FPL 2025-26: Best strategies to structure your squad

Building a 15-man Bench Boost squad in gameweek one is sensible for several reasons.

First, this is the only time you can effectively play a Wildcard and Bench Boost in the same gameweek. If one of the players in your team is injured a few hours before Friday’s deadline simply replace them and start the 15 you think have the best chance of playing.

Second, getting this chip out of the way means in the future an injury to your fifth defender or third striker isn’t something to worry about – they can be left on the bench. If planning a later Bench Boost, more transfers will be used to “fix the bench”. In my experience it becomes a major headache.

Third, early in the season there are fewer midweek games. Once European football and international breaks come round so does squad rotation, making it harder to find 15 starters in the same week.

Finally, it could help you get off to a good start, propelling you up the early rankings.

One negative is that we don’t really know how teams fully set up with new signings or managers, so some uncertainty remains.