Fantasy Premier League 2018-19: 10 Tips For A Successful Season
Here's what to do if you want to finish top of the league.
The new Premier League season is right around the corner. One of the most popular ways for fans to enhance their enjoyment of the games is to create their own Fantasy Premier League team and join up with a few leagues and competitions among friends, family, co-workers - even strangers - from all over the world.
Most football fans tend to be 'armchair managers'. We criticise the coaches, we question their decisions, we wonder why they haven't switched that pacy winger to the right hand side to exploit the opposition's full-back or why they left that striker on for the full ninety minutes instead of subbing him off for the 18-year-old wonderkid on the bench.
In short, we often tend to think we could do better, and Fantasy Premier League lets us live out that dream, picking and choosing our own squads, making tactical transfers and substitutions, working with a budget, choosing the right captain, and more.
It's a complex game and there's definitely an element of luck involved, but there's also a whole lot of strategy. The best Fantasy players are able to consistently put together good teams and win league after league, so let's take a look at some top tips to give you a better chance of some end-of-season glory.
10. Pre-Season Matters
The official start date for Fantasy Premier League is 10 August , but for the best fantasy players, the season has already begun. The summer months provide a great opportunity for fantasy managers to scout new talents, keep up to date with transfer moves, and monitor the fitness levels of individual players.
This summer has been especially important due to the World Cup, and the tournament in Russia could have a big impact on the early weeks of the Premier League season. Many of the players who participated in the World Cup have been given additional rest days and may not be fit for the opening games, for example.
This means that some star players, who would normally be guaranteed fantasy picks, should actually be avoided. The likes of Harry Kane, Paul Pogba, Kevin De Bruyne, and Romelu Lukaku all made it to the World Cup semis and could be given a little extra recuperation time in the early days of the season.
All of the Premier League teams are also participating in pre-season friendlies at the moment, offering another great opportunity for fantasy managers to see which players are performing and which ones are being left out. In short, if you want to get off to a good fantasy season, you need to be acting now rather than at the last minute.