With Fantasy Premier League Draft now LIVE for the 2025/26 season, The Scout offers strategy tips and provides a list of the best 50 picks in order to help managers win their leagues.
Which positions should you prioritise?
It is essential to have a plan in mind before the draft process gets under way.
There are only between 30-120 seconds to select a player, depending on how your draft is set up, so managers must be ready to react quickly.
Prepare a list of your preferred options to avoid wasting time and rushing a decision.
Prioritising the so-called “big-hitters” first - the likes of Mohamed Salah and Erling Haaland - will be a popular strategy for many FPL Draft managers, and it makes sense.
These players have proven Premier League and FPL points-scoring pedigree, and will surely be snapped up in the first few picks of any draft.
But once the most-popular players become unavailable, it could pay off to target new signings who might hit the ground running, as well as other players across the league who look set to kick on after a strong showing last season.
In terms of the positions to target, the 16 top-scoring players in FPL last season were midfielders (10) or forwards (six).
The top end of the pitch therefore seems a decent place to start when filling out your FPL Draft squad.
Make early moves for forwards
The arrivals of Hugo Ekitike at Liverpool and Viktor Gyokeres at Arsenal have expanded the pool of viable forwards, but there remains a shortage of players to choose from up front compared with midfielders in terms of likely reliable starters and scorers.
It may therefore be wise to rank one or two of your first-choice forwards higher in your priority list to ensure that, when the later rounds of the draft come around, you aren’t left with real-life back-up strikers who are unlikely to get regular game time.
Given the dominance of midfielders among last season’s top FPL points-scorers and the fact that five of them are needed to fill our squads, locking in a couple of solid early picks in that position is also advised.
The addition of defensive contribution points in Fantasy this season will help the likes of centre-backs and some defensive midfielders to become more popular Fantasy options, meaning it might be easier to flesh out your squad’s defence and midfield in the later rounds of the draft.
Still, that doesn’t mean you should leave selecting defenders until the end, because you might miss out on some of the goalkeepers and top-tier defenders who are capable of keeping your points total ticking over week after week through their numerous avenues to FPL points.
An example of a prioritised draft strategy by position could be as follows:
- First-choice MID/FWD
- First-choice FWD/MID
- Second-choice FWD/MID
- Second-choice MID/FWD
- Third-choice MID
- First-choice DEF
- Fourth-choice MID
- Second-choice DEF
- Third-choice FWD
- Third-choice DEF
- First-choice GKP
- Fifth-choice MID
- Fourth-choice DEF
- Fifth-choice DEF
- Second-choice GKP
Which players should you snap up quickly?
Using all previous evidence as well as player point predictions for the season ahead, here's a list below of the possible 50 best FPL Draft picks - in order.
It takes into account a player’s likelihood of regular minutes, the effect of position changes and the projected impact of several Fantasy rule changes involving defensive contributions, assists and bonus points.
It is worth noting that you can set up a "Watchlist" before your scheduled draft, and select the players who you want to prioritise. During your draft, when your turn comes, if you don't select a player manually then the computer will automatically snap up the top player who is on your Watchlist and is still available.
So you could put these 50 players on your Watchlist in this order now!
- Mohamed Salah (Liverpool midfielder)
- Cole Palmer (Chelsea midfielder)
- Erling Haaland (Man City forward)
- Bukayo Saka (Arsenal midfielder)
- Alexander Isak (Newcastle forward)
- Ollie Watkins (Aston Villa forward)
- Viktor Gyokeres (Arsenal forward)
- Bryan Mbeumo (Man Utd midfielder)
- Bruno Fernandes (Man Utd midfielder)
- Florian Wirtz (Liverpool midfielder)
- Hugo Ekitike (Liverpool forward)
- Matheus Cunha (Man Utd midfielder)
- Eberechi Eze (Crystal Palace midfielder)
- Jarrod Bowen (West Ham forward)
- Evanilson (Bournemouth forward)
- Yoane Wissa (Brentford forward)
- Josko Gvardiol (Man City defender)
- Dominic Solanke (Spurs forward)
- Virgil van Dijk (Liverpool defender)
- Gabriel (Arsenal defender)
- Morgan Rogers (Aston Villa midfielder)
- Martin Odegaard (Arsenal midfielder)
- Morgan Gibbs-White (Nott'm Forest midfielder)
- Jean-Philippe Mateta (Crystal Palace forward)
- Chris Wood (Nott'm Forest forward)
- Jordan Pickford (Everton goalkeeper)
- Mohammed Kudus (Spurs midfielder)
- Nikola Milenkovic (Nott'm Forest defender)
- Jeremie Frimpong (Liverpool defender)
- William Saliba (Arsenal defender)
- Murillo (Nott'm Forest defender)
- Phil Foden (Man City midfielder)
- Iliman Ndiaye (Everton midfielder)
- Justin Kluivert (Bournemouth midfielder)
- James Tarkowski (Everton defender)
- Antonee Robinson (Fulham defender)
- Amad (Man Utd midfielder)
- Kaoru Mitoma (Brighton midfielder)
- Youri Tielemans (Aston Villa midfielder)
- Maxence Lacroix (Crystal Palace defender)
- Joao Pedro (Chelsea forward)
- Declan Rice (Arsenal midfielder)
- Alisson Becker (Liverpool goalkeeper)
- Anthony Gordon (Newcastle midfielder)
- David Raya (Arsenal goalkeeper)
- Marc Cucurella (Chelsea defender)
- Enzo Fernandez (Chelsea midfielder)
- Aaron Wan-Bissaka (West Ham defender)
- Matz Sels (Nott'm Forest goalkeeper)
- Nathan Collins (Brentford defender)