The Best Team Won

My Fantasy Premier League Team August 15, 2009

It is that time of the year again when footie fans scramble to assemble their fantasy premier league teams for the new season. The above screenshot is an overview the team that I have registered for the official fantasy game for the Premier League.

While I am no expert in the fantasy football business, I would like to offer a few tips based on my observations on how the game works.

1. Just like financial investments, it is important to diversify or “spread the risks”. Ideally, you should avoid having too many players from one club in your team. If you have 4 or 5 players from the same club and the club gets mauled in that particular week, you obviously won’t get a lot of points. That said, most people would like to have as many players from a top club as possible in their team. But that is nigh on impossible as these fantasy games often have a budget of sorts. So your best bet would be to cherry pick players from different clubs. For me, I try not to have more than 2 players from the same club.
2. Make sure the players you choose are likely to get picked. This might seem obvious but you would be surprised at the number of people who don’t stick to this rule. It is very easy to pick a decent player but not easy to determine whether he will get an extended run in the team. Based on this principle, you would be wise to stay away from having any strikers from Manchester City in your team. With the array of striking talent they possess, it is a tough task to guess Mark Hughes’ favoured strike pair.
3. Though it might sound unrealistic, it pays to study closely the upcoming 2 or 3 fixtures of every club. If you think a certain club can go on a run, you might do well to have more players from that particular club.
4. Have Frank Lampard in your team no matter what. I don’t normally extol the virtues of obssessing over an individual player but this guy is as “stat-friendly”as they come.  If John Terry is “Mr Chelsea”, then Frank Lampard is “Mr Fantasy Football Team”.