Last Man Standing Strategy

It's brutal early on

Of the 29 entries in this Last Man Standing cycle, 21 are already eliminated after just three rounds - a 72% wipeout rate. Round one alone knocked out 41% of the whole pool in a single weekend. If you're still alive a few rounds in, you've already cleared the hardest part statistically - the pool only gets thinner and the remaining players sharper from here.

"Obvious" picks aren't uniformly safe

You can only pick each team once across the whole competition, so the real decision every round isn't just "who's going to win" - it's which of your remaining safe options is worth spending now versus saving. Our own pick data shows this matters: Arsenal and Manchester City picks have gone unbeaten so far this cycle, but West Ham picks have only survived 25% of the time and Liverpool picks just 20% - despite both being teams plenty of players would call an "obvious" pick on paper. The fixture and the form on the day matter more than the badge.

A draw eliminates you exactly like a loss

This catches people out more than anything else: there's no partial credit here. Pick a team that draws instead of wins, and you're out, same as if they'd lost outright. When you're deciding between two "safe-looking" teams, it's worth asking not just "who's favourite to win" but "who's least likely to get held to a draw" - those aren't always the same team.

When to spend your best picks

There's no single right answer, but the round-one elimination numbers make a real case for not overthinking it early: if a strong team has a genuinely favourable fixture in round one, using them then to survive the roughest week is often better than trying to save them for a round that may never come if you don't get through this one. Save your judgement calls, not necessarily your strongest teams, for later - by the time only a handful of entries remain, every fixture matters equally, so that's when reading the form closely counts for the most.

One more rule worth knowing: if your picked team's fixture is postponed or abandoned, you're safe for that round and free to pick that team again later - it doesn't burn your one-time pick on that team. Full rules are on How It Works.