Fantasy Premier League: 5 Tips and tricks to score more points

Fantasy Premier League for this season is well and truly underway. The first couple of gameweeks were high scoring in general. Goals have been aplenty and managers more often than not have started with a high accumulation of points. If this can indeed be sustained for the upcoming weeks is still to be seen.

For those who haven't managed to score well, the season is long and hard. They have a lot of time to still catch up and get ahead of the pack. Having the trust in your squad is crucial as players usually take a while to get going into the new season. Take Harry Kane for example.

Also Checkout : Players with most points in FPL | FPL Captain to have

There are certain practices that top-performing FPL players develop through time which gives them an edge over the others.

These are the few tips to make your team squad better overall and to gather maximum points returns in the season.

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#1 Home fixtures are more likely to grab more points

Playing at home increases the chance of a good points return

Manchester City last season scored 61 goals at the Etihad as compared to 45 away from home in the EPL. Another team that showed a high contrast between home and away was Arsenal, who got 15 wins at home scoring 54 when compared to only 4 wins away scoring a paltry number of 20 goals. Talking about the defensive front, Liverpool last season conceded only 10 goals at Anfield while giving away 28 away from home- that is almost thrice the amount.

This statistic runs throughout the EPL. No team in the league won more away games than their home ones. The point is that clubs and FPL prospects are likely to perform better while playing at home.

Away fixtures are generally tougher for a player and attackers, in general, find it harder to get a good haul. When in confusion between two players who have an equal prospect of scoring points in the next gameweek, go for the one playing at home.

There are obvious exceptions to this. Teams playing against bigger clubs will naturally have a tendency to score less whether, home or away. Similarly, while playing against the weaker clubs even away from home, you expect a good points return.

This trick is best applied in the scenario where there are equal chances of a points return and you need to choose between one of them. Like choosing between Salah and Aguero for captaincy in GW 2, where Salah played away and got 9 while Aguero playing at home got 20.

This can also be utilized while choosing a bench and deciding who to start. Defenders and goalkeepers even from small teams are way more likely to keep a clean sheet when playing at home.

#2 Do not take a point hit, unless necessary.

There are a lot of great options in the FPL but don't try to get them all in at one time

Yes, we understand that your team needs work at certain times in the season. When that one free transfer available to you is just not enough. When that certain prospect seems so alluring that you decide take a 4 or even an 8 point hit.

Break that practice right now.

The FPL is very competitive and 4 points in one GW means a lot. It could very well make a difference of hundreds of thousands in your ranking. Also if you are regular hit taker, then your overall rank will never be able to reach a respectable position no matter how good the players you are getting into your team.

Strategize your transfer targets in advance. Try going without a transfer once in a while which will give you two free transfer the next gameweek, utilize that to change your team. If you check the transfer history of the overall leaderboard players, you'll notice that the best players in the game never take a point hit.

The risk is viable only when you're somehow assured of a good points return by the incoming player in the next round. If you see yourself getting a 10+ points overhaul even after taking a 4 points cut, then, by all means, go for it. But try and plan transfers such as this in advance so that you could get those players in without taking the points cut.

#3 Do not buy players in a rush

Wan-Bissaka buyers got a red card setback in GW2

So there was this player that caught everyone's eye on the weekend after he scored a brace and got a lot of points. Better put away that other player in our team who hasn't done anything for two weeks and get the new one in, right?

The new player then goes on to do nothing the rest of the season, while the player you put out goes on a goal-scoring rampage.

Sounds familiar? This has happened to the best of us and it hurts a lot. Getting that player back into our teams and missing all those points or wasting a transfer on a once in a season performer- these are the results of rush buys.

The excitement after a match day is real. There are so many eye-catching players to choose from but many of them are one game wonders. A defensive midfielder might get a goal on a rare run forward but by no means is guaranteed another goal or assist the next match.

The best way to avoid this is to stay patient and rely on statistics rather than gameweek scores. Check the threat index and creativity score of an attacking player before getting him.

Another thing to check is if the player is a guaranteed starter. A lot of players are brought in for a couple of games and might score well, but do not play regularly enough to warrant an inclusion in your team.

#4 Trust statistics over big names

Big names do not mean a lot of FPL points

Player statistics have become a big part of the FPL game in recent years and for good reason. The entire process of getting good returns week in week out requires somehow lessening the effect of unpredictability in the game. The best way to accomplish this is by the usage of stats.

Judging how many points a player is likely to give depends on a lot of factors. Suppose there are two attacking wingers in a side. Both have given good returns in a couple of gameweeks, but you can only get one. How to predict which one the two will continue to give the same points return throughout the season?

You check the number the forward run each player makes. Which one manages more touches inside the box. Which of them has more shots on target.

Getting answers to questions such as this will make the job a lot easier and will be way more reliable than relying on one's instinct or pure luck.

A great example of players making use of stats to get maximum points last season was by the judicious use of Liverpool's defenders who were grabbing a lot of clean sheets at home but were leaking goals in away matches. Rotating them with other players in the matches where they were less likely to score points proved a great tactic as opposed to playing them week in week out.

Make use of the Threat statistic and the ICT index in the game to find the best players to get into your side. Creativity statistic is a good indicator for players more likely to provide assists. Make an informed decision next time before buying a player as opposed to relying on your gut.

#5 Spread out your squad

It is tempting to fill your squad with a single team's players

The maximum numbers of players you can get from one team are 3 as per the FPL rules. This, however, does not mean that you have to get three players from the same team in your squad. It is a well-known practice of the top FPL players to restrict their squad to two players from one side.

Many FPL managers pick players from their favourite club or the ones in form. As a result their squad becomes way too reliant on a couple of teams.

This is not a good practice even if that team is performing well. For regular returns week in week out, player shuffling is necessary. It would be very rare if those three players continue to get points week after week.

The problem arises when that team fails to perform in a particular match day. Then you have at least three non-performing players in your team for that gameweek. It could take a lot of time to catch up to a bad GW.

Teams like Manchester City though, have bagged points game after game in recent times, which has led to many FPL players relying too much on their players, while also at times to good effect. If you feel it is necessary to utilize this strategy then spread out the rest of your squad and rotate that third city player from time to time in order to avoid the danger of a bad GW.

The English Premier League has a lot of high performing teams and high scoring options in the game, fortunately, are aplenty. Utilizing the options that all those teams provide rather than relying on the exploits of just one or two of them is a better strategy. It will definitely serve you well in the long run.