Most FPL mistakes are not bad decisions. They are forgotten ones: a captain left on an injured player, a transfer made after a price rise, a bench ordered wrong. A short checklist before every deadline removes almost all of them.
Step 1: check team news first
Before you touch your team, check who is injured, suspended or a doubt. Press conferences and team news land in the days before the deadline, and a single flag can change your whole plan. Never make a transfer before you know whether your current players are actually fit.
Step 2: set your captain, then your vice-captain
Pick your captain deliberately, using fixtures and recent form, and always set a vice-captain you would be happy with. If your captain does not play, the vice-captain armband takes over - an empty vice-captain slot has cost many managers a huge week.
Step 3: order your bench properly
Your bench order decides who comes in if a starter misses out. Put your most reliable substitute first, not your most exciting one. A bench player who plays is worth more than a bench player who might score big but probably will not play at all.
Step 4: make transfers late, not early
Unless a price move forces your hand, wait until as late as possible before confirming transfers. Team news changes through the week, and an early transfer can be ruined by a Friday injury update. Patience is a genuine FPL skill.
Step 5: confirm and walk away
Once your team is set, press save and check the confirmation. Then stop tinkering. Deadline-day panic transfers are how good weeks become average ones.