Palace's FPL winner reveals secrets to success

With the Fantasy Premier League going down to the wire and Lawrence on course for one of the highest finishes in the country, everything had to go his way.

“I went to Palace against West Ham,” Lawrence remembers. “I had played my free hit, and my team now had [Ebere] Eze, [Michael] Olise and [Daniel] Muñoz in it – I wish I had [Jean-Philippe Mateta].

“It was a great day and amazing to watch it, and at that point I was doing fairly well. The FPL team was flying at that point!”

This week saw the launch of the 2024/25 Fantasy Premier League game – and with it, all of Palace's FPL prices for the new campaign.

Indeed, millions of players try their luck at Fantasy Premier League each season. Last year, Lawrence finished in the top 20. It made more than a decade of weekly umming and ahhing worthwhile.

“It means a lot now,” he says. “At the start it was very much a bit of fun, not serious, no research, making my own choices.

“But as I entered more and more mini-leagues and as years went on, it started to become more of a hobby than fun.

“I've got two young children and it was just a great escape on a Saturday to think about my team, make my transfer and have an interest in all the Premier League matches taking place that day.

“The last five years I've taken it as seriously where I'm thinking about changes throughout the week, doing my research, making them ideally on Friday nights or Saturday morning and feeling the highs and lows of the weekend as with all of my FPL team.”

So how does he do it? There is more information out there than ever before, but all that does is improve your competition – so the real difference is a decision-making.

“I think the modern FPL player doesn't need to do too much research because there are so many opinions or professionals that give you those answers,” Lawrence explains.

“I do stand by that I make my own decision. I definitely don't take too many risks. The more experience I've got, the more I realise that essentially each week you're looking at odds and placing bets.

“There's never one clear decision. No matter what you read or follow, there's always a decision to make. I do try and always go with my gut or what I feel.”

There is one question every FPL player is begging to ask, however. How did he do it? A combination of luck, skill and daring.

“I've never finished inside the top 10,000 before. I've been close on a couple of occasions,” he says. “This is by far my highest finish and something I'm very unlikely to replicate again.

“When did I feel like I was in real short? I think Gameweek 29 was fairly critical, which is when they were only four fixtures and eight teams playing.

“I was already doing pretty well, but a majority of players in that Gameweek 29 played their free hit. I didn't.

“That game week, for the free hit, was a disaster, very low scoring. None of the players came in. And I ended up getting a very similar score without using my free hit.

“I then played my wildcard the week after, because my team was full of Brentford and Sheffield United players I didn't want, and it allowed me to get [Anthony] Gordon and [Alexander] Isak in early.

“When Newcastle [United] started hitting, I took [Mo] Salah at that point. It gave me a slightly different path to what the average player was doing.

“That really took me into the top 200 or 100 places at that point.”

Then came a favour from the boys in red and blue.

“It came to Gameweek 34, which was the next critical moment. I had my free hit to play.

“Gameweek 34 was when we played West Ham. I had the three Palace players: Eze, Olise and Muñoz. I wish I had Mateta…

“I thought I was really unlucky in that game not to come away with more. And then ever since Gameweek 34 went well, those final four weeks I was in the top 100.

“It just continued until that final game week.”

It all sounds so simple, but don’t lose heart – it is worth remembering that even the very best players can make bad calls. The question is how you recover.

“I benched [Phil] Foden when he got his hat-trick last season,” he remembers. “I had five great midfielders – I think it was [Bukayo] Saka, [Cole] Palmer, Richarlison and [Anthony] Gordon over Foden, and Foden got 20 points with a hat-trick, so that cost me!

“The other one would be Gameweek 38. Palace had the final fixture against Villa, and I was considering Eze or Olise, but I never really considered JP. I had three decent strikers.

“I regret that now. I didn't expect Villa to play their second-hand goalie, but they played [Robin] Olsen, not [Emi] Martinez. Palace were on fire at that point, and finished brilliantly, so that was a bit of a shame.

“That not only might have got me slightly higher than 20th, but obviously being a Palace fan would have been an incredible transfer... but I played it safe. That was an example where I shouldn't have done.”

Nonetheless, Lawrence finished the season in the top 20, out of millions of competitors. It’s a success that has required plenty of work, dedication and research, and it’s one that he has relished.

“It's amazing, because you put a lot of hard work in throughout the season,” he says. “To get such a good run, of every transfer paying off, every weekend fills you with a lot of pleasure and joy.

“It’s a great chance to take the mick out of your mates and have a laugh with it. Not to boast too much, but people start coming to you for advice.

“To finish 20th, I'm proud of it. A couple of people have said to get it on my CV! I'm not sure if I’ll do that.

“I don't think I'll ever do it again, but to have it on my record, I imagine I've been playing it for 15 years and will probably be playing it for the rest of my life.

“It's amazing to have it there.”

Although Lawrence says he will never finish in such a high position again, it won’t stop him plotting and planning throughout the summer.

That is the never-ending appeal of Fantasy Premier League: we keep coming back each season to see if we can create some more magic, no matter how highly the odds are stacked against us.

“Anything inside the top 10,000 is pretty remarkable,” he says. “I've always had that mentality to try and break in that top 10,000.

"So, for next year, for sure, 10,000 or above would be pretty special.”

Fancy giving it a go? Find out more about 2024/25 Fantasy Premier League here.