As many of you will know by now, the beta version of the Ultimate Fantasy Premier League game is set to get underway this weekend. Having analysed the game, we take a look at the main rules involved and analyse some key differences from Fantasy Premier League (FPL) in order to help Fantasy managers assemble their 25-man squads:

Selecting Your Squad

Your 25-man squad must comprise of three goalkeepers, eight defenders, eight midfielders and six forwards. For each Gameweek, you can utilise only 18 players – 11 starters plus seven bench players who you can swap in if your first-team fail to produce points. The subs can only be made on a daily basis, i.e. a player with a match on Sunday can replace one who took to the field on Saturday and so on.

The “stick or twist” principle familiar to those who have played the Champions League or McDonald’s World Cup games comes into play – if you opt for a different captain, you lose the double points accrued from the previous owner of your armband. Players who have received a red card cannot be replaced.

Formation-wise, the usual FPL rules apply, with a minimum of three defenders required. You can choose up to four players from any individual Premier League side but must select at least 10 home grown or Under-21 individuals as part of your 25-man squad. Your budget is £160m, though for the beta version, the player prices will not fluctuate from this point.

Transfers

The first Gameweek kicks off this weekend and you can fine-tune your selections right up until 12.30pm – 15 minutes before Chelsea’s clash with Everton, thus giving us the chance to get the team sheets before making our final decisions. We can then make four transfers over the course of the week, though it’s a case of use them or lose them as they are not carried over to the following round of matches.

Gameweek 2 is even more advantageous from a team sheet perspective. With no lunchtime kick-off, we can tinker until 14.45pm – allowing us to discover the line-ups for the four matches taking place at 3pm that afternoon. We are afforded a further four free transfers ahead of Gameweek 3, which gets underway at 12.45pm at the Hawthorns, where West Brom take on United in one of just six fixtures that Gameweek, due to FA Cup postponements.

After that, we are handed a Wildcard to fine-tune our teams for the run-in. Essentially, this has to be played before 12.30pm on March 15 (or 15 minutes before the kick-off of the first match in FPL Gameweek 30 to you and me).

If you fancy taking a gamble or are hampered by injuries, there’s a loan system available. Each team can only have one loan agreement in place –  four Gameweeks is the maximum length of any loan deal, with points deductions in accordance to the length of the arrangement. Any number of players can be brought in within this loan agreement but remember if you want to loan more than one player they must be at the same time and within the same loan agreement.

Deadlines

Gameweek Deadline
Gameweek 1 22 Feb 12:30
Gameweek 2 1 Mar 14:45
Gameweek 3 8 Mar 12:30
Gameweek 4 15 Mar 12:30
Gameweek 5 22 Mar 12:30
Gameweek 6 29 Mar 12:30
Gameweek 7 5 Apr 11:30
Gameweek 8 12 Apr 11:30
Gameweek 9 19 Apr 11:30
Gameweek 10 26 Apr 11:30
Gameweek 11 3 May 11:30
Gameweek 12 11 May 11:30

Every Saturday, we can take advantage of the early kick-off team sheets when determining our 18-man squads for the Gameweek. At present, the deadline from Gameweek 7 onwards is listed as 11.30am but we have had it confirmed that, once the TV schedules have been sorted, this will be altered and be moved to 15 minutes prior to the first kick-off in each Gameweek. We will, of course, also benefit from the first line-ups from any subsequent days in the Gameweek.

The Scoring System

The big news is that are no bonus points awarded in the Ultimate game. Instead, the scoring metric awards various contributions from defensive actions such as clearances, blocks, interceptions and recoveries, whilst further up the field, creativity is acknowledged – key passes, crosses and big chances created all help towards an individual’s tally. Perhaps surprisingly, forwards are awarded the same number of points for scoring (six) as a midfielder or defender, thus strengthening their captaincy prospects.

Over the last week, there’s been much discussion on the new game on the site with some real standout pieces of research. None more so than this spreadsheet from Studley – essentially, it analyses each position and calculates the difference in every player’s current FPL points compared to what they would have accrued under the Ultimate points scoring system. This Hot Topic by the 3rd Turd also makes excellent infographics out of the same data.

Whilst the scoring system boosts virtually every player’s prospects, by delving further into the data we can see certain positions benefit more than most. Of the 13 players whose Ultimate score exceeds their FPL score by 40 or more points, three are defenders, nine are midfielders, whilst just one plies his trade up front.

Five of the top seven defenders to benefit most are centre-halves. Martin Skrtel, Curtis Davies, Jonas Olsson, Michael Dawson and Damien Delaney’s displays in the heart of their respective back-fours are smiled upon kindly.

Central midfield ball-winners with a touch of creativity are, by and large, the real winners here. Tom Huddlestone and Mark Noble, for example, would be 52 points better off in the Ultimate game, whilst Liverpool skipper Steve Gerrard’s prospects are also improved by 49 points. Indeed, Gerrard and Eden Hazard aside, eight of the top 10 most improved midfielders are priced at 5.6 or under, with options such as Mile Jedinak, Ashley Westwood and Fabrice Mulumbu looking canny cut-price acquisitions.

Up front, Luis Suarez’ improvement of 55 points is greater than any player in the Ultimate game. It’s not just about goalscoring, though – what’s noticeable is that three of the top four most improved frontmen (Suarez, Wayne Rooney and Rickie Lambert) are also three of the top four for “key passes” amongst forwards this season. It’s nice to see that consistent creativity is rewarded, even if their team-mates fail to stick away the chances.

Planning to the Fixtures

When assembling our squads, the ability to “stick or twist” with our chosen players brings a new element to our planning approach. Not only is there the strength of schedule and home/away rotation to consider, we also have to factor in the day of the week that each team plays in any given Gameweek.

Ultimate Gameweek 1-6 Schedule

A crucial part of planning for the Ultimate game is ensuring you have solid replacements in line to swap in for those players who failed to produce on Saturdays. The above table highlights how Tottenham’s schedule can help us when selecting our back-up options. Over the next six Gameweeks, Tim Sherwood’s side play five of their fixtures on a Sunday – the likes of Arsenal and Chelsea, on the other hand, play all of their matches on a Saturday.

Villa and Liverpool take to the field three times on a Sunday and twice on a Saturday over the upcoming six Gameweeks. The Merseysiders’ schedule is particularly key here. If, for example, you have Luis Suarez and Daniel Sturridge in your squad, you’ll intend to play both on those Sundays – if two of your Saturday forwards bring home the points the day before, though, you could be left with a major decision as to who to omit.

Indeed, with the Tottenham fixtures in mind, acquiring Emmanuel Adebayor as well as the Reds front two – a tactic very successful in FPL right now – could ironically cause problems for Ultimate managers. Balancing out your options over the days of the week is a vital part of planning in order to minimise the risk of leaving yourself with a big-hitter warming the bench if one or more of your Saturday players unexpectedly runs riot. A distinctive difference, then, and one of many tweaks which will surely see the Ultimate game become a firm favourite amongst dedicated Fantasy managers around these parts.