FPL Run-In 2025/26: The Complete Strategy Guide for the Final 5 Gameweeks

Under the current FPL rules you started the season with two of each chip — Wildcard, Free Hit, Bench Boost, and Triple Captain — with one set locked to the second half of the season. That means everyone still has at least one Wildcard, one Free Hit, one Bench Boost, and one Triple Captain available for the run-in. Any leftover first-half chips are a bonus.

If you still have chips unused, you're in a far stronger position than managers who played them early. If you've already used them — don't panic. Clean transfer decisions and a strong captain can still get you moving in the right direction.

Translation: the end of the season is the chip sweet spot. Doubles and blanks almost always appear in the final 5-6 gameweeks as rescheduled fixtures catch up. That's why holding chips is rewarded — but it's also why managers who hoard for too long can end up watching a Double Gameweek 35 window close with chips unplayed.

Fixture swings are the single biggest points lever in the run-in. Before every transfer, ask yourself three questions:

1. Which teams have the best run of fixtures for the remainder of the season?
2. Which teams have a Double Gameweek coming up — and when?
3. Which teams blank at any point — and do you need to get players out before then?

The answers to those three questions will tell you who your next transfer target is, who to captain, and when to play each chip. Don't skip this step — it's more important than form, more important than underlying numbers, and more important than price.

Our tool ranks every player by predicted points over the next 4 gameweeks exactly for this reason — it factors in fixture difficulty so you're never buying a player whose best weeks are behind him. If you'd rather do it manually, the official FDR (Fixture Difficulty Rating) on the FPL site is a decent free proxy.

Mini-league FPL is a completely different game to overall rank FPL. You are not trying to beat 11 million managers — you are trying to beat the specific people in your league. That changes everything.

If you're leading your mini-league

Play the field. Copy the rest of the top of your league, not the global template. If the three managers chasing you all own Player X, you almost certainly need to own Player X too — otherwise his big gameweek will cost you the title. Differentials are your enemy when you're ahead. Use the "Compare" function inside FPL to study the squads of your rivals and copy anything you don't have.

Your chip timing should match theirs. If your rivals are holding a Triple Captain for Double Gameweek 37, play it the same week — the only way they can catch you is if their chip scores massively more than yours, so neutralise the threat by playing at the same time.

If you're chasing the leader

Do the opposite. Differentials are your friend. You need something to go right that didn't go right for the managers ahead of you — and that only happens if your squad looks different to theirs.

Target players outside the template-top-10 that have a favourable run. Consider captaining a differential in a double gameweek rather than the obvious pick. If your rivals have used their chips, save yours and use them aggressively in the final two gameweeks — that's your last chance to make up ground.

Top 1M is the most underrated FPL achievement. Around 11 million people play the game globally, and finishing in the top 1M means you're comfortably in the top ~10% of managers worldwide. The strategy to get there is simpler than most people think: don't do anything silly.

In other words — safe, template FPL wins here. You don't need bold differentials. You don't need perfect chip timing. You just need to avoid the three big mistakes that tank most managers in the run-in:

1. Playing injured or doubtful players. Every week someone starts a zero because they didn't check the team news. Set a reminder for 60 minutes before every deadline and recheck your lineup. A single zero from a captain can cost 30+ rank points.
2. Hitting for the sake of hitting. A -4 transfer hit in the run-in needs to gain you at least 5-6 points to be worth it. If you're uncertain, roll the transfer. Hits compound — three -4s in the last five gameweeks is a 12-point anchor on your score.
3. Holding chips past their expiry. Chips are worth zero points if they end the season in your deck. Play them even if the window isn't perfect. A slightly-early Bench Boost in a non-double still nets you ~6-10 points from your bench. An unplayed Triple Captain nets you zero.

Captaincy should stay on the popular picks. If 40% of the top 10K are captaining the same player, there's a reason — and going against that wave without a strong reason costs more ranks than it gains.

Top 100K is where FPL gets properly competitive. You're in the top ~1% of managers, which means to keep climbing you need a mix of template discipline and the occasional calculated gamble.

The rule of thumb for a top 100K push in the final five gameweeks:

• 80% of your squad should be template. You cannot gap-close against 100K managers while owning a squad full of differentials — they'll all score the same template points and you'll bleed rank.
• Two carefully chosen differentials. Players owned by 5-15% of managers with a strong fixture run can turn a good gameweek into a great one without much risk if the pick is sensible.
• Perfect chip order. In most seasons the ideal order is: Free Hit in a Blank Gameweek, Bench Boost in a Double Gameweek with all 15 players starting, Triple Captain in a Double with a premium on a banker fixture.

If you're coming into the run-in with a broken squad — too many injured, banned, or benched players — the Wildcard is your lifeline. Don't be afraid to play it in the final 5 gameweeks. A clean rebuild for a favourable run of fixtures can add 50-80 points to your total, easily worth the chip.

Top 10K is elite territory — the best 0.1% of managers on the planet. Climbing into it in the final 5 gameweeks is difficult but not impossible, and thousands of managers do it every season thanks to a well-timed chip or a brilliantly chosen differential captain.

The strategic formula is the inverse of top 1M advice. Here, being boring is the enemy. The top 10K is already full of managers owning the best template players — to out-score them you need something they don't have.

What top 10K managers do differently

• They punish Double Gameweeks aggressively. If a premium attacker has two home fixtures vs bottom-six opposition, the elite are captaining him — often triple-captaining him. Don't be the one who captained the single-fixture pick out of fear.
• They own 2-3 genuine differentials. A 3-8% owned player with a dream run can be worth 30-50 points over the run-in versus a template replacement. Find one in each of midfield and forward.
• They take fixture-based hits. Elite managers will happily take a -4 to move a player with one bad fixture for a player with a three-fixture dream run. They're not reckless — they're calculating that the gain over multiple gameweeks beats the single-week hit.
• They bank chips for the best window. Top 10K managers rarely play chips in single gameweeks unless forced. They wait for the Double or Blank that gives maximum uplift and play there.

Rather than give you a list of specific players that might be injured or rotated by the time you read this, here are the filters to build your own watchlist — the same filters our tool uses every gameweek:

Every run-in decision should map to a specific goal. If your goal is the mini-league, you play the mini-league. If it's the top 10K, you take calculated risks. If it's the top 1M, you play the template and avoid mistakes. The worst thing you can do in the final five gameweeks is play every scenario at once — that's how managers in contention for a mini-league title end up blowing it on a bold differential they didn't need, or how 200K-ranked managers miss the top 100K by playing too safe.

Pick your goal. Play for that goal. Everything else is noise.