10 Fantasy Premier League tips to dominate your mini-league
Fantasy Football on the whole is a really simple game. It’s us fantasy managers that sometimes make it hard for ourselves by overthinking it. It’s easily done as when you are passionate about something and spend a lot of time on it, its human nature to occasionally diverge and go off on a tangent – maybe try to think outside the box when we don’t have to. There is so much information out there now that it can get a bit much and cause ‘information overload’ and this tends to make us doubt ourselves especially when you hear something contrary to your belief being plastered all over social media and fantasy football forums etc.
Every so often I think we just need to cut out the noise and think with a cool head, and remember what has worked for you in the past. This article is going to go through the top 10 tips for a successful season in FPL. You will probably know or heard these said before, but from time to time we need a gentle reminder just to bring it to the forefront and there’s no better time to do that than at the start of a new season.
1. Don’t pay too much attention to last week’s points or ownership
This is something I was really guilty of when I first started playing fantasy football. For example N’Golo Kante scores a brace in gameweek one, and inevitably every man and his dog transfers him in for gameweek two and he doesn’t score again all season. You have to be able to distinguish between good fantasy players and good players in real life. They don’t always correlate and if you do your due diligence you will be able to spot them. Don’t be afraid of ownership when it comes to these types of scenarios. Yes, in this situation Kante’s ownership will rocket, but a good fantasy football player will know not to bring him anywhere near his team.
2. Target players with multiple points sources
Targeting players with multiple avenues of points is vital in fantasy football. Ideally you want players who can get you points from goals, assists, bonus points and even clean sheets. Looks at players who take free kicks, corners and penalties etc. A perfect example of a type of player with multiple sources of points is Trent Alexander-Arnold.
3. Be very careful with hits
Transfers in fantasy football are one of the single most important factors in the game. Taking needless points hits and making rash transfers is a sure way to derail your season. Always think through your transfers. One of the best pieces of advice you could get as a fantasy manager is to never make kneejerk or emotional transfers. Always let the dust settle and think with a cool head.
4. Pay close attention to fixtures
Looking at fixtures and planning your team and moves is the bread and butter of how a fantasy football manager should be playing. You need to know what teams have good upcoming fixtures and target the best players from them teams. Fairly straight forward, you may be thinking, but it’s easy to get drawn in to a player who scored 12 points and then in the following weeks plays Manchester City away and then Liverpool. With the ownership and price rising and the talk of form over fixtures you can be easily sucked in. Of course there are exceptions, with some premium players who are fixture proof, but there’s only a few in the game. With most players, target the fixtures and play on the right side of the odds and in the long run you will come out on top.
Fantasy Football Hub Fixture Ticker
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5. Hold on to your chips
In the Fantasy Premier League game, we are given three chips that we can use at any time in the season and two wildcards, one of which needs to be used by gameweek 16, and another that can be used from gameweek 16 onwards to the end of the season. It’s always best to save your chips for the second half of the season when the blank and double Gameweeks come around. If you are not sure what they are then you can sign up to Fantasy Football Hub, which has all the articles, fixture planners and videos you will ever need to navigate around these Gameweeks.
6. Pay close attention to stats
As I mentioned earlier, there are so many sources of information now for fantasy football and so many stats you can look at. It’s important to filter this down and look at the metrics that matter. For example, for attackers look at Shots in the Box, Shots on Target, Expected Goals (xG), expected assists (xA), Big Chances Created and those closely related to these. For defenders and goalkeepers clean sheet chance is the bread and butter and then you look at attacking threat as a secondary metric.
Fantasy Football Hub’s OPTA Stats tool is perfect for looking at these types of stat metrics. It allows you to compare multiple players and in all the significant metrics you will need to determine future points.
You can filter on any position, and even between specific Gameweeks and past seasons. It really should be the go to tool for any fantasy football manager.
7. Timing your transfer and building team value
Timing your transfers to build team value could give you a huge advantage when it comes to the second half of the season. Building your team value at the start by making early transfers before players prices will increase your team value. If you play it right you can build our team value to somewhere between £110m to £117m. When it comes to the second wildcard and your rival only has around £99m this will swing the odds in your favour hugely. It gives you so much flexibility in terms of what players you can get. The majority of the rises usually happen in the first five to six Gameweeks. But always keep in mind pick the players who are good picks and rising in value. There is no point in selecting ‘one hit wonders’ who are poor fantasy picks.
Here is a link to a free article on Fantasy Football Hub, which explains the ‘10 golden rules for building team value’.
8. Learn from the best
The best way to learn and become a great fantasy football manager is to learn from other great managers who have proven good records.
Below are only some of the contributors and their past achievements. You can read their articles by clicking their name, and also follow and interact with them on Twitter.
Fantasy Premier League - Three top 500 ranks, eight top 10k ranks.
Sky Fantasy Football - Second place in 16/17
Matthews's record speaks for itself. It really is quite staggering how consistent his high ranks are and is surely one of the best to ever play Fantasy Premier League.
You can read Matthew’s Weekly Team Reveal and Strategy articles on the Hub.
Twitter: @FPLMatthew
Fantasy Premier League - Eight top 10k finishes and former ranked number fantasy player in the world. Rich is a veteran of the game and again another one in contention for best overall Fantasy Premier League manager.
He writes his weekly articles 'A Vet’s guide to FPL' for the Hub.
Twitter: @richclarkefpl
Fantasy Premier League - Four top 1k ranks, four top 10k ranks
Sky Fantasy Football - 70th in 17/18
With an incredible four top 1k ranks and high finishes across different formats, Abdul’s number based approach has served him very well. You may know him from Twitter for his weekly clean sheet and anytime scorer odds. With such a unique record and constant high finishes, his weekly posts and Team Reveal articles are definitely one to watch out for.
Twitter: @FPL_Salah
9. Have a plan
Always have a plan in fantasy football. Think over the long term and don’t just transfer players in for one gameweek. Look at the next five to six games at least. Look at teams who have good fixtures over a period of time and try to find teams who maybe coincide with a bad fixture run so you can better determine who to take out of your team as well as bring in. Identifying fixture swings is a huge advantage and will give you a massive edge over your rivals. This is absolutely crucial in Fantasy Premier League and to give you a hand with this, Fantasy Football Hub have a number of fixture planners you can access if you are a member.
10. Join Fantasy Football Hub
By joining Fantasy Football Hub you get access to all the above tools mentioned and if you join up before the season starts you get a 25% discount. See our new app video below:
This article is brought to you by Fantasy Football Hub. Join thousands of FPL managers and dominate your mini-league with fantasy football hub membership – WhoScored readers can use this link for 25% off (limited time offer).
