This article will provide you the top 10 FPL tips for a successful season and to dominate your mini-leagues.

Fantasy Premier League is a really simple game. It’s us Fantasy managers that sometimes make it hard for ourselves.

It’s easily done as when you are passionate about something and spend a lot of time on it. It’s within human nature to occasionally diverge and try to think outside the box when we don’t have to.

The number of managers playing Fantasy Football has been growing exponentially over the last decade.

Just as an example in FPL, in the 2011/12 season there were 2.5 million teams and that had grown to 8.2 million teams entered in the 2020/21 season. I can see this number reaching circa 10 million this season.

The growing popularity of Fantasy Football has naturally led to so much more information being readily available.

Not long ago, Fantasy Football was a bit of a cult obsession and there were only a few niche websites which we could go to for information.

However, now it’s ubiquitous across social media, YouTube, mainstream newspaper outlets and even radio and television.

On the whole, all this information is positive but it can get to a point where it gets too much and can cause an ‘information overload’.

This tends to make us doubt ourselves, especially when you hear something contrary to your belief being posted all over social media.

Every so often, we just need to cut out the noise and think with a cool head. It’s always important to remember what has worked for us in the past.

There’s no better time to learn about FPL than near the start of a new season.

Fantasy Premier League 2021/22 Tips | Best Players

1. Don’t Fixate on Last Week’s Points – FPL Mini-League Tips

This is something I was guilty of when I first started playing Fantasy Football.

For example, Pierre Emile Højbjerg (£5.0m) scores a brace in Gameweek 1, and inevitably every man and his dog transfer him in for Gameweek 2. What happens next? He doesn’t score again all season.

You have to be able to distinguish between good Fantasy players and good players in real life.

They don’t always correlate and if you do your due diligence, you will be able to spot them.

Don’t be afraid of ownership when it comes to these types of scenarios – yes in this situation Højbjerg’s ownership will rocket but a good FPL manager will know not to bring him anywhere near his team.

Also, trust yourself – if you think a certain player is going to do well and you have statistical evidence to back it up, don’t be put off by his low ownership.

The same can be said if he isn’t been talked about by the FPL community. Fantasy Football is all about bringing in next week’s points, not last week’s.

2. Target Players With Multiple Avenues to Points – FPL Mini-League Tips

Targeting players with multiple avenues to points is vital to win your FPL mini-leagues. Ideally, you want players who can get you points from goals, assists, bonus points and even clean sheets. Look at players who take free kicks, corners and penalties, etc.

A perfect example of a player with multiple sources of points is Trent Alexander-Arnold (£7.5m). Not only is he part of solid defence in Liverpool’s but he takes free kicks corners, scores goals and gets plenty of assists. As does his counterpart Andrew Robertson (£7.0m).

Another player of this ilk is Bruno Fernandes (£12.0m) who is pretty much on all set pieces for Manchester United as well as penalties. His 18 goals and 14 assists last season tell you everything you need to know.

Trent Alexander-Arnold Stats

Bruno Fernandes OPTA Stats. Fantasy Football Hub

Bruno Fernandes Stats

If you are selecting a goalkeeper for example, look for a keeper who makes a lot of saves too. Saves are easier to predict than clean sheets and when they do keep a clean sheet, they are likely to pick up bonus points due to the number of saves they make.

3. Be Careful With Hits – FPL Mini-League Tips

Transfers in FPL are one of the most crucial factors in the game. Taking needless point hits and making rash transfers is a sure way to derail your season.

Always think your transfers through. One of the key pieces of advice I can give is to never make kneejerk or make emotional transfers. Always let the dust settle and think with a cool head especially after a bad Gameweek.

When making transfers and taking hits, always weigh up whether it’s worth it or not. Something may seem appealing on paper but when you look at it from a statistical point of view, it may turn out not to be.

To give a simplified example, say you want to take Patrick Bamford (£8.0m) out for a -4 hit. You want to bring in Ollie Watkins (£7.5m) because the former blanked in his last game and the latter scored.

Leeds United play Norwich at home and Aston Villa are up against Brentford at home. The fixtures are similar in terms of difficulty so you would need Watkins to score four more points than Bamford to break even.

If the Leeds forward scores, then you need Ollie to score at least a brace to break even. When you look at it this way, you’ll realise it’s not worth it as both players are proven goal scorers and have a similar chance of returns.

