The time has come. With kickoff for the first round of Premier League fixtures coming in little more than one week, Fantasy managers scour pr-season lineups, team news, Twitter feeds, and any other scraps of information they can find to prepare for the season to come. If you’re not sold on the draft format please check out my previous article highlighting some of the major differences between Fantasy Premier League (FPL) and this unique and exciting format. For today, I’ll focus on three strategies for ensuring a successful draft day (as a note, I’ll be writing this article using stats from FPL).
Top Three Tips
1. Draft Strikers Early
One of the defining aspects of any Fantasy draft is positional scarcity. While everyone loves a good attacking midfielder, consider this: last season, there were 134 midfielders and 114 defenders who played more than 900 minutes, compared to 51 strikers. Of those, 52 midfielders scored above the average points per game (2.9), but only 22 strikers accomplished the same feat (3.3 PPG). If you’re in a 10-team league, that means that every player in your league can get five midfielders that score above the average, but only two strikers. When you consider that strikers average more points per game than any other position, it really drives home the point that you want those spots filled with the best possible players. No one wants to be choosing between Victor Anichebe and Marouane Chamakh for their third striker spot!
2. Have a Plan, but Stay Flexible
At the moment, my personal plan is to draft two strikers and one midfielder over the course of the first three rounds and have my third striker by round 6. I also won’t even start looking at defenders until the fourth round. As good as John Terry and Branislav Ivanovic are, I doubt I’ll end up with either of them. Instead, I’ll be looking at Ashley Williams and Craig Dawson later in the draft. But, if you’re telling me that, with Eden Hazard and Graziano Pelle already on my roster, I get the choice of Aaron Ramsey or Mame Diouf in the third round, I’ll take Ramsey every time. I would bank on Ramsey making up the difference conceded by whatever downgrade I receive at the striker spot—and who knows, I could end up with this season’s Harry Kane! That brings up another point: be aware of the balance between seasoned veteran (Kevin Nolan) and potential star (Wilfred Zaha). If you have too many of the former, you create a glass ceiling for your squad, but too many of the latter can leave you stranded if they lose their starting spots.
3. Know the Players and Make a List
Forget every RMT post you’ve seen. That pool of about 30 players that end up in every FPL team won’t help you. If you’re drafting on Dugout FC, each team gets 18 players, which means you need to be prepared to go 180 players deep to get your final pick. You’ll also be looking at the likes of Roberto Firmino and Ander Herrera to be your differentials—the players priced unfavorably in FPL or whose teammates offer a better value. I highly recommend making a list of potential targets at each position, ranked according to both their expected performance and where you think you can get them in the draft. This way, you can cross-reference your lists with your plan (to decide which position you should fill next) to make the best selection possible. I found the Rate My Team feature in the Members Area invaluable for this—simply sort players by position and it effectively ranks them for you!
If you have never drafted before, you’re in for a treat; it’s exciting and stressful in equal measure. The preparation required for this format differs greatly from other fantasy games, so hopefully this will help you begin thinking about ways to use that to your advantage. Finally, if draft day does not go your way, fear not! The season is long, and it only takes a few shrewd free-agent pickups and the odd sneaky trade to turn your season around. Good luck!
Top Ten Players To Consider
1. Sergio Aguero
2. Eden Hazard
3. Wayne Rooney
4. Diego Costa
5. Alexis Sanchez
6. Harry Kane
7. David Silva
8. Christian Beneteke
9. Olivier Giroud (Theo Walcott for Dugout FC, simply by virtue of being classified a forward)
10. Romelu Lukaku
8 years, 9 months ago
Great advice. We've a mods and contribs draft with Dugout FC and I've never taken part in one before. Will be referring back to this when draft day comes.