Whether this is your first season playing Fantasy Premier League or you’re a seasoned veteran, it’s always worth taking note of these handy tips that should help give you the edge on many of your rivals.
Timing your transfers
There are two schools of thought here, with some insisting on making early transfers in order to gain team value, while others prefer to wait until close to the deadline in order to make the most informed decisions.
The sweet spot is somewhere in the middle. Building team value early in the season can be a worthwhile approach as you could save 0.2m or even 0.3m per transfer by moving early for early bandwagon assets. The risk you take, of course, is that the player in question picks up an injury in the time between your transfer and their next match. Try and avoid the temptation to move early for players with midweek European fixtures though, as that is where the biggest risk lies.
Later on in the season, when the market has slowed down a little, it’s advisable to wait as long as possible to make your transfers decisions. This allows you to absorb any relevant manager comments in the press conferences related to potential injuries and rotations.
Deploying a chip strategy
While it is tempting to use one of your chips to get off to quick start, more often than not it is advantageous to save the majority of them until the latter stage of the season. That is because the majority of blank and double gameweeks are scheduled for the business end of the campaign, where a well-timed Triple Captain, Bench Boost or Free Hit could see you shoot up the rankings.
There are usually two big double gameweeks between Gameweek 30 and Gameweek 38, in amongst a blank or two, and you can be sure that the top FPL managers will be planning their chip use accordingly.
Of course, the first Wildcard needs be used in the first half of the campaign, and that is very much team dependent. Look out for big fixture swings as that may play a part in when you decide to shake things up.
Look beyond the next gameweek
A trap that many fall into is making decisions purely on the next set of fixtures. FPL is a marathon, not a sprint, so play close attention to favourable runs of fixtures for certain teams, and consider bringing in two or three of their assets.
Careful planning can negate the need to take points hits in the future, and ensure that you are well-placed to move for the latest form players. There’s also no need to make transfers for the sake of it, so rolling a transfer here and there can give you greater flexibility to make changes in the future.
This is particularly relevant ahead of the Gameweek 1 deadline. Study the fixtures of each team and identify who has a favourable run. By the time Gameweek 5 comes around, you could already be well ahead of the pack!