4. Pay Close Attention to Fixtures – FPL Mini-League Tips

Looking at fixtures and planning your team and moves is the bread and butter of how an FPL manager should be playing. You need to know which teams have good upcoming fixtures and target the best players from those teams.

It’s easy to get drawn into a player who scored 12 points last week and then in the following weeks plays Manchester City and Liverpool.

With the ownership, price rises and the talk of form over fixtures you can be easily sucked in. Of course, there are exceptions with some premium players who are fixture proof. Yet there are only a few of them in the game.

Target the fixtures and play on the right side of the odds with most players. In the long run, you will come out on top in your mini-leagues. Fixtures are a crucial element in any Fantasy Football game.

Fantasy Football Hub Fixture Ticker

Fixture Ticker

Our Fixture Ticker has been updated this season with advanced features. You can select between Gameweek ranges and also switch to overall, defence and attack ratings. It’s more intuitive than ever.

5. Hold on to your Chips – FPL Mini-League Tips

In FPL, we are given three chips which we can use at any time in the season and two Wildcards – one of which needs to be used by Gameweek 20 and another which can be used from Gameweek 20 until the end of the season.

If you are not familiar with the chips, then have a read of our ”What are Chips in FPL” article which explains everything you need to know about them.

It’s usually best to save your chips for the second half of the season when the Blank and Double Gameweeks come around.

Don’t get too downbeat if you’re not where you want to be in your FPL mini-leagues after a few Gameweeks. A lot of managers will use their chips early on so your rank is deflated but if you plan accordingly, you will surpass them later on in the season.

Managers who use their Wildcards and chips before the Blank and Double Gameweeks will find this period very difficult to navigate without point hits and sacrifices. Remember, the tortoise always beats the hare.

6. Pay Close Attention to Stats – FPL Mini-League Tips

As I mentioned earlier, there are so many sources of information and statistics you can look at. It’s important to filter this down and look at the metrics that matter.

For example, for attackers I would recommend looking at Shots in the Box, Shots on Target, Expected Goals (xG), Expected Assists (xA), Big Chances Created and those closely related to these.

For defenders and goalkeepers, the likelihood of a clean sheet is the bread and butter and then you look at attacking threat as a secondary metric.

These numbers are crucial and will allow you to find those golden nuggets that others may not be able to identify.

Of course, the eye-test can help too but it’s hard to watch all 10 games every week. Also with stats, you are dealing with facts but the eye-test can be subjective depending on the person watching.

Therefore, I would recommend looking at both but placing a lot more emphasis on numbers as they are not subjective. At the end of the day, FPL is a numbers game.

Our OPTA Stats Tool is perfect for looking at these types of metrics. It allows you to compare multiple players and clubs in all the significant categories you will need to determine future points.

OPTA Stats Tool

You can filter on any position, and even between specific Gameweeks and past seasons. Personally, this is my go-to tool and I use it almost every single Gameweek.

7. Timing your Transfers and Building Team Value – FPL Mini-League Tips

Although it’s good to build team value, for me this is the least important of the top 10 tips.

Timing your transfers to build team value could give you a huge advantage when it comes to the second half of the season. Making early transfers before player’s prices rise will increase your team value.

If you play it right, you can build your team value to somewhere between £110m to £117m. When it comes to the second Wildcard and your rival only has around £99m, this will swing the odds in your favour because you have more flexibility in terms of which players you can get.

The majority of price rises usually happen in the first five to six Gameweeks. But always keep in mind to pick the players who are good picks and rising in value. Building team value and selecting good players usually go hand in hand.

However, always remind yourself that points are what matters most. Make sure not to sacrifice points just to build your team value. This totally defeats the purpose and there is always a risk/reward scenario with this.

By making early transfers, you are taking a decision with limited information and injuries can occur for example. I pick my battles with early transfers and will usually wait until the press conferences before making my moves.

At the start of the season when there are hardly any midweek games, I tend to go earlier as the chance of injuries and other issues are less pronounced.

But once the Champions League and other cup competitions are in full flow in the second half of the season, I tend to make the majority of my transfers as late as possible regardless of team value.

8. Learn from the Best – FPL Mini-League Tips

The best way to learn and become a great FPL manager is to learn from other great managers who have proven records.

At Fantasy Football Hub, we have some of the best Fantasy managers worldwide. Not only do they have breathtakingly excellent credentials but the quality of writing is also top-notch.

Below are only some of the contributors and a list of their past achievements. You can read their articles by clicking their name and also follow and interact with them on Twitter.

