That's where long-term performance comes into play. Let's say you find an expensive fund with a stellar one-year performance relative to its peers. Past is not prologue. But one way to evaluate that pricey fund is to see how it did over the last five or 10 years, which is a common performance measure. This is particularly helpful when compared to the market as a whole, and peer funds.
Every financial publication seems to run a best funds list, seemingly every week.
They are fun to read and somewhat instructive, but if you take one list too seriously - you are making a big mistake. If those lists were so good, they would all look alike, or at least they would not change so often. One useful thing about these lists is that if you read enough of them you begin to see many of the same funds. That can be very comforting, particularly if you're already invested in that fund. So watch those lists, but try to keep a longer-term score in your head.