Help Centre

Everything you need to get the most from FPL Touchline

Getting Started

Linking Your FPL Team

Connect your Fantasy Premier League account by entering your Manager ID. This lets FPL Touchline pull your squad, transfers, chips, and league data automatically.

Find your Manager ID by going to the FPL website or app, navigating to your team page, and looking at the URL — the number after /entry/ is your Manager ID (e.g. fantasy.premierleague.com/entry/1898250). You can track up to 1 team on Free/Standard, or 3 on Premium.

Where do I find my Manager ID?

On the FPL website, go to your Points page. The number in the URL after /entry/ is your Manager ID. For example, if your URL is fantasy.premierleague.com/entry/1898250, your Manager ID is 1898250.

How often does my data sync?

Player and fixture data syncs daily at 6am. Your team, picks, and league standings sync daily at 8pm — after most gameweek deadlines.

My team isn't showing after linking

Data syncs run on a schedule. If you've just linked, your team will appear after the next sync (within 24 hours). You can also hit the Refresh button on the Team page to trigger an immediate sync.

Your First 5 Minutes

Not sure where to start? Here's the quickest path to value: check your dashboard for deadline alerts and captain recommendations, then ask the AI chat for transfer advice.

The three things to check before every deadline: (1) the captain recommendation card on your dashboard, (2) any squad alerts for injuries or suspensions, and (3) the transfer suggestions if you have free transfers available. Don't worry about analytics or advanced features yet — start with the basics.

What should I do first?

Link your FPL team, then check the Dashboard. The GW Hub cards give you captain picks, transfer suggestions, chip advice, and squad alerts — everything you need before the deadline.

Do I need to understand xG and xA to use the app?

No! The Touchline Rating combines all the complex stats into a single 0-10 score. Use TR as your starting point. Dive into individual stats only when you want to understand WHY a player scored high or low.

How Credits Work

Each AI chat message costs credits based on the complexity of the question. You get a monthly allowance that resets on the 1st of each month. Think of credits like mobile data — you get a monthly allocation.

Free plan: 150 credits/month. Standard: 2,000. Premium: 5,000. Admin accounts have unlimited credits. A simple question costs 1-5 credits, a deep analysis 10-30 credits. You'll see your credit balance in the chat interface and a warning when you're running low.

What happens when I run out of credits?

You'll see a warning banner before your last few credits. When they're exhausted, you can still browse all non-AI features (dashboard, fixtures, players, analytics). Your credits reset automatically on the 1st of each month.

Can I buy more credits mid-month?

The fastest way to get more credits is to upgrade your plan. Standard gives you 2,000/month and Premium gives you 5,000/month.

How many credits does a question cost?

Simple questions (Quick Advice) typically cost 5-15 credits. Complex analysis (Deep Analysis) costs 15-75 credits. You can see the exact credit cost after each message.

Features

Dashboard & GW Hub

Your home screen shows everything you need before the deadline: countdown timer, captain recommendation with confidence bar, transfer suggestions, chip advice, and squad alerts for injuries or suspensions.

What does the captain confidence bar mean?

It shows how confident the app is in its captain pick based on form, fixture difficulty, xPts, and historical record. Higher confidence = safer pick.

Why does my dashboard show a different gameweek than the FPL app?

Touchline shows the 'actionable' gameweek — the one you can still plan for. If the current GW deadline has passed, it jumps ahead to the next one.

AI Chat & Personas

Ask FPL Touchline anything about your team. The AI sees your actual squad, player stats, fixtures, injuries, and league standings — every answer is personalised to your situation.

Choose from 5 AI personas to change the style of advice: Fixture Trader (FDR-driven planner), Stats Nerd (data-heavy analysis), Rank Climber (differential captain picks), Chip Strategist (plans around chip deployment), and Differential Hunter (low-ownership gems). Default is Fixture Trader — a good all-rounder.

Which persona should I pick?

Start with Fixture Trader (default) — it gives balanced advice. Switch to Stats Nerd for detailed numbers, Rank Climber when chasing a mini-league rival, Chip Strategist when deciding on chip timing, or Differential Hunter for bold picks.

Does the AI know about my actual team?

Yes! Every response is built from your real squad data, upcoming fixtures, injury news, and league standings. It's not giving generic advice.

What are good questions to ask?

Be specific: 'Should I captain Salah or Palmer in GW30?' works better than 'Who should I captain?'. Try: captaincy picks, transfer targets, chip timing, player comparisons, and rival strategy.

What is Deep Analysis vs Quick Advice?

Quick Advice uses a faster AI model for simple questions (costs fewer credits). Deep Analysis uses a more powerful model for complex queries like squad building, multi-week planning, or chip strategy.

Transfer Planning

The Plan page is your transfer workbench. On desktop it's a split view: interactive pitch on the left, AI chat on the right. On mobile, switch between 'My Plan' and 'Chat' tabs.

Click any player on the pitch to see options: Replace (opens a filtered player picker), Swap (rearrange starting XI and bench), Captain, or Vice Captain. The transfer summary tracks your planned moves and point hit cost. Save up to 3 draft plans to compare strategies.

How do I plan a transfer?

Click a player on the pitch → tap 'Replace' → search for a replacement filtered by position and budget. The transfer appears in the summary below the pitch with the hit cost calculated.

What does the 'Suggest Transfers' button do?

It sends your current squad to the AI with a pre-built prompt asking for transfer recommendations. The AI analyses your squad in context of upcoming fixtures and suggests specific IN/OUT swaps.

