Words by Axel Metz
The Premier League is back, which means Fantasy Football has returned to eat into your weekly screen time. Looking for tips and tricks to finish top of the pile? We’ve got you covered.
It’s Wednesday night, Chelsea have crumbled at Bournemouth and Man City are struggling for form. Do you ditch your expensive winger to free up funds? What about the approaching double-game week? Is it a risk worth taking to crawl back up the leaderboard? Difficult decisions, indeed.
You might think nobody cares as much as you – but trust me, they do.
People take this game seriously; it has over 5 million players, after all.
For the uninitiated, Fantasy Premier League (or FPL) is the app that gives players £100m of virtual currency to splash on a squad of 15 Premier League players, whose real-life performances equate to points for your chosen team. Friends create mini-leagues to compete across 38 game weeks, 720 matches and 10 months of meticulous management to produce a single victor.
Sounds exciting, right?
Well, it is. Fantasy Football is like betting without the money, or like a really, really long board game. If you find yourself checking fixture lists in your poetry seminar or reading injury reports in the office toilets, you’re not addicted – just committed.
So, without further ado, here are five tactics to help you finish top of your FPL league.
Have faith in the top six
You’re allowed up to three players from any one team – fill your squad with top-six talent.
Every team has an off day, but the clubs consistently at the top of the league are there for a reason. Points for them equals points for you. Cast loyalties aside and think pricier players like Aubameyang, De Bruyne and Salah as well as cheaper starters like James and Henderson.
Don’t make transfers until deadline day
There’s nothing worse than jumping on the hype and buying a player as soon as possible, only for them (or someone else) to get injured in the midweek cup fixture. Don’t risk it. Price fluctuations are minimal and won’t significantly affect your budget.
Hidden gems are unpredictable
If you’re one of the gamblers from previous fantasy seasons who had Ryan Fraser or John Lundstram in your squad from the beginning – congratulations.
For the rest of us, it’s too difficult to predict which stars will emerge from the mid-table sides and more often than not, a couple of consecutive goals means temporary form. Look at the likes of Shaqiri, Barnes and Pérez – don’t rely on the unreliable.
The same applies for new signings. You’re not a genius if you bring in Newcastle newbie Jeff Hendrick, you just think you are.
Think temporary, not long term
Ok, someone like Hendrick could actually prove a brilliant investment – but there’s no way of knowing.
Play the game on a week-by-week basis. One of your players gets a red card? Get rid of him. There’s no point planning five fixtures ahead if you need the points now. Check fixture lists, yes, but don’t look too far into the future – things change quickly.
Don’t trust Pep Guardiola
And finally, don’t trust Pep.
Unless it comes to Kevin De Bruyne, almost all of the Manchester City players are at risk of the dreaded Pep rotation. It’s a shame because the likes of Agüero and Sterling have the potential for huge returns when given time on the pitch, but the risk of splashing huge chunks of your budget on players destined for the bench is a pothole best avoided.
Invest their value elsewhere. Mané and Salah are a better use of your money given their obvious firepower and assured game-time week in, week out.
In any case, football is unpredictable. It’s all well and good consulting a list of top tips to avoid the pitfalls of over-eagerness, but ultimately, you never know what’s going to happen on a wet Monday evening in Leeds.
“Fortune favours the bold”, after all, as Virgil (not van Dijk) taught us.