example, a player plays less that 60 minutes and also gets yellow carded, making the total points scored 0. As mentioned above, the only way for your bench player’s points to count is if a player in your starting 11 doesn’t play any minutes.
Which bench player will get subbed on?
Your bench is ordered. GK, 1, 2, 3. This is the priority order so it is important to keep an eye on and consider each week. How it works is if one of your starting 11 doesn’t play, FPL looks toward the player in bench position 1. If he played, he will get automatically swapped in. If he didn’t play, FPL will then look to bench position 2 and so on.
This can work slightly differently depending on your formation. At one time, you are only allowed to field a minimum of 1 goalkeeper, 3 defenders, 3 midfielders and 1 forward. This is important to know because let’s say your starting 11 was in a 343 this week. You will therefore have 2 defenders and 1 midfielder on the bench. If one of your defenders in your starting 11 didn’t play, and your midfielder is in bench position 1, the midfielder won’t get subbed on because there has to be a minimum of 3 defenders in the starting 11. Therefore, whichever defender is now first priority (in this case, bench position 2) will be substituted on.
The same rule also applies for the goal keeper. Your bench goal keeper will only be substituted on if your starting goal keeper didn’t play any minutes.
What positions should you pick for your FPL bench?
Which positions are left to the bench is obviously dictated by which formation you choose to play.
So far in the season, we are seeing a lack of clean sheets and an abundance of goals. The fire, you ideally want to minimise the number of defenders in your team and maximise the amount of attackers. This makes either 3-4-3 or 3-5-2 ideal.
I usually recommend going with a 3-5-2 because midfielder get 5 points for a goal whereas forwards only get 4. However, the form of players also influences this decision. For example if there are cheap forwards that are on form, your transfers are best spent trying to bring these players in. Especially if you have a midfielder who isn’t firing.
This aspect of the game is especially important when you are on your wildcard, or thinking about wild carding.
How much should I spend on bench players?
Your first substitute is obviously your most important. Therefore, he should have the most spent on him out of all your subs.
However, this amount largely depends on the amount of budget you have remaining, once you have decided on your starting 11.
A good rule is to make sure, at very least, one of your subs is a guaranteed starter. This way, they will always score you, at least, one or two points. After all, they may not be needed whatsoever.
Sub 2 and 3 are less important. It is unlikely that they will be needed (as long as you have put some effort into keeping up with your starting 11).
Sub 2 ideally needs to be a starter every game, if not most. It doesn’t really matter whether they are likely to score any extra points. With the likeliness of you needing them combined with the small chance of them scoring the points in that game week, it’s mostly down to luck as to whether or not both will happen.
You ideally wanting to be spending as little as possible on these players. Ideally £4.5m or less, but ensuring they are starting, at least most of the time.
For more information about bench strategy, read: how to choose a bench in FPL.
What happens if a player doesn’t play in FPL?
As explained briefly above, if a player doesn’t play in FPL, he will automatically get subbed off at the end of the game week, as long as you have a player on your bench that has played.
Sometimes, it is the case that the player on the bench can not be substituted on due to the formation you are using, for example, If you are playing a 5-4-1 formation, your midfielder can not be subbed on if your striker didn’t play because this would leave you with a 5-5-0 formation which is not allowed in FPL.
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