Are you a novice FPL player or a mediocre one at best? Have you entered the Fantasy League purely because you thought of an original, amusing team name (Murder On Zidane’s Floor, we’re looking at you) or do you truly want to step up your game?
Since you’ve arrived here with us, we’re going to assume you’re after the latter. Sure, bemused partners or concerned colleagues might look on as you fiddle incessantly with the colour of your team’s hooped socks and agonise over your hypothetical vice-captain, and assume this thing is just a frivolous game of chance, but nothing could be further than the truth.
Mastering the Fantasy League goes way beyond just checking those Fantasy EPL predicted lineups and picking players you have a sentimental attachment to. There’s plenty of strategy and foresight involved, and real prizes to be won, too!
Let’s explore further; if you’re keen to master FPL, here are 7 tips to help you dominate Fantasy Premier League.
Keep An Eye On Players With Multiple Point Sources
Much like a business with a range of revenue streams, players that have more point sources will bring in more points than players with fewer point sources.
Manchester United’s Bruno Fernandes is a good example of a player with multiple point sources. He is a regular goalscorer, provides points with assists, and is United’s primary penalty taker. He represents an invaluable addition to a team because he has a wide variety of means to rack up those points.
Another example is Mohammed Salah, who not only scores goals, but is also the FPL’s most consistent receiver of ‘Man of the Match’ points. On the same side, Trent Alexander-Arnold is a particularly apt choice, as he accrues plenty of attacking points, in the form of assists and goals, on top of his defensive points clocked up in Liverpool’s miserly defence, the second sturdiest in the league.
Having a few high-yield players like these will vastly improve your team’s playing capacity and set you up for long-term success.
Time Your Transfers
Oh, how we love a Super Saturday; the pre-match pie and a pint, the banter with the opposition fans, even the matchday programmes.
If you’re keen to keep a cool head, it’s best not to get swept up in all the excitement. It might be tempting to make transfers as soon as a new gameweek rolls in, inspired by what you saw on Match Of The Day or even live in the stadium, but you should try to hold off on clicking that buy button until as late as possible.
Many managers will immediately start transferring the moment they can, but you should play smarter, not faster. Gather as much information as possible about the prospective players in the lead up to the gameweek deadline; players may sustain injuries during the week, fall out of favour in training, or information might emerge of Fantasy EPL predicted lineups that prompt you to choose a player likely to play.
Make your transfer and pick your final team as close to the start of the new gameweek as possible. This deadline occurs an hour and a half before the first match of the gameweek, which is usually 12:45pm on a Saturday, though watch out for those sneaky Friday night fixtures!
Take As Few Point Hits As Possible
Resist the urge to make multiple transfers, especially within a short time. Making multiple transfers in a single week while suffering constant point losses is a surefire way to make your rank plummet. You might think, “I’ll make up for the losses in the next gameweek,” but you may well end up being unable to do so.
When transfers start costing you 4 points a click, ask yourself if it’s likely that your new recruits will actually get 4 points during that gameweek. Instead, if you’re desperate to ring the changes across the board, utilise that ‘wildcard’ of yours. If you’ve already used it, take a more measured approach or suffer the consequences.
Learn From The Best
The wisest tactic in any game is to learn from those who are already good at it. Twitter and YouTube are filled with dozens of veterans who have FPL-based achievements under their belt and can teach you a lesson or two about the game.
FPL General is a manager who finished in the top 500 at a point in his career. Other players like FPL Matthew and Adam Hopcroft are known for giving away some of their secrets to followers.
Spend ‘Big’ On Your Goalkeepers
Having a good goalkeeper between the sticks is essential to any team’s success. And when playing Fantasy League, that’s even more true, so it’s worth splashing out on the best you can afford.
This isn’t because they’ll stop you shipping goals, necessarily; that’s not how fantasy football works. But rather, it’s because the difference in spend between the league’s top-scoring goalkeeper (Liverpool’s Alisson), and the lowest with any game-time to their name (Southampton’s Caballero) is only £1.8 million, with the players priced at £6 million and £4.2 million respectively.
The difference in points, however, is massive; Alisson’s 145 points to Caballero’s 2. That’s surely worth a relatively small mark-up, don’t you think?
Check Fixtures Diligently To Identify Double Gameweeks
As the season wears on, it’s only natural that some games will be postponed or rescheduled in order to accommodate for a cup-run or two. This means that at the business end of the season, you’ll notice that some players may have two games lined up in a single gameweek (and occasionally, even three games!).
It makes sense to check predicted EPL line-ups and fixtures in advance, to anticipate these double gameweeks, potentially boosting your week’s points tally massively, if you time things right.
Because of this, it’s a smart move to save your wildcard until late in the season, when such double gameweeks are more frequent. By deploying your triple captain on a high-scoring player who’s playing twice, you can really rack up the points.
Set Sentimentality Aside
If you’re in this game to simply add a little extra sass to your Saturdays, then kudos and crack on; we’ve had Rashford as captain all season, too.
But if you’re in it to win it, genuinely, then it’s wise to park the sentimentality and concentrate on cold, hard numbers, form and formula. In doing so, you’ll likely find yourself racing up the table (even if that table is only a private league of a few mates). Good luck!