What is BPS in FPL? | Which players Benefit More from BPS?

Bonus points in Fantasy Premier League have been around for a long time now. Back when they were introduced, we’d have to wait hours after games to see the updated ‘bonus point’ scorers per game. Then, a few years ago, Fantasy Premier League (FPL) brought transparency into the process by revealing what metrics lead to points scored under the ‘Bonus Point System or BPS’. The top 3 BPS scorers per game would then be granted 3, 2, and 1 bonus points respectively.

Despite this information being available freely, we regularly see complaints and grievances about why certain popular players failed to get their ‘due’ bonus points for a performance or why a player seemingly uninvolved in the goals ended up getting them. So here’s a breakdown of the metrics that contribute to the BPS score, the kind of players I think it suits, and then a look into the highest BPS and bonus point scorers across all of last season to find any trends or discrepancies.

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The FPL Bonus Point System (BPS)

The Bonus point system is awarded for pre-set in-game metrics as calculated from data collected by OPTA. This breakdown is available on the FPL Website

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Key takeaways from the BPS and hence the kind of players it would benefit most:

Forwards get the highest BPS score for scoring a goal: 24

Forwards get the highest BPS score for scoring a goal: 24. This is the equivalent of BPS score for keeping a clean sheet (12) AND scoring a goal (12) for a defender making a goal scored very valuable in terms of bonus potential.
- Additionally, there’s +3 for scoring the winning goal. There are negative scores for being tackled, shooting off target, and missing big chances meaning forwards who don’t score a goal would be very low for BPS as other common facets of a forwards game lead to the accrual of negative BPS scores.
- This makes wide fluctuation in the BPS score of a forward – they have almost no chance of getting bonus points if they don’t score and a very good chance if they score even 1 goal.

Modern defenders are, by and large, the biggest beneficiaries of the BPS system as a group in FPL

Modern defenders are, by and large, the biggest beneficiaries of the BPS system as a group. Positive BPS is accrued for tackles, clearances, blocks, and interceptions (CBI), per key pass made, for ball recoveries, and for ‘impact’ actions like assisting, scoring, or keeping a clean sheet.
- Additionally, there’s a healthy +4 or +6 for players who make over 30 passes at a success rate of 80-89.9% and 90% or greater respectively.
- Defenders tend to be involved heavily in the initial phase of build-up and are making safer passes to a teammate than midfielders or forwards, in general thus giving most possession-based system centre-backs and some full-backs a big BPS boost from this.
- Defenders who are all-action including passing a lot, creating chances, attempting crosses (being on set-pieces helps both of these), and getting assists tend to do incredibly well for bonus for eg Alexander-Arnold, Robertson, Cancelo, James, Cresswell, etc.
For midfielders, the same action-based metrics that benefit defenders work for them too. However, an assist gives only a +8 in comparison to a clean sheet for a defender giving a +12 while far more defenders are likely to see a passing success rate related to BPS boost due to safer passing.
- This is why it’s imperative for a midfielder to have an additional facet to their game that the BPS system rewards like scoring goals, creating a high volume of chances, and/or achieving a high number of successful dribbles. Midfielders with a combination of goalscoring potential and chance creation tend to do very well as reflected by strong BPS scores for Kevin De Bruyne, Heung-min Son, and Jarrod Bowen.
Goalkeepers are rewarded with BPS points per save made, get the same BPS as a defender for a clean sheet (mids and forwards don’t get this) and some modern goalkeepers tend to cross the 30 pass threshold to unlock a nice passing success boost to their score as well.

They also benefit from not accruing many negatives on the BPS as they are related to outfield activity like being dispossessed, being carded, or shooting off target, etc. Thus, goalkeepers who are active with saves and tend to be involved in their team’s build-up do very well for BPS such as Allison, Ederson, Lloris, Sa, etc.

Who benefits from the FPL Bonus point system?

