FPL Lessons from Real Football Managers: Pep and Arteta

The 2025/26 Premier League season starts on the 15th of August. The new season kicks off with Liverpool hosting Bournemouth. Many football fans who have had to endure summer months without seeing their favourite players in action cannot wait for the season to begin.

For FPL managers and fans who place sports bets, this is when the real planning begins. Some UK punters, especially those who have signed up for Gamstop, the self-exclusion scheme, after last season, will be looking to wager online without Gamstop restrictions. These offshore betting platforms are known to offer much more flexibility compared to UK-licensed sportsbooks. 

The best time to plan is just before the season starts. This is when you figure out what the winning strategy will be. If you’re going to finish with a higher rank than you did last season, you need to start monitoring the transfer window and tracking what players are coming in or going out.

Ultimately, you should draw inspiration from some of the best tactical minds in the Premier League. The decisions made by real football managers affect FPL managers and a good way to improve your strategy going into the new season is to study these managers and add insights from their tactics, decision-making and selection process. 

Why Arteta and Guardiola Are the Perfect Blueprints for FPL Managers

If you are looking for inspiration from real-world managers to give you an edge in FPL, look no further than Mikel Arteta and Pep Guardiola, who are arguably some of the sharpest tactical minds in the Premier League. These two aren’t just elite-level managers because of the results from games; they are strategists who take every game like a chess match and are trying to outsmart their opponent, which is a trait that is common among FPL managers.

What FPL Managers Can Learn From Pep Guardiola

Pep Guardiola has been regarded as one of the best managers in the Premier League, and he is very famous for his unpredictability. Every season, FPL managers have to deal with the ‘Pep Roulette’ where he can bench his most in-form player, causing weeks of planning and strategic transfers to go to waste. Usually, Pep does this for a reason, either to rest players ahead of tougher fixtures, European clashes, or to take advantage of a run of fixtures against ‘lesser teams’.

While these reasons are most times best known to Guardiola, many FPL managers detest the Pep roulette. However, you can learn from it going into the new season. By studying Manchester City’s fixtures before buying any City players, you can give yourself an advantage. You can also study the fixture difficulty ratio ahead of time before making any purchase, and use it to predict what players Pep may possibly rest ahead of certain fixtures. 

Another thing you can learn from Pep Roulette is Manchester City’s squad depth. By adding the likes of Ait-Nouri, Rayan Cherki and Tijjani Reinjders to the squad, Pep has a very robust roster that allows him to comfortably rotate any player. For FPL managers, this means building a squad full of essentials and not star players. Avoid building a team filled with some of the biggest Premier League stars; instead, build a team that has players who are sure to start. Choose key players from mid-table teams that are sure to rack up points, and a couple of important players that are must-haves.

FPL Lessons To Learn From Mikel Arteta

Arteta, although Guardiola’s former right-hand man, has a different approach to management. Arteta focuses mostly on structure, player development and patience. He barely rotates his players and backs players during dry spells, but also knows when to ease a player out of the starting eleven and back an in-form player.

For FPL managers, this is a difficult skill to master. Most times, you buy a player who you expect to perform over a couple of games or sometimes immediately, but they don’t hit the ground running. FPL managers usually follow the bandwagon to transfer these players out immediately without giving them a second chance. Just like Arteta, FPL managers should allow players longer spells before deciding to transfer them out. Give them the benefit of the doubt, see it for 1-2 extra weeks before transferring them out. 

You can also build your team around a few core players, players that you won’t transfer unless it warrants a big change. Set your team around an expected formation like the 3-5-2, 4-3-3 or 4-5-1 and build your strategies around these formations. Just like Arteta, while sticking to the formation, be open to flexibility, and be willing to change things up when needed.

Both managers sometimes rely on young players or take advantage of purple patches, which is something FPL managers can capitalise on. During the 2024/25 season, Arteta relied heavily on Mikel Merino when he had a purple patch and was scoring goals to help Arsenal secure necessary victories. Guardiola did something similar with Nico O’Reilly and Omar Marmoush. You can learn from this and jump on a trend, but remember not to jump too early or join really late. 

FPL is a nuanced game. There’s no single strategy to win, just like with coaching in the real world. You have to be flexible, be open-minded and also remember to trust your guts when it matters.