Fantasy Football Tips

3:34p.m., Sat 16 May 2009

I've played Fantasy Football at fantasy.premierleague.com for the last three seasons. I've got gradually better each season without actually winning my league, maybe next year will be mine.

Here's some tips on picking your team and then getting the best out of it. Quite how valauble they are, given that I'm currently ranked 239,117 out of 1,941,826 is open to debate.

Before I start though, a quick run down of the scoring system.

Scoring

Player Type	Act	Points
All positions	For playing < 60 mins	+1
	For playing > 60 mins	+2
	For each goal assist	+3
	For every penalty miss	-2
	For a yellow card	-1
	For a red card	-3
	Man of the match	+3
	2nd most influential performance	+2
	3rd most inflential performance	+1
Defender	Scoring a goal	6
	For securing a clean sheet	4
	For every 2 goals conceded	-1
Midfielder	Scoring a goal	5
	For securing a clean sheet	1
Striker	Scoring a goal	4
Goalkeeper	For securing a clean sheet	4
	For every 3 shot saves made	1
	For every penalty save	5
	For every 2 goals conceded	-1

Tips

Some of these tips might seem obvious, but I'm gonna make them anyway ;)

Tip #1 - The 'Banker' Player

There's a handful of players that seem indecently expensive. But that's because they deliver. No top team from the last few seasons has been without one (or more) of those players that score shed-loads of goals. Scoring midfielders are seemingly more precious than scoring strikers because they accumulate points for clean sheets too.

Example players: Steven Gerard (Liverpool), Cristiano Ronaldo (Man Utd.), Frank Lampard (Chelsea).

Tip #2 - The Steady Scorers

In other words, those players who seem undroppable and play for those solid teams that don't get hammered regularly.

Example players: Gareth Barry (Aston Villa), Robbie Keane (Fulham), Dirk Kuyt (Liverpool)

Tip #3 - Avoid The Indisciplinarians

Some players that *should* be top players lose out by racking up the yellow cards. They're ones to avoid as their indiscipline isn't necessarily reflected in their price.

Example Players: Wayne Rooney (Man Utd), Marouane Fellaini (Everton), Kevin Nolan (Bolton/Newcastle), Nicky Butt (Newcastle)

Tip #4 - Penalty Takers

It seems obvious. But some teams rotate so much that the penalty-taker is difficult to predict. For the smaller clubs, with smaller squads, it's easier to predict. Plus, there's some players and some teams that seem to get more penalty awards - Andy Johnson of Everton & Fulham is the most notable example.

Example players: Danny Murphy (Fulham), Benni McCarthy (Blackburn)

Tip #5 - Set Piece Takers

There's been a few teams that score regularly from corners and free-kicks. You might find that these goals come from a variety of scorers, but that the delivery always comes from the same players. Some teams always have one player taking the free-kicks/corners from one-side and another player taking the kicks on the other side of the field. These players score well on the "assists" front.

Example players: Ashley Young (Aston Villa), Mikel Arteta (Everton)

Tip #6 - Defenders Who Score From Set-pieces

There's a few defenders that are candidates to take free-kicks when there's a shot on. MOre common are those defenders that are strong in the air and a real threat when a free-kick is thrown into the box.

Example players: Martin Laursen (Aston Villa), Joleon Lescott (Everton)

Tip #7 - Players Playing 'Out Of Position'

If you get a player listed on the site as a midfielder but plays effectively as a striker, he's more likely to score than expected and scores the midfield score for each goal (5 points instead of 4). The other example here is those players who are played out of position, either because on an injury crisis, or late in the game to try and secure an equaliser.

Example players: Geovanni (Hull City), Christopher Samba (Blackburn), Dirk Kuyt (Liverpool)

Tip #8 - Rotate The Captaincy

The tip here is to play the percentages and predict the player most likely to score heavily. PLaying at home is always a factor, as is one fo the top teams playing one of the whipping boys.
One other thing to be aware of is the disruption caused by European competition. You'll sometimes find that a club won't have a tie one week. Make sure your captain is playing! And, on the flip-side of that coin, if a club has two fixtures in one gameweek then players for that club are likely to score heavily - make them your captain for that week!

Tip #9 - Study The Fixture List Before Buying

I alluded to the fixture list above. When makin transfers it's even more important to study a possible purchase's upcoming games. If he's got two games in one week, so much the better. If his next three games are all away games or tricky fixtures against top teams, probably best to hold off.

Tip #10 - Make Transfers As Late As Possible

There's nothing more annoying than buying a new player and then seeing him get injured on international duty. Pick a player you want to buy, but only buy him on a friday afternoon when you're sure he's not crocked, facing a late fitness test or in a police cell. The deadline for transfers is generally 11.30am on Saturdays.

PhysioRoom.com has a handy round-up of injuries in the Premiership.

Tip #11 - Promoted Players Are Cheap

Every season one of the promoted teams has an unexpectedly successful season. And there'll be one player in the team that's scoring the points. It's tricky to pick which player will that be, but the top teams will have those players.

Example players: Darren Bent (Charlton), Geovanni (Hull City), Kevin Doyle (Reading)

Tip #12 - Substitutes

Substitutes are automatically brought into your team when one of your first XI doesn't feature. It's likely that these will be the cheapest players you can find since you've spent all your budget on Ronaldo/Gerard/Lampard. Pick players from the weaker teams, but players that will feature regularly and score at least 2 points each week.
Don't worry about a reserve keeper, just buy the cheapest one you can find.

Example players: Ryan Shawcross (Stoke), Michael Turner (Hull), Danny Collins (Sunderland)

I have one final rule. I tend to shy away from selecting players from either Spurs or West Ham. This isn't rooted in any deep-rooted hatred for either of these clubs, it's just that the fortunes of these two clubs always seem to be on a knife-edge. They *should* be comfortably mid-table and pushing for a place in the top 5, but they rarely are. Their new signings tend to be over-priced too.

That's all the wisdom (?) I have to impart. If you choose to be swayed by thee tips.... good luck!