Fanatsy premier League Tips 2020/21 : This article doesn’t focus on any player or any team, but it’s one of the few articles which can be relevant regardless of any FPL season. I have learned from my mistakes gradually by playing for 10 years now and I wished I would have known those during my initial years.
Below are 5 common strategies that I believe each FPL manager should be aware of before starting the season.
Don’t be emotional:
Yes! Don’t be emotional! Easier said than done. People who are still beginners or who is highly sentimental about owning their favorite clubs’ players or favorite players, often make arguably the most common mistake in FPL.
Talking from a personal point of view, I have been a Manchester United fan for a long time, but last time I held to a Manchester United player for most of the season was Robin Van Persie during 2012/13. On the other hand, not owning the rival clubs’ players (assuming in-form team and player) is detrimental to a successful FPL season, too.
I was happy to own and making Saurez captain for the entire season in 2013/14 and Salah in 2017/18. This hurdle has been crossed my all the successful managers over the years and if you want to be in the same boat, better late than never!
Another common mistake must be pointed out is that FPL managers tend to hold onto players which they should transfer out ASAP. When ego takes over logic, that’s what happens! One prime example from last season is Gylfi Sigurdsson. When the schedules were released and the kind of form Sigurdsson had shown before that season, it was a perfect combination of form and fixture and it was a no-brainer to own him in the initial phase.
But season started and the form of Everton and Sigurdsson drastically dropped, and stats also supported the same. So, it was very crucial to apprehend that this type of situations occur quite often all the time and we need to choose when to get rid of such a player.
Do research:
I cannot emphasize more on this. This has to be on top of the list. Do research. Use some stats. Do eye test (watch game and analyze from an FPL perspective). Read articles (okay, I meant, in future as well). It’s inevitable that you will gain enormously higher rank than the one which you would have acquired without doing research.
One standout player after the restart of the season is Michail Antonio. FPL managers from the last season would have remembered his 26 points haul against Norwich, which was the highest points tally for a single GW during last season. A normal FPL manager would have either taken a punt to bring him in just because the opposition was Norwich or would have thought about if and else after missing out on those points.
But from a statistical point of view, Antonio was the best attacking player after the lockdown, even ahead of Mo Salah! Antonio had topped the charts in number of touches in the penalty box, number of shots, number of big chances attempted, expected number of goals and almost everything.
So, considering the goal conceding ability of Norwich and the stats of Antonio made him a must-have player for that game. Obviously 4 goals were a bit too much to get from bottom half team, but there was a high chance of getting at least double digits points from him.
Overall team stats are useful as well. Owning a cheap defender from a defensive team and a cheap mid/forward from an attacking team can be easily inferred from the stats. Burnley, Wolves, Sheffield United are some of the examples from last season that shows that to get a clean sheet, you don’t need to always look for the top 6 teams. These teams had better defensive stats than some of the top 6 sides last season.
I can make a separate article for players and teams’ stats, but remember this: If PL teams themselves use data analysis to play a certain way against a certain opponent, why shouldn’t we?
Also Read : When and How to use Fantasy Premier League Chips
Lookout for greedy players:
As mentioned in the previous article, there is a high chance that crucial players for the clubs don’t convert their performance into FPL points in most of the cases. FPL just rewards you for a goal, assist or a clean sheet. There are no points for a sliding tackle, a goal-line clearance, correct positioning, covering maximum distance on the pitch, tracking down opponent players, playing false 9 or in general being unselfish for the greater good of the team.
Even though Wan-Bissaka is a better defensive fullback than Trent, Trent has been an obvious choice in any FPL team. Chelsea defense looks like a chaos without Kante, but Kante can only help Chelsea by entering into their starting XI, not ours.
On the other Spectrum, we have likes of Mo Salah, Mane, Kane, Son, Aubameyang, Aguero, Sterling, Mahrez, Alonso, KDB, Trent, Martial, whose gameplay can be defined as greedy. To be greedy and to be in a quality team for a player is one of the easiest decisions to get into my FPL team.
Also, look out for the mid-table or bottom half teams who reply on a single player to score or to win matches in general. The likes of Ings, Jimenez, Vardy, Grealish, Wood, Richarlison are a few of the standout options from the last season. Even though they often score a single goal or provide an assist, but that is enough to attract bonus points in a low scoring fixture.
FPL managers pick up this tactic easily early on, but it’s there to always keep in mind.
Be persistent and patient:
Asking an FPL manager to be persistent throughout the season is like asking an athlete to be fit before each game. It’s responsibility that comes naturally when you decide to play this highly competitive game, otherwise your season can easily be mirrored by Hazard’s at Real Madrid. Ouch!
In today’s era of T20s, FPL is a test match, or rather a 5-match series of test matches. You can’t make some hot-blooded transfers immediately after the GW, do the same for a few more weeks and one day stop playing it.
It surely is a game of patience. If you have done some research on a player, you transfer him in and he has not performed for a couple of GWs as expected, the most of the manages would immediately transfer him out in rage. But if again going back to stats, if stats are crying out loud that returns are going to come anytime soon, then trust your research and data, the results will come.
Again, an example: last season in the last GW, a lot of people went for David Silva over KDB considering Silva’s last match at Etihad, so he will take all freekicks-penalties and KDB’s average performance in terms of points in a few previous GWs. But World Rank-3, Aleksandar Antonov (@TooGoodFPL) had decided to stick with KDB, because (also assumption from our end) KDB has a lot better stats than Silva and captained him. Guess what? He is the current Champion of the FPL season.
Also read : Fantasy Premier League 2020/21, All you need to know before starting FPL 2020/21
Use your FPL chips wisely:
Wildcard: There is no defined strategy to use the wildcard, to be honest. A general suggestion floats in FPL community is to not to use early wildcard, but a manager who had used his wildcard in GW2 is the current Champion (yes, talking about Aleksandar again)! But one thing I would recommend that until and unless you are absolutely sure about how you will manage your team until next wildcard is available or how you will plan your transfers till end of the season, don’t use it.
Triple Captain: There are a lot of fixtures at the latter part of the season, which are postponed due domestic competitions. So, there will be GWs where team will be playing two matches in a single GW. So, I would recommend using triple captain on that GW. It is not a nailed-on strategy, but probability of your captain performing and returning are simply doubled.
Bench Boost: Again, I would suggest using Bench Boost in one of those extended GWs. I personally like to use wildcard + BB combo. That way, I can get the players targeting the GW, get all 15 starting XI players and I can transfer out the unnecessary players after the GW, which I have brought just to use BB.
Free Hit: Due to the same domestic cup fixtures, we will get a GW or two, with just 5-7 fixtures. Since most of the times top 6 teams progress till round of 16, those teams miss out on the fixtures. Also, we tend to have a lot of players from top 6 sides, Free Hit can be used in such GW where we can bring completely new players and get the old players back from next GW.
Even though it’s a long article, it would be a great help for the beginners and if you have already played before, then either your friends or you must have been victim of a red arrow if not follow any of the above guidelines.
Happy Team Picking!