Contributors:

Matthew Pennycae:

– FPL – three top 500 ranks, eight top 10k ranks.
– Sky Fantasy Football – 2nd place in 16/17.

Matthews’s record speaks for itself. It really is quite staggering how consistent his high ranks are and is surely one of the best to ever play FPL.

You can read Matthew’s Weekly Team Reveal and Strategy articles on the Hub.

Twitter: @FPLMatthew

Rich Clarke:

– FPL – eight top 10k finishes and former ranked number one Fantasy player in the world. Rich is a veteran of the game and again another one in contention for best overall FPL manager.

He reveals his team every Gameweek with his thoughts and transfer plans. You can access his and all other Team Reveals here.

Twitter: @richclarkefpl

Abdul Rehman:

– FPL – four top 1k ranks, five top 5k ranks.
– Sky Fantasy Football – 70^th in 17/18.

With an incredible four top 1k ranks and high finishes across different formats, Abdul’s number based approach has done him very well.

You may know him from Twitter for his weekly clean sheet and anytime scorer odds. With such a unique record and consistent high finishes, his weekly posts and Team Reveal articles are definitely one to watch out for.

Twitter: @FPL_Salah

The General:

– FPL – three top 500 finishes.

Mark McGettigan aka The FPL General needs no introduction. Fantasy Football’s biggest celebrity and prized asset. One of the first to take the plunge full time as a Fantasy Football content creator, he has his own website, numerous podcasts, and appears on the Official FPL show.

He will also be revealing his team each Gameweek exclusively for Fantasy Football Hub members.

Twitter: @FPLGeneral

Will Thomas:

– FPL – one top 100, four top 1k, and five top 10k finishes.
– Sky Fantasy Football – five top 100 ranks and 27th

Will Thomas is not just the founder of Fantasy Football Hub but he’s also an extremely good Fantasy manager, one of the very best in fact.

With numerous high finishes in both FPL and Sky, he really set the standard from early on and knows everything thing there is to know about Fantasy Football.

The fresh ideas and content he has introduced via Fantasy Football Hub have been exceptional and he has allowed managers from the community to create content and have a platform.

Twitter: @FFH_Will

Andrew Ferguson:

– Sun Dream Team – Winner 2020/21
– FPL –six top 1% finishes and top rank of 715th
– Sky Fantasy Football – two top 100 and five top 500 finishes

Our head of content Andrew Ferguson seems to be a master of all trades. His consistency in so many different formats of the game is phenomenal.

He won the season-long Sun Dream Team game last season and bagged himself a healthy £75,000 for his troubles. ‘Fergi Time’ also has very impressive records in FPL, Sky and Telegraph Fantasy Football.

Twitter: @FFH_Fergi

9. Have a Plan – FPL Mini-League Tips

Always have a plan in FPL. Think long term and don’t just transfer players in for one Gameweek.

Look at the next five to six matches at least. Examine teams who have good fixtures over a period of time and try to find clubs who coincide with a good and bad fixture run.

This will allow you to determine which assets to take out of your team as well as who you can replace them with.

Identifying fixture swings is a huge advantage and will give you a massive edge over your mini-league rivals.

This is absolutely crucial in FPL and to give you a hand with this, Fantasy Football Hub have a number of fixture planners you can access if you are a member:

Ben Crellin’s Fixture Planner

Jossy’s Fixture Planner

10. Join Fantasy Football Hub – FPL Mini-League Tips

By joining Fantasy Football Hub, you gain access to all the tools mentioned above. You also are able to join our £5000 mini-league, and if you join up before the season starts you get a 25% discount!

The Hub was the first Fantasy Football website with its own application which is being improved every season.

Download the FPL app today on IOS Apple and Google Android to access the very best tools, articles, team reveals, guides, and much more at the tip of your fingers.

I post FPL content regularly on my Twitter and Instagram if you want to follow and keep up to date there too.

Check out our Fantasy Premier League 2021/22 Ultimate Guide

Our Ultimate FPL 2021/22 Guide has everything you could ever need to be a successful FPL manager including guides, team previews, player picks, strategy articles, tools, stats, expert team reveals and much much more…

We have all the other main fantasy football games covered too…

Be it Sky Fantasy, FanTeam, Dream Team or Telegraph Fantasy, we have all the very best fantasy football tips, advice, tools and everything else you could wish for to become a better fantasy football manager and dominate your mini-leagues.

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