How time flies. Almost without warning, the 2015/16 Premier League season is less than a month away.
While some fans will be glued to the JOE transfer blog for the latest on their club’s move for that desperately needed new striker, others will be preoccupied with one thing only: their fantasy football league squad.
We’re big fantasy football addicts here at JOE and, luckily for us, the official Premier League website offers a simple and free version of the game at fantasy.premierleague.com.
Whether you’re the sort of person who turns to Twitter every Thursday for advice on your team, or the type who has a few good weeks then gives up before Christmas, there are a few tips we’ve picked up over the years.
1. Choose a good team name
It seems minor, but this will elevate you above your rivals and show you’ve put a lot of thought into your campaign.
If you have one mate whose team is called ‘Tom’s XI’ and another who has gone with ‘AC a Little Silhouetto of Milan’, who do you think has too much time on their hands is cooler? Exactly.
Of course, if you want to set yourself even more of a challenge you can add a rule where the player you use in your team name pun must stay in the team for the whole season. Probably best to stay away from Watford defenders if that’s the case.
#AccidentalPartridge galore in the team names: RT @101greatgoals Spurs players' private Fantasy Premier League table pic.twitter.com/AfvR8PRzLK
— Tottenham Independent Transfer Stories (@bankruptspurs) January 6, 2015
2. Go easy on the new signings
When a top player arrives from a foreign league, the chances are they’ll have impressed you when you saw them play, but this might be because you’ve watched more highlights shows than full games.
Even some of the best new signings take a while to bed in – just look at Nemanja Vidic and Patrice Evra’s early struggles at Manchester United.
We’re not saying you should ignore all new arrivals altogether, but it pays to be selective. For every Diego Costa there’s a Juan Cuadrado and for every Michu there’s an Andreas Cornelius (look him up).
This tweet is dedicated to all those who put Van Wolfswinkel in their Fantasy Premier League team in Gameweek 1 then never checked it again.
— Jonny Sharples (@JonnyGabriel) May 7, 2014
3. Look out for a good bargain
Just like in the real-life transfer market, there is value to be found in the fantasy league marketplace if you look hard enough. With a budget of just £100m, you’ll need to balance out the star players with a bargain or two.
Sometimes it’s a case of picking someone from a newly promoted club with the skill-set to kick on in the top flight, while you might also identify someone who will get more games following the sale of a team-mate or the appointment of a new manager.
It can often pay to keep an eye on line-ups in pre-season games to get an idea of whether some unlikely players are impressing enough to get a run in the first-team in August.
Of course, you can be forgiven for not seeing it coming. We’ll give you a free pass on leaving Harry Kane out of your team last season.
https://twitter.com/ChrisBottom16/status/494786017317384193
4. Join a league or 10
While everyone starts the season with dreams of being the best in the world, it pays to be realistic.
You might not be able to compete with the pros who spend hours each week honing their starting line-up, but you can at least beat your mates…or show up the JOE.co.uk team.
Offices up and down the country will be setting up their own private leagues where everyone chucks in a fiver for whoever lasts the distance and wins the whole thing, while the official free-to-enter JOE league will reward the champion with a brand new PS4 as well as several runners-up prizes.
Also just realised I've joined far too many fantasy leagues. Was in like 3 last year. QUINTUPLE THAT this time.
— Dan (@GolazoDan) August 13, 2011
5. Be smart when it comes to transfers and wildcards
For newcomers to the game, it helps to know that you’re allowed one free transfer each week, which rolls over to a second week if you don’t use it. Any further transfers knock four points off your total, which is the equivalent to having a goal chalked off.
You can also use two wildcards, one in each half of the season, which allows you unlimited free transfers for that week only. It can be tempting to use it early to steal a march on your rivals, though the more pessimistic among us prefer to save it for when the inevitable injury crisis hits our team.
It is also worth looking at a team’s next few fixtures, rather than just the next one, when making a transfer. If a team has a favourable run coming up (or even better, two games in the same week) then you’ll want to capitalise if you can.
#FPL pic.twitter.com/YGQqdJix6Z
— Mac (@Tweetgood_Mac) May 3, 2014
So, with all that out the way, you should be in the perfect position to pick your starting XI and join some leagues.
You can join the JOE.co.uk official league with the code 14094-25570, or by clicking here.
