Attention Fantasy Football Fanatics!!
Anthony Moyles and JJ Worrall joined us to preview the season ahead before Saturday morning's Gameweek 1 deadline - listen here:
And fear not, The Last Word Listeners' League is back - if you were in the league last season, you'll be automatically re-entered, but if not you can use the following code on fantasy.premierleague.com to join the league (the league will closed to new entries after Gameweek 1):
1870584-407405
Best of luck!
Meanhwhile, here's what our tipster Anthony Moyles had to advise:
Q: We're back for another season, quickly remind us of the basic premise of the game?
- Fantasy Premier League managers compete against each other in private and public leagues
- Each manager must chose 15 players inside a budget of £100m, and each week plays his strongest 11
- Player values go up as well as down, dictated by performances and manager resulting demand
- As usual a manager has 1 free transfer a Gameweek, and can carry this if he doesn't use it for a max of 2 gameweek transfers
- There are also two wildcards (where he can make unlimited substitutions), one anytime and one in January
- The game is free to play, but this season there is an 'Ultimate Fantasy Premier League' game on the website which will be pay to play - however as of today they haven't put up any details, someone is in behind at work!
Q: When does a manager have have his team confirmed by for the start of this weekend?
- Saturday morning 11.30
- Never a good idea to leave it until the morning of, we saw that 2 years ago when their servers crashed
- This lead to a lot of frustration and is best avoided, get a team you'd be happy starting organised early, and by all means tinker on Friday or Sat morning but have the bulk of it sorted
Q: Any major changes to the game this year or the scoring system?
- Yet again the administrators of the game have changed how the bonus points are calculated.
- This has been a major bone of contention with FPL managers for a few seasons, it seems very hard to automate the scoring in line with what managers see and feel themselves
- This season they've introduced the Bonus Points System (BPS). I won't bore you with the details but it seems to be they're trying to take into account the more subtle aspects of a players performance that would influence a human observer to feel they had a good game
- Bonus points are now assessed on a range of statistics from the obvious ones like game time and scoring/assisting but now also including clearances, blocks, interceptions, key passes and so on
Q: How has activity in the transfer market over the summer and indeed the LACK of activity in some cases affected selection choices for fantasy managers going into this weekend?
- There's been a number of higher profile signings this summer, Man City have spent big and brought in Navas, Negredo, Jovetic and Fernandinho. Spurs have brought in Paulinho, Nacer Chadli and Soldado and Chelsea also strengthened adding Andre Schurrle and keeping the impressive Romelu Lukaku after his loan season at West Brom last year. The down side to major change like this is fantasy managers might be unsure who will be a regular starter, and sometimes sit back and wait a few games.
- A signing I am really excited by is Roberto Soldado who Spurs signed from Valencia this summer - he banged in 33 goals in La Liga last season. He'll cost you £9.5m
- We've heard and read all summer long about Gareth Bale possibly leaving Spurs for Real Madrid, Luis Suarez desperate to join Arsenal from Liverpool and Wayne Rooney apparently having decided he's had enough of Manchester United. I think the biggest fantasy impact here is Bale (Suarez is still banned for 6 games), he was simply outstanding last season on the pitch and in the Fantasy Premier League with his 21 goals and 9 assists. His cost is extremely expensive this season at £12m and I think many are gambling Spurs chairman Daniel Levy is simply playing hardball and waiting until the end of the window (Sep 2nd) before agreeing a price with Madrid. If you assume Bale will be gone you can put that £12m to great use elsewhere, Liverpools Countiho costs £9m this season, Chelsea's Hazard is £9.5m, Arsenal's Theo Walcott costs £9.5m - all three players are expected to have good starts and indeed season scores.
Q: Last season kicked off with a Double Gameweek and I believe that's the case again this season for 2 clubs?
- That's right, due to Chelsea playing Bayern in the Uefa Super Cup Final on Friday August 30, Chelsea and Aston Villa will have 2 fixtures each in Gameweek 1
- It's for this reason that Chelsea's Eden Hazard is looking to be a very popular captain choice for Gameweek 1 - the Captain of course has his score doubled every week so paying great attention here can really reap serious points dividends. Hazard is already in over 35% of teams for this weekend
- Despite Aston Villa's two fixtures not looking great on paper (both away, Arsenal and Chelsea), I quite like their striker Christian Benteke - he strikes me as the kind of player who doesn't care who he's playing, he'll still create his own chances with his power and finishing ability - he costs £9m this season after a very good performance last term - indeed he's scored 7 goals in 5 pre-season games already.
- The caveat here is both teams are then idle in Gameweek 3, so you need to plan ahead and make sure you're happy with your substitues or transfer in a replacement or two
Q: Double Gameweek aside, what players catch your eye for good or for bad?
- Every season I try and spot who might be this seasons surprise - it's very hard of course by its very nature. Last season Swansea midfielder Michu became a must have and fantasy points magnet - Swansea may have signed another possible success in striker Wilfred Bony, he's moderately priced at just £8m and has impressed many in pre-season
- Lukaku (£8m) recalled at Chelsea is an interesting one, especially if they don't sign Rooney. He scored 17 goals last season and got 7 assists
- Norwich have signed a dutch striker called Ricky Van Wolfswinkel, he hasn't had the best pre-season but his name is fun to say! But former Celtic signing Gary Hooper may prove more prolific and he's 0.5m cheaper at £6.5m
- Robin Van Persie now costs a whopping £14m which is a massive chunk out of your £100m budget. I've actually been struggling all week trying to fit him in my team after his 2 goals in the Community shield reminded everyone he hasn't dimmed at all. Even though I'm finding it tough it seems others aren't, many managers feel he's a must have especially if Bale leaves the Premier League, Van Persie is currently in over a massive 42% of teams already ahead of the season starting
