Fantasy Premier League

FPL experts: Is 3-4-3 now the best formation?

31 Oct 2023
Julian Alvarez- Evan Ferguson

The Scout's panel of experts discuss whether it's time to play with three up front in Fantasy

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The Scout's panel of Fantasy Premier League experts share their thoughts on whether a 3-4-3 formation is becoming more appealing than 3-5-2, given the number of in-form forwards.

See: The Scout compares the best forwards

What the FPL experts say
Lee Bonfield (@FPLFamily)

Suddenly there are options aplenty in our FPL forward lines. With the likes of Callum Wilson (£7.8m), Darwin Nunez (£7.5m) and Julian Alvarez (£7.2m) it could well be time to switch to 3-4-3, especially as there are some good budget enablers in the midfield too, such as Chelsea's Cole Palmer (£5.0m).

Pras (@Pras_FPL)

When I Wildcarded last week, this was a real dilemma for me. For example, having Jarrod Bowen (£7.4m) and Cameron Archer (£4.5m) costs about the same as having Kaoru Mitoma (£6.5m) and Eddie Nketiah (£5.5m), or Palmer and Nunez.

With the emergence of cheap players like Palmer or even Simon Adingra (£5.0m) there is a real case for having eight strong attackers and rotating the seventh/eighth depending on fixtures. In this strategy, the sacrifice would be the mid-priced midfielders like Bowen.

Sam Bonfield (@FPLFamily)

It's a tough call between 3-4-3 and 3-5-2 at the moment. As midfielders have the additional benefit of clean-sheet points as well as extra points for goals, I tend to want to play five midfielders wherever possible.

But having only two forwards, plus Archer on the bench, does feel like I'm missing out on the wealth of options in that third forward slot such as Nunez, Alvarez, Evan Ferguson (£6.0m) and even Dominic Calvert-Lewin (£5.8m) now he is fit. 

Ben Crabtree (@FC_CrabDogg)

There's no correct formation at the moment. It's easy to get five great midfielders with good fixtures and it's also good to have a front three featuring the likes of Erling Haaland (£14.0m), Ollie Watkins (£8.4m), Alvarez, Wilson and Nunez.

Calvert-Lewin and Ferguson are also coming into contention. Right now, though, I wouldn't waste transfers switching formation.

Nick Harris (@WGTA_Nick)

At the moment I have three forwards, but I don't necessarily think this is the optimum strategy or formation in future. There are plenty more options in midfield compared to the forward line, where there are perhaps only five or so genuine options. As such I don't see a huge case for the 3-4-3 right now.

Gianni Buttice (@GianniButtice)

I still think a midfield five is the way to go with an outstanding list of midfield enablers. But we shouldn't worry too much about formations. After all, two transfers are all it takes to move from a 3-5-2 to a 3-4-3.

Harry Daniels (@FPL_Harry)

I think 3-5-2 is still the best formation. For me there are no forwards under the £7.2m price of Alvarez that I would look to own. Stretching to three forwards including Haaland makes my squad too unbalanced. But if I could, I would own Haaland, Watkins and Nunez.

Mark McGettigan (@FPLGeneral

There's a chance I Wildcard this week, and if I do, it's going to be a tough decision between 3-5-2 and 3-4-3. 

Haaland, Watkins and Alvarez have served me well, but I favour a 3-5-2 with an extra midfielder at the moment. Picks like Palmer and Bryan Mbeumo (£6.6m) are very attractive.

View all the latest FPL tips ahead of Gameweek 11 in Fantasy Premier League 

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