This season has been one full of surprises and we are only four gameweeks in! Some of you may find yourself 4-0 thinking you will cruise your way to the title. Others may find yourselves 0-4 wondering why you decided to play fantasy this season. I always go by the saying that championships favor the bold. Here I will give you a few bold, or a little odd, strategies that could help you win your Fantasy EPL league!
Looking for a better way to play Fantasy Premier League? The Fantrax draft-style EPL Fantasy Soccer Leagues are the most feature-rich, easy-to-use, and customizable in the industry. Sign up now to enjoy the incredible experience that is a Fantasy EPL Draft League on Fantrax!
Three Bold Strategies to Win Your Fantasy EPL League
Read below for three bold strategies that may help you win your Fantasy EPL league come the end of the season. Fortune favors the bold!!
Trade Out Your Elite Defenders
This season we saw elite defenders being drafted earlier than ever with a lot of drafts seeing Alexander Arnold, Digne, and Robertson gone by the early 3rd round. We are also seeing a lot more goals scored with over 3.5 goals a game, up by almost a full goal from last season. This means a lot less clean sheets and bigger negative scores in some games. It’s hard to know which defense to trust; Liverpool shipped 7 goals, Manchester United 6, Manchester City 5, and Chelsea 3 in under 45 minutes to West Brom!
The ones I am looking to hold are full-backs on set pieces for attacking value. The likes of Digne, Alexander-Arnold, Chilwell, and Robertson will probably be the top 4 at the end of the season. All of your other elite defenders you should look to trade out for an attacker or attacking fullback. I would even consider offering any of those four if the right offer came in!
Recommendations:
For example Van Dijk will still give you a solid floor of 5-7 points, but if Liverpool continues to concede 1 or more a game could it be time to sell on “name value”. I would look to offer out these types of “elite CBs” such as VVD, Boly, and Maguire to get back attackers. Sell on name value and look for attackers who could contribute with attacking returns, but are also somewhat inconsistent. Could you get Jack Harrison and a FWD3 such as Cavani for one of these guys?
Take Value Hits to Have Open Roster Spots
This season will be a weird one. We are still in the middle of a pandemic, there was very little turnaround between seasons, and schedules are still compact as ever. Having extra spots on your bench could win you the league. There will be last-minute reports just like with the Mane situation of players testing positive for COVID-19. Having an extra spot on your bench will always allow you to pick up streamers to plug and play when needed.
I wouldn’t be surprised if after an international break we see 20 or more relevant players out with injury or illness, and having them on your bench could cause you a few losses. Every week you decide to field less than 11 players you risk losing a minimum of 5-10 points which could decide a matchup.
Recommendations:
The trades I’m recommending are where you will trade two or three players for one slight upgrade. Usually, I say in a 2:1 offer, the two players should add up to be more valuable than the one. I would even go a step further to say they should be almost 1.5x more valuable.
A few examples of some valuation trades could be Richarlson + Greenwood for Rashford. While you may give up a FWD1 and a FWD2/3 for a FWD1 you gain an extra roster spot to ensure you can always field 11 and still get the best asset in the deal.
Stack Defenders From The Same Team
Not the boldest strategy here if you plan on rostering Van Dijk, Robertson, and Trent, but with more goals being scored in each game, you could have better luck banking on one team vs. spreading your risk. While you may think that you wouldn’t want to be on the wrong end of another Liverpool vs. Aston villa situation, I’m not sure owning a combination of Liverpool, Manchester United, or Arsenal defenders that week would have changed much.
The end goal here is upside. Each week you could be banking on 12-18 points from clean sheets on top of ghost points and attacking returns. On the weeks you get your clean sheets this strategy could be your route to a score of 150+. This doesn’t mean you should go pick up three West Brom or Fulham defenders because “that’s all that’s available.” You should acquire this strategy through strategic trades and pickups.
Recommendations:
For this strategy, there will be two strategies you could employ. Option one is backing a top-four team for the season and trading in multiple defenders and picking up their goalie. If you already own Ben Chilwell, maybe sending an offer for Zouma and picking up Mendy could be your route to the Chelsea defense. They have a nice schedule and are considered a “top four” side that should pick up a fair amount of clean sheets when on form this season.
Option two would be streaming two-three defenders from a certain team each week depending on your waiver wire. For this to work you will want to target teams playing against teams who don’t create many chances or have a lot of injuries to their goal scorers. My early season recommendation is to target teams playing against Sheffield United, Burnley, or Fulham. These three teams are unlikely to score in bulk and have only scored a combined 7 goals across 11 games.
Looking for some Top Tips For Trading During The International Break too? Check out this amazing resource!
Follow The FF Genie on Twitter @draftgenie for all the latest!
Fantrax was one of the fastest-growing fantasy sites of 2019 and we’re not letting our foot off the pedal now! With multi-team trades, designated commissioner/league managers, and drag/drop easy click methods, Fantrax is sure to excite the serious fantasy sports fan – sign up now for a free year at Fantrax.com.