What is Fantasy Premier League?
To begin with, before you can begin betting on Fantasy Premier League (FPL) football, you must first understand the basics, I.E exactly what it is.
While the official FPL game is free-to-play, to ramp up the excitement punters can bet on it using a variety of different online sportsbooks and platforms. The game is based upon the Fantasy Football League, which was officially introduced in the UK in the early 1990s, following the start of the English Premier League.
Before the start of the 2002/03 Premier League season, ISM Fantasy Games officially launched the Fantasy Premier League, which was owned and operated by the Premier League. The aim of the game is very simple. You, the player, will take on the role of football manager and will select and manage a squad of 15 Premier League football players, currently playing in the EPL. The only catch is that you don’t have Man City or Newcastle money. You start the season with a measly £100 million, so choose wisely.
Once you have selected your players, you will gain points throughout the season, based on how well your players perform. Things like clean sheets, goals scored, and assists will earn you points. The aim is to finish the season with the most points after 38 games.
Betting on FPL is the same principle, though there are some subtle changes. One example is that, rather than running an entire season, you can bet upon daily or weekly performances and choose a new squad each week.
Fantasy Premier League Betting Tips
Now that we’re up to speed with FPL, it’s time to look at what you can do to maximise your chances of winning some money.
Here are a few useful Fantasy Premier League betting tips which should prove useful.
Understand the FPL Betting Markets
First and foremost, if you want to win some money with FPL football, it’s important to understand the different betting markets available to you.
Some of the most popular markets include:
- BTTS (Both Teams to Score)
- Clean Sheet Odds
- Anytime/First Goalscorer
- Player Assists
- Player Goals
- Match Results
Focus on Differential Players
Another very useful tip for anybody thinking of betting a few quid on the Fantasy Premier League is to focus on what are known as ‘differential players.’
Differential players, also known as ‘mavericks’ in some circles, are players with a low ownership percentage of around 10% or less. Basically, this will be a player that few other punters have chosen to “buy”. This means that, should he pick up points, you will gain an advantage over your competitors, because not many of them will have selected him.
Put very simply, if you imagine a prime Cristiano Ronaldo, or Lionel Messi, if players could afford them in their squad, the majority of them would choose them. A lesser-known striker, say, Barry Bannan, would obviously not be as popular as Messi or Ronaldo. If you selected Bannan and he scored a hat-trick one week however, and Messi and Ronaldo did nothing, you’d gain valuable points over your competitors.
Target “Easy” Fixtures
Another proven strategy which has been found to yield great results for FPL gamblers is to make player selections based upon easy upcoming fixtures. What do we mean by that? Basically, choose players with a good chance of picking up a lot of points in a specific game.
If you’re focussing on goals scored, you could select a striker who, on paper, has a great chance of scoring one or more goals in an upcoming fixture. Alternatively, you could select a defender with a good chance of keeping a clean sheet in an upcoming fixture.
Differential Captains Can Be Key
Another strategy which could also prove to be very effective for FPL betting is to select differential captains.
A captain with a low ownership percentage who puts in a strong performance, along with his team, can gain you a significant amount of points over players who have chosen captains with a high ownership percentage.
Use Betting Tools and Read Stats
If you really want to increase your chances of becoming a FPL betting champion, betting tools can be extremely useful.
Tools such as FPL Mania for example, can be handy for player comparisons so you can compare players against one another in a variety of useful metrics.
You can also use the official Fantasy Premier League site to understand stats such as TSB (Teams Selected By) percentages. As you might expect, Haaland is currently top of the table, with a TSB of 62.4% and 219 points in total.
Have Fun
Finally, despite the goal ultimately being to pick up as many points as possible and win some money, the most important thing with FPL betting is to have fun and enjoy yourself.