Here’s a table showing the 20 top BPS scorers from last season with their BPS value, overall BPS rank, and team rank:

BPS rank	Player Name	Position	Team	Total BPS	Team BPS rank
1	Trent Alexander-Arnold	Defender	Liverpool	864	1
2	Joao Cancelo	Defender	Man City	829	1
3	Heung-min Son	Midfielder	Tottenham	819	1
4	Virgil Van Dijk	Defender	Liverpool	803	2
5	Allison	Goalkeeper	Liverpool	782	3
6	Andy Robertson	Defender	Liverpool	770	4
7	James Ward-Prowse	Midfielder	Southampton	769	1
8	Joel Matip	Defender	Liverpool	763	5
9	Mohamad Salah	Midfielder	Liverpool	756	6
10	Kevin De Bruyne	Midfielder	Man City	732	2
11	Jose Sa	Goalkeeper	Wolves	722	1
12	Aymeric Laporte	Defender	Man City	714	3
13	Illan Meslier	Goalkeeper	Leeds United	713	1
14	Kasper Schmeichel	Goalkeeper	Leicester City	706	1
15	Hugo Lloris	Goalkeeper	Tottenham	703	2
16	Ederson	Goalkeeper	Tottenham	701	4
17	Conor Coady	Defender	Wolves	688	2
18	Harry Kane	Forward	Tottenham	684	3
19	Nick Pope	Goalkeeper	Burnley (Now Newcastle)	683	1
20	Gabriel	Defender	Arsenal	682	1

BPS table

Important takeaways from this table are:

Defenders and Goalkeepers do very well for overall BPS. This is understandable because of the many ways they get rewarded by BPS while negative BPS metrics are those that forwards and midfielders generally tend to accrue.
Forwards don’t do well for overall BPS. Harry Kane is the lone forward in the top 20, sitting at 18.
Midfielders that both create chances, get assists and score goals are very strong for BPS.
Defenders who get open play crosses, create chances, sometimes notch assists, and are from teams who keep a fair number of clean sheets are generally the best BPS scorers in the game.

Here’s a table showing the 20 top Bonus point (BP) scorers from last season with their BP value, overall BP rank and team rank:

BP rank	Name	Position	Team	Bonus points	Team BP rank
1	Kevin De Bruyne	Midfielder	Man City	33	1
2	Trent Alexander-Arnold	Defender	Liverpool	32	1
3	Mohamad Salah	Midfielder	Liverpool	29	2
3	Cristiano Ronaldo	Forward	Man United	29	1
5	Joao Cancelo	Defender	Man City	27	2
6	Heung-min Son	Midfielder	Tottenham	27	1
7	Reece James	Defender	Chelsea	26	1
8	Jamie Vardy	Forward	Leicester City	24	1
9	James Maddison	Midfielder	Leicester City	24	1
10	Jarrod Bowen	Midfielder	West Ham	24	1
11	Harry Kane	Forward	Tottenham	23	2
12	Andy Robertson	Defender	Liverpool	23	3
13	James Ward-Prowse	Midfielder	Southampton	21	1
14	Marc Cucurella	Defender	Brighton	21	1
15	Joel Matip	Defender	Liverpool	20	4
16	Ivan Toney	Forward	Brentford	19	1
17	Richarlison	Forward	Everton (now Tottenham)	19	1
18	Bukayo Saka	Midfielder	Arsenal	18	1
19	Aaron Cresswell	Defender	West Ham	17	2
20	Ollie Watkins	Forward	Aston Villa	17	1

BP table

Seeing the table of the top 20 bonus point scorers for last season in FPL, a very interesting pattern emerges.

All-action wingbacks in teams that keep clean sheets are still kings for bonus points and are thus very valuable assets in the game.
Players that are on set-pieces see a big boost in their bonus-scoring potential from the chances created and assist potential of set-pieces.
Midfielders that score goals and create chances end up seeing more bonus points for when they score or assist as compared to goalkeepers and defenders who tend to get more overall BPS but fewer actual bonus points.

