How to Play Fantasy Premier League?

Fantasy football has earned massive popularity in Europe in the last decade. We all know that it first made ground on American soil with highly popular NFL and NBA Fantasy games across various platforms.

The popularity has moved across the ocean as the players’ pool continuously keeps growing for the highly popular Premier League Fantasy game. At the start of the 2024/22 Premier League season, Fantasy Premier League counted more than eight million active players. With such a rapid expansion, it is only a matter of time when the game will have at least 10 million players regularly.

If you are still among those rare football fans who have never tried their luck/skill with a fantasy game, here is the best introduction to it.

Fantasy Premier League is free

The most important thing about the FPL (Fantasy Premier League) is that you don’t need to pay anything to play the game, and you can get some useful players tips on free websites like BettingTips4You. This is, after all why the game is so popular among the crowd. A newcomer must then wonder where the competitiveness comes from. Well, just imagine the feeling you’d have knowing that you defeated eight million other players in anything. Yes, the answer is primarily in such a large prize pool. Even the top 100,000 finish is regarded as a massive success, not to mention the top 10,000 bragging rights.

What are the basic rules?

Okay, now that we’ve covered competitiveness, let’s see if the game is actually easy to play. Right from the start, we’ll say that you need the patience to be a successful FPL manager. If you easily get nervous, this game is just not for you and you should not even consider starting your career as an FPL manager.

The game follows the entire English Premier League season. It begins in mid-August and lasts all up until May the following year. You start by building your squad for Gameweek No 1. A squad consists of 15 players, including two goalkeepers, five defenders, five midfielders, and three attackers. You can play 11 of these 15 players every single round, leaving the remaining 4 on the bench. Benched players do not get you any points. It is important to know that you can pick a maximum of three players from one club.

Do I have the same squad for all Gameweeks?

Not necessarily. After you have built your squad for the first round of the season, you then have an option to use one transfer per round in the remaining part of the campaign. Each additional transfer will cost you four points. So, i.e. if you make three transfers (and you have one free) before the fifth round, you will lose eight points (two additional transfers).

However, you can carry one transfer to the following Matchday, but you can never have more than two free transfers. If you decide not to make a transfer before Gameweek No 2, you will then be able to make two transfers ahead of Gameweek No 3. Nevertheless, if you still don’t make a transfer, you won’t have three for Gameweek No 4 because you can’t carry more than a single transfer to the next round.

How do you earn points?

Points are awarded to players for their performances on the pitch (in real Premier League matches). To be more precise, players will earn you points for goals, assists, saves, and clean sheets.

These points are distributed in the following fashion:

• If an attacker scores, he gets 4 points
• If a midfielder scores, he gets 5 points
• If a defender (or goalkeeper) scores, he gets 6 points
• If a defender or goalkeeper gets a clean sheet, he gets 4 points
• If a midfielder gets a clean sheet, he gets 1 point
• If a goalkeeper makes 3 saves, he gets 1 point
• If a goalkeeper saves a penalty, he gets 5 points

All players, regardless of their position, get 1 point for playing up to 60 minutes or 2 points for playing 60 minutes or more in a match. So, if a player comes on as a second-half substitute, you will get 1 point for his appearance (if he does not make anything else). The aforementioned scoring system (in terms of defensive returns) is only applicable for goalkeepers/defenders who play at least 60 minutes. If a player comes on from the bench and plays fewer than 60 minutes, he will not receive clean-sheet points.

Now, there are also negative points, awarded in the following way:

• If a player misses a penalty, he loses 2 points
• If a player receives a yellow card, he loses 1 point
• If a player received a red card, he loses 3 points
• If a player scores an own goal, he loses 2 points

Also, defenders and goalkeepers are punished with a minus point for every two goals they concede whilst in play. Lastly, we have to mention bonus points. These are awarded for the best three players in a match (for every match separately) from 3 to 1.

As you can see, Fantasy Premier League is a simple game in theory. The reality is very much different, though. You will see why as soon as you start to play.

Fantasy Football Tips on How to Play and Beat Friends

Everybody wants their team to win, but what if you had the chance to create your own squad and test it out on the pitch. However, football fantasy league platforms give you that option. From rekindling old rivalries to fighting which team comes out on top, fantasy football is all about how well you understand the game and which players you place your bet on. Nonetheless, to help nip your friend’s team right in the bud, here are some tips you can follow while playing fantasy football.

1. Choose Players Based on Information

It is important that you choose players based on the information provided on the platform and not who you love or are biased towards. Your starting XI must have the best earners if you want to maximize your payout. Midfielders and strikers perform better and tend to score the highest in formations such as 3-4-3 or 3-5-2. If you want to go with 5-4-1, it is highly likely that you would be losing money. Therefore, arm yourself with information and insights you think can help you win the game in the long term.

2. Choose Players from Various Clubs

Fantasy Football leagues limit the players you can choose from one club to three. As a result, in a team of fifteen, you can choose from as many as five different clubs if you think you know the star players from here and there. However, if they have a bad week, your game could be screwed, leading to a miserable payout. You can choose to base your club’s core standing around 4-5 key players. However, selecting footballers from different clubs can spread the risk of one club performing poorly in their league.

3. Spend your Entire Budget

If you are given £200 million to spend, try and use it entirely and build a team you think can last even when the odds are stacked against it. Think like a businessperson. Even if you have £10 million and you can purchase Neymar Jr., consider spending it all or utilizing it in a way that will give you maximum benefit. However, if you think that you have a rock-solid squad and you don’t need any more players, keep the money in reserve as it can be reinvested as the season goes on.

4. Strikers win Matches

As they say, strikers win matches; consider buying the best strikers currently performing well for their clubs. Although the likes of Harry Kane or Romelu Lukaku can set you back, you need to trust us and take the plunge. Try to buy at least one top-level forward likely to play every week and could be one of the top contenders of the golden boot at the end of the season. You can also choose a high scorer as your captain since he will make all the difference when playing fantasy football because, at the end of the day, the points table matters, and your captain can double the points on the scoreboard if he plays well.

If you follow the tips mentioned above while playing fantasy football, we guarantee that your team will perform better than ever in the fantasy league. However, make sure you don’t wager anything more than you can spend as the game involves financial risks.