Whether you're an experienced Fantasy Premier League manager or someone taking part for the first time this season, here is a list of words commonly used when playing the game.
Asset - A Premier League player.
Bandwagon - A low-owned player who many managers suddenly want to bring into their team because they're registering lots of points.
Bench Boost - An FPL chip where the benched players' scores are added to the Gameweek total for one Gameweek only. FPL managers tend to play this in a Double Gameweek, although in 2025/26, managers are given a Bench Boost chip to use in each half of the season.
Bench fodder - A member of your squad typically costing little money, such as a £4.0m goalkeeper or £4.0m defender, who you intend to rarely or never use in your starting 11. Their inclusion instead helps facilitate the addition of other more desirable, more expensive players.
Blank Gameweek (BGW) - A Gameweek containing fewer than the normal 10 matches. A Blank Gameweek team is a team that does not have a fixture that week.
Blanked - When a player fails to return more than the two FPL points for starting and playing 60 minutes, they are deemed to have “blanked”.
Burner slot - A position in an FPL squad which is sacrificed to allow FPL managers to spend more budget on other assets. These players are ones who are the cheapest available in the position and are unlikely to play any minutes, for example, a £4.5m forward.
Burning a transfer - When managers have five free transfers and fail to use one of them, they are deemed to have "burned a transfer" because that transfer is now lost and cannot be used.
Bus team - Shortly after an FPL deadline passes, this is the team you set up for the following Gameweek without making any transfers.
Chips - One Gameweek only aids that managers can use to boost their team's performance or make wholesale changes. There are four of these - Wildcard, Free Hit, Triple Captain and Bench Boost - and managers get to deploy each chip twice over the course of the season. The first batch of four chips have to be used before the Gameweek 19 deadline, with the second set available thereafter for the remainder of the campaign.
Dead-ending - Managers often “dead-end” their teams in the run-up to a Wildcard. This means targeting players with good short-term fixtures but who you would not want to own long term, likely because they have a Blank Gameweek on the horizon or a bad run of fixtures, who are then immediately sold on Wildcard.
Dead teams - A team which has not made a transfer or been altered over a number of Gameweeks.
Defensive contribution points - These are new to FPL in 2025/26 and reward outfielders for their defensive efforts. Any defender who reaches an accumulative total of 10 or more clearances, blocks, interceptions and tackles (CBITs) in a single match will earn two points. Any midfielder or forward who reaches an accumulative total of 12 or more clearances, blocks, interceptions, recoveries and tackles (CBIRTs) will earn two points.
Differential - A player with low ownership, under 10 per cent, who will make an FPL manager’s team different from others. This player should have points-scoring potential to give their owners a rank boost that relatively few other managers will benefit from.
Double Gameweek - A Gameweek where there are more than 10 fixtures. Teams will have a Double Gameweek if they have two fixtures to play in one Gameweek.
Effective ownership - Effective Ownership or EO is the percentage of teams that are starting a player, plus the amount who captained him. Players with a high Effective Ownership will hurt your overall rank, if they return and you don’t own them. Players with a low effective ownership will have a positive impact on your rank if you own them and they register lots of points.
Enabler - A good budget enabler is a player who is cheap and allows managers to invest more heavily in other areas of their squad.
Essential - The FPL community describes a player as essential if they are regularly registering points and managers believe they should be in all FPL teams.
Eye test - Watching matches to make a decision on whether to add a player to your squad. Players who perform well when watched are deemed to have passed the eye test.
Free Hit - An FPL chip where managers can make as many changes to their team as they want, however at the end of that Gameweek their team reverts back to the players they had prior to deploying the chip. Most managers tend to play this in a Blank or Double Gameweek, although in 2025/26, managers are given a Free Hit chip to use in each half of the season.
FDR rating - The Fixture Difficulty Rating is a number given to how difficult the Premier League fixture is. FPL managers will use the FDR to make transfer plans and target favourable runs of fixtures.
Heavy-hitters - The most expensive assets in the game (aka a synonym for "premium").
Hit - A manager will take a hit when they lose four points to make an additional transfer.
ICT Index - The ICT Index stands for Influence, Creativity and Threat. The players are ranked based on the underlying stats for how well they compare to other players in the same position.
Locked in - A player who FPL managers are certain to have in their FPL teams.
Out of position - A player who is classified in one position in FPL but is playing in another for their Premier League team. An out of position defender is fantastic for FPL managers, as they return clean sheet points, but also have an increased likelihood of attacking returns, for example.
Premium - An expensive FPL asset.
Rank killer - A player who an FPL manager does not own, but who is highly-owned in the game and returns lots of FPL points is known as a rank killer, as they allow other managers to gain points with a player they do not have.
Return - When a player registers a goal, assist, clean sheet or a bonus point, they are deemed to have earned a "return".
Rolling a transfer - Managers roll a transfer that they do not use in a Gameweek. This means that they will have two transfers to use the following Gameweek. FPL managers can only roll one transfer each week, although you can never have more than five free transfers available to use.
Rotating goalkeepers - A pair of, usually cheap, goalkeepers who FPL managers rotate based on fixtures.
Rotation-proof - A player who is rotation-proof is someone who is almost guaranteed to be in the starting XI for their Premier League side each week.
Set and forget - A player who managers put into their FPL teams and never remove. This is a term usually used for goalkeepers, or for a player given the captain's armband every week.
Single Gameweek - A phrase used to describe a team or player who have just one fixture in a Gameweek where other teams and players have two.
Template - An FPL squad full of highly-owned players. Usually the template picks are the highest-scoring players from the season who FPL managers trust to register good points returns on a weekly basis.
Triple Captain - An FPL chip where managers can nominate a player to have their score tripled for one week. Managers are given two Triple Captains to use per season.
Upside chasing - Upside chasing is when you pick the option that has the highest ceiling, the best chance of scoring a big points haul. This style of FPL management means moving between the premium assets based on form and fixtures.
Underlying stats - This is the data that FPL managers base their decisions on. These can include goals, assists and clean sheets, as well as expected stats (xG, xA, xGI, xGA), number of shots and the ICT Index.
Unlimited transfers - A period of time defined by the game where there are unlimited transfers allowed, for example ahead of a new season.
Wildcard - An FPL chip where managers can make as many changes to their team as they want between two Gameweek deadlines. Managers are given two Wildcards to use per season.
xA - Expected Assists. A statistic that measures the number of standard assists that a player was expected to have returned in a match. It highlights the players who pass into dangerous areas, assigning a value both to the passes that result in a shot and those that don't. This is used by managers to pick out FPL assets who are likely to register assists. Note that xA does not take into account the actions leading to Fantasy assists, such as winning a penalty or deflected passes.
xG - Expected Goals. A statistic that measures the quality of the goalscoring opportunities presented to a player, based on how often similar chances result in a goal. A higher xG value helps managers identify which players are getting into good goalscoring positions.
xGA - Expected Goals Against. This is the number of goals that a defence was expected to concede in a match. This is used by managers to pick defenders who are likely to keep a clean sheet and therefore get FPL points. Players and teams with a low xGA have been limiting the quality of their opponents' chances in front of goal.
xGI - Expected Goal Involvement. A statistic that measures both the number of goals and standard assists that a team or player were expected to return in a Gameweek. This is used by managers to target players and/or teams who are most likely to register an attacking return (a goal or an assist). Players with a high xGI are likely to be a good investment for FPL managers, as the underlying data suggests a high level of both expected goals and expected assists.