Forwards, who did poorly for BPS, do very well for bonus points

Forwards, who did poorly for BPS, do very well for bonus points. This is explained by how well forwards that score and aren’t too wasteful in front of goal, are rewarded for a goal scored.
The ‘floor’ for BPS is high for goalkeepers while their ceiling is low. This is bad for the conversion of BPS into actual bonus points within a game.
Forwards, in contrast, have a low floor but a high ceiling and this bodes well for the conversion of their BPS into bonus points giving an added point incentive per goal for forwards.
Raw BPS score isn’t useful, instead the relative BPS potential versus teammates is important. Liverpool tends to do the best for BPS by a large distance but the ‘value’ of the 5th highest BPS gained by Allison is only 15 bonus points as multiple teammates tend to do strongly for BPS while also having high ceilings through multiple ‘major BPS events’ (goal, assist, clean sheet).
The abovementioned point of relative BPS potential compared to teammates makes players like Jamie Vardy, Cristiano Ronaldo, Marc Cucurella, and Reece James valuable for bonus points despite scoring lower BPS than a lot of other FPL assets – because they have strong BPS scores amongst their teammates and have a high ceiling meaning the high chance of getting into any of three bonus point scorers.
It’s worth looking at shot-efficient, penalty-taking forwards from the viewpoint of each goal scored as being more valuable than ‘just 4 points’.
‘Talismen’ (Hi, WGTA!) for teams are heavily involved when their team wins and hence have a good chance of additional bonus points for that game eg Bowen, Vardy, Saka, Watkins, Richarlison.
Players from teams who tend to win and dominate games will have a better chance of getting bonus points as it’s usually likely within a game that their team has more goals/a clean sheet while the opponent does not. This is reflected in very strong scores for Liverpool assets and City assets with consistent minutes.
Maximum Bonus points (3) are the points equivalent of an assist and 3/4th of a goal or clean sheet hence should definitely weigh into consideration when picking players. This is because, for certain players, bonus potential is predictable rather than random and adds nearly 30 points to their season total for the likes of Alexander-Arnold, Kevin De Bruyne and Mohamad Salah. This also boosts their captaincy upside in games where a return is likely.

Concluding thoughts on FPL BPS System

We’ve seen the BPS metrics and understood about the type of players who benefit the most from it. I’ve rambled on a great deal and I’d like to thank you for enabling me this long. I’ll leave you with some quick overview thoughts. Bonus points are important and could add 10-15% more points for certain players while also boosting captaincy upside in games where a return is likely.
All-action defenders and goalkeepers would generally dominate BPS but this doesn’t always translate into bonus points. Being on set-pieces is a big boost towards BPS.
Active goalkeepers making saves and being involved in build-up play would do consistently well and in a team who keeps things tight, their chance of converting this to bonus points would be good like Ramsdale, Sanchez, or Raya.
Goalscoring forwards that aren’t wasteful may have a low overall BPS across the season but would be likely to see bonus points when they score due to the high BPS reward for a goal scored and such talismanic forwards also on penalties are worth a premium as each goal scored is usually worth more than ‘just’ the 4 points assigned per goal eg Vardy, Toney, Ronaldo.
Midfielders that score a good number of goals while also creating chances are worth their weight in gold as they not only have 2 avenues to points but also get rewarded well with bonus points when they produce a goal contribution – key examples are De Bruyne, Son, Salah, Bowen, and Maddison.
Modern, premium wingbacks are still underpriced. Alexander-Arnold, Robertson, Cancelo, and James have attacking avenues to points similar to midfielders, benefit from clean sheet points of a strong defense, and are remarkably well rewarded for BPS. Big at the back again? A strong yes from me.

[kofi]

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What is BPS in FPL? | Which Players Benefit More from BPS?

What is BPS in FPL? | Which Players Benefit More from BPS?

The FPL Bonus Point System (BPS)