How does swap mode work?

Click a player → tap 'Swap' → valid swap targets are highlighted, invalid ones dimmed. Click a valid target to swap their positions. The formation must remain valid (min 3 DEF, 2 MID, 1 FWD).

What's the points toggle on the pitch?

Three modes: Total (season points), GW (last gameweek scored), and xPts (expected points for next fixture). xPts helps you decide who to start vs bench.

Fixtures & Matchup Intel

Browse fixtures by gameweek with FDR colour coding and team momentum scores. Click any fixture to expand it and reveal head-to-head history, fixture specialists, key players, and an 'Ask AI' button.

The expanded view shows: team momentum comparison (last 6 results), historical H2H at that ground (30+ years of data), fixture specialists (players with the best FPL record against this specific opponent), and season stats for key players from both teams.

What do the coloured badges mean?

Green (FDR 1-2) = easy fixture, grey (FDR 3) = medium, orange (FDR 4) = tough, red (FDR 5) = very tough. The momentum badge (0-100) shows recent team form.

What is a 'bogey' fixture?

A fixture where the away team historically wins very rarely at that ground (under 15% win rate across 8+ visits). Example: Spurs have won just 2 of 32 visits to Anfield.

What are Fixture Specialists?

Players who have the best historical FPL points record against a specific opponent. Based on 9 seasons of data. Only shows players still at the club with 2+ previous meetings.

Player Explorer

A searchable, sortable table of all Premier League players. Filter by position or team, sort by any column including Touchline Rating, xPts, form, or team momentum. Click any row for a detailed breakdown.

What is Touchline Rating (TR)?

A custom 0-10 score combining five factors: overperformance (goals/assists vs xG/xA), form trajectory, fixture difficulty outlook, minutes consistency, and bonus attraction. Higher = better FPL pick right now.

What is xPts?

Expected Points for the next fixture. Calculated from xG, xA, fixture difficulty, home/away status, and minutes probability. Helps you decide between two similar players.

What does the Momentum column show?

Your player's team momentum score (0-100) based on their last 6 results. Helps spot players on in-form teams vs struggling ones.

Mini-League Rivals

View your mini-league standings with rank movement arrows. Use the head-to-head rival comparison to see shared players, differentials, captain choices, and chips used — then ask the AI how to close the gap.

How does rival comparison work?

Select a rival from your league standings. The comparison shows: shared players, your differentials (players they don't have), their differentials, captain history, and chip usage. The 'How Do I Beat Them?' button sends this context to the AI.

What's the rival card on the dashboard?

It shows the closest rival above you in your top league — their points gap, rank difference, and differentials. You can choose which league it tracks.

Analytics Dashboard

Six widgets for deeper analysis: Player Tracker (season line charts), Expectation Index (over/underperformers scatter plot), Gameweek Performance (points vs average + rank overlay), Fixture Heatmap (squad FDR grid), Squad Momentum (team form breakdown), and Squad vs Opponent (historical record against next opponents).

What does the Fixture Heatmap show?

A grid of your squad's next 6 fixtures with FDR colour coding and opponent momentum labels (Strong/Steady/Weak). Helps you plan transfers and bench decisions weeks ahead.

What is the Expectation Index?

A scatter plot showing each player's actual points vs expected output. Players above the line are overperforming (could regress), below are underperforming (could improve).

What does Squad vs Opponent show?

Your starting XI's historical FPL record against their next gameweek opponent — average points, appearances, goals/assists, and return rate based on up to 9 seasons of data.

Team Momentum & Stats

The public Stats page ranks all 20 Premier League teams by momentum (0-100 score based on last 6 results). Click any team for a deep dive: momentum breakdown, home/away record, last 10 results, and bogey grounds across 30+ years of PL history.

How is momentum calculated?

Five weighted components: results form (40%), goal scoring (15%), defensive solidity (20%), clean sheets (15%), and goal difference trend (10%). Based on the team's last 6 completed matches.

What does 'Surging' / 'Wobbling' mean?

Labels for momentum score ranges: 80-100 Surging, 65-79 Strong, 45-64 Steady, 30-44 Wobbling, 0-29 Struggling.

News & Notifications

The news feed aggregates articles from BBC Sport, The Guardian, Sky Sports, ESPN, and Football365 — refreshed daily with 7-day retention. Tap any article to read in-app with an optional AI summary. The notification bell alerts you to price changes, injuries, and upcoming deadlines.

How do AI summaries work?

Tap 'Summarise' on any article to get a quick AI-generated summary highlighting the FPL-relevant information. Summaries are cached so they only cost credits the first time.

What notifications will I get?

Three types: price changes (rises/falls for players you own), injury/suspension updates, and deadline reminders (within 24 hours of a deadline). Check the bell icon in the top navbar.

Reference

Data & Sync Schedule

FPL Touchline syncs data from the FPL API on a daily schedule. Understanding when data updates helps you trust the numbers you see.

Daily at 6:00 AM: player stats, team data, fixtures, and news articles. Daily at 8:00 PM: your team picks, transfer history, chip usage, and league standings. The 8pm sync runs after most gameweek deadlines, so your latest picks are captured. Historical data (momentum, H2H records) updates automatically when new match results come in.

Why are my latest transfers not showing?

Team data syncs at 8pm daily. If you made transfers after the last sync, they'll appear after the next one. You can also use the Refresh button on the Team page.

Is the injury data real-time?

Injury flags update at 6am daily from the FPL API. For breaking news during the day, check the News feed which aggregates from 5 sources.