FPL: The big mistakes to avoid in fantasy football during an international break
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We sit on the FPL website, looking longingly at our teams, knowing that there’s still a couple of weeks before we get the dopamine hit of a player’s attacking returns popping up on our screen.
While the international break can be a slow burner for us fantasy football enthusiasts, it can be tempting to tinker with our teams, fiddle with formations and sometimes even make season-ruining decisions.
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Hide AdDon’t be the person who screws up their entire team during an international break, subjecting themselves to ridicule from their mini-league rivals. Here are the key mistakes to avoid making in FPL this week - and one thing you could consider doing instead.


Avoid early transfers
We’ve all done it at one time or another. We see a player score a brace before an international break, or like the look of a club’s upcoming fixtures, we wobble and kneejerk a transfer before the international break has even begun.
Then we watch on as out new signing gets picked for his national team, steps out onto the pitch and pulls his hamstring. Bang - just like that, we’ve got an injury on our hands.
The real kicker would be to sell your newly-injured star, only for his replacement to also pick up an injury while on international duty. You might be able to save up five transfers this season, but realistically someone who does dumb s*** like this is always going to be taking hits for transfers.
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Hide AdSteady those knees, wait and see who plays and how they perform, and hold off on any new signings until we’re closer to the deadline.
Ignore player withdrawls - for now
England players are particularly guilty of this, but other Premier League stars have started pulling this stunt too. “Player X withdraws from national team due to injury” is a headline you read far too often during an international break - and most of the time, it’s nonsense.
Sure, players like Bukayo Saka and Cole Palmer have genuine injuries that have sidelined them... but stars like Bryan Mbeumo and Antoine Semenyo have pulled out of their national teams either with minor injuries, or faking it to preserve their fitness. As a Bournemouth fan, I appreciate Semenyo prioritising our season, but if I was from Ghana I’d be absolutely furious.
But my point here is that we have no idea who has a genuine injury, and who is just scared of getting hurt while on international duty. There is absolutely no point diving into who’s been injured and how long they might be out for, because by this time next week it could have all changed.
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Hide AdManagers will be giving press conferences before the next Premier League matches, and when they do we will get the updates we need on players’ fitness.
Don’t think about your rivals
Remember, you’re the one reading this article - not your mate you see down the pub every Friday night. So if he sidles up to you, pint in hand, and says: “I’ve brought Haaland back in, he scored and assisted against Solvenia,” just nod and tell him that’s a fair move.
Don’t then go home and try to shoehorn Haaland back into your team if you’ve transferred him out; your mate has made his bed, and he’s gone against our first rule of avoiding early transfers. It may come back to bite him...


But by the same token, don’t spend the international break looking at your mini-league rivals’ teams, making yourself stir-crazy while you plot the various differentials you could sign to overtake them. Stick to your game, your transfer plan and don’t get caught up in their schemes.
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Hide AdForgetting about your wildcard
Many players (myself included) have already used their first wildcard of the season - and we won’t get our second one until gameweek 20. But if you haven’t used it already, the end of an international break could be the perfect time to use it.
Being able to make as many transfers as you like, without a points deduction, could really get you out of a pinch if you’ve got five or more players out injured. It also means you can disregard basically everything I’ve written above and tinker to your heart’s content right up to the deadline.
If you still have your wildcard, consider that this could be the perfect time to play it, bring in some differentials and really climb the ranks.
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