Five tips to be successful on Premier League Fantasy Football as new season gets underway

Premier League fantasy football is back ahead of the 2023/24 season and excitement is already building around the world. 

For football fanatics the new season heralds the return of many sleepless nights as they ponder the huge question marks about their fantasy team. Who should be captain, is it time to make transfers and who should be in the starting line-up as they try to solve the minefield of an increasingly competitive and popular game mode.

Whether you are playing competitively for money or just for fun with friends and family, everyone wants to succeed at fantasy football and with that in mind we have devised some of the best hints and tips to help you top your mini league this season.

What are the best tips to succeeding in Fantasy Football?

1. Create your team as early as possible

Fantasy football officially relaunched on 5 July - over a month before the start of the new Premier League season on Friday 11 August.

During this period fans are able to make unlimited changes to their team to ensure that they get off to the best possible start.

This gives managers maximum time to research their players and assess key statistics from last season such as goals, clean sheets, assists and overall points. It also allows managers crucial time to check each team's schedule to ensure that they have favourable fixtures.

Registering early is not only favourable for research purposes but it can also act as a crucial tiebreaker. For example with Premier League fantasy football, the weekly and monthly prizes can be decided on who is first to register if there's a tie in terms of points. 

2. Understanding the key rules

There are many key rules to fantasy football which are crucial to your chances of success and it is important that you have a clear understanding of the main ones if you are to do well.

Fantasy football is not usually a case of assembling the best overall starting line up and it is more a case of finding the best 11 who do well in terms of goals and assists, as well as clean sheets if they are a midfielder, defender or goalkeeper.

It is also important to be frugal with transfer activity once the season has started. Players are given just one transfer a week to make changes and a maximum of two if you opt not to make a transfer one game week.

Players who exceed the transfer limit can be penalised with a deduction of four points for each extra transfer they make - costing them valuable fantasy points.

3. Picking the best team

The best way to succeed in fantasy football is to pick a strong team from the start as it saves players the hassle of dipping into the transfer market or using their five chips too early.

With that in mind we have looked at some tips to bare in mind when picking each position.

Goalkeeper

• Look at points tally from last season and the number of clean sheets.

• Pick two players who are likely to start most games.

• Pick a goalkeeper with a high chance of making saves for bonus points.

• Assess upcoming fixtures so that they avoid difficult opponents.

Typically with a goalkeeper it is best to only go with one high value shot stopper and then it is best to pick a lower valued goalkeeper to be a substitute.

As we see in professional football you can only pick one goalkeeper at a time to pick up points in your fantasy team and it can often be a waste of resources to have two high value players in between the posts.

Defenders

• Look at points tally from last season and number of clean sheets, along with assists and goals.

• Avoid players with difficult fixtures so that they have an increased chance of keeping clean sheets.

• Typically full backs have a higher chance of scoring points than centre backs so try to prioritise players who get further forward.

• Pick someone who takes setpieces

In fantasy football you can pick up to five defenders who all have the opportunity to score points. It is important to have at least three reliable defensive choices who all have strong chances of starting.

Full backs are typically the most likely to score points and the top three most productive defenders from last season: Kieran Trippier, Trent Alexander Arnold and Ben White all played in the right back position.

Picking a defender who takes set pieces such as corners, penalties and throw-ins can also be a useful tip as they have an increased chance of scoring points.

Midfielders

• Look at points from last season and focus on key statistics such as assists and goals.

• Pick players who are regular starters and prioritise wingers and attacking midfielders rather than defensive midfielders.

• Assess their schedule so that they have a good run of fixtures against lower ranked teams to increase point scoring prospects.

Midfielders are often some of the highest scoring players in the entirety of fantasy football and it is therefore important to save a large section of the budget for this area of the team.

As is the case with defenders, it is possible to pick up to five midfielders and it is likely that you will need all five to be capable of contributing points.

Midfielders are typically one of the most highly rotated positions by football clubs and it’s important to have a quality bench that can jump in if needed.

Focusing on set piece takers and first team regulars can be key in this part of the pitch and focusing on wingers and central attacking midfielders is more important than picking a box to box midfielder or someone who is defensive minded.

Midfielders can still pick up points for clean sheets, but much less than defenders so aim to pick players from high goal scoring teams.

Forwards

• Prioritise goalscorers and first team regulars

• Save a large section of the budget for this area

• Pick players who take penalties or free kicks

Forwards along with midfielders are the most common position for players to pick points from and last year Erling Haaland of Man City and Harry Kane of Tottenham were the top two scoring players in the entirety of fantasy football.

Picking a prolific goalscorer is key to your team's chance of success and it is likely that the captain will be one of your front three so it is important to be mindful of the fixture schedule so that you can pick a player with a high chance of scoring.

Captain’s pick up two times as many points as normal players and are the key to your chances of climbing the table or building a gap on your competitors.

4. Using the transfer window well and making use of your five chips

Many fantasy football managers have a habit of quitting in the early months of the season if they get off to a bad start or suffer from an injury crisis.

However, there is still time to rejuvenate your season with tactful transfers and the use of wildcards.

When making transfers it is important to try and make them as late as possible in the gameweek to minimise the chances of injury. If possible try and make changes around 24 hours before a matchday so that the player you transfer in doesn’t pick up a midweek injury by playing in one of the three European competitions.

Wildcards are another useful tool if you are looking to make multiple changes to your team. Wildcards allow players to make unlimited transfers in a gameweek and can be used twice a season.

Bench boost and triple captains can be used once a season. Bench boost allows the players on your subs bench the opportunity to pick up extra points, while triple captain allows your captain to pick three times as many points in a matchweek.

The free hit chip is another which can be used once a season and it allows unlimited transfers in a gameweek before resetting back to the team that you had before.

5. Keep up to date with experts

Throughout the season fans will be provided with weekly hints and tips on a range of different podcasts. England pitchside reporter Kelly Somers is the current presenter of the FLP Pod alongside Julien Laurens and Sam Bonfield.

The National World sports team will also provide players with updates on hints and tips throughout the campaign so that you can transfer in the best players at different points in the season.