Football fans everywhere know the value of websites that provide accurate and up-to-date information when it comes to their favourite teams. Nowadays, with interests such as fantasy football and the official Fantasy Premier League (FPL) game, we all like to know what starting eleven every team will be going with, not just the club we support.
The interest in FPL has really snowballed in the last decade or so. Incredibly, there are over seven million people signed up to this season’s iteration of the official game for England’s top flight.
Gone are the days of picking your team from the pages of a newspaper and hoping your players stay fit over the course of the season. Now it’s all immediate, all online, and all easily accessible.
Equipping yourself for the FPL game
All the football knowledge in the world won’t help you succeed at FPL if you don’t know where to gather your information from. That’s why you must know all the best places to look. Online data is so valuable in FPL these days that people who are good at analysing statistics are placing high in the FPL leagues, even if they don’t ‘know’ a huge amount about the sport itself.
One of the most valuable tools in the FPL world is the predicted lineups ahead of each group of fixtures. Find a site that’s right for you and where they offer such vital know-how. If you feel you can trust the information they are providing – this might take a week or two for you to decide – then stick with it. Hopefully, the site is user-friendly and suited to your reading style as well. As you can imagine, there are hundreds to choose from. They all claim to be the best but it’s up to you to figure out which one is right for you.
Before the gameweek deadline, you need to make a point of visiting the predicted lineups in the Premier League page. What you can find out at such pages will be invaluable in terms of assisting you with your FPL team. Hold off on all transfers, decisions about captain and vice-captain, prioritising your substitutes, until you’ve seen the likely lineups for each club.
To summarise, finding the right site for you, the one you are comfortable using and that you know you can trust the information found within, is priceless. Having a look at that site before the deadline in each round of fantasy football will be at the core of your FPL routine.
Beware of Premier League injuries
So, you’ve been thinking all week about what changes you’re going to make to your FPL team. You may even have decided to use your Wildcard early. You check the predicted lineups ahead of the deadline and some of the players you wanted to transfer into your team don’t seem to be starting! What’s going on?!
There are some possibilities, of course. However, the most common reason for players missing out on the action is injuries. Again, there are some great sites that provide up-to-the-minute information for everyone.
When it comes to injuries in football, there are many factors to consider. Take long-term absences due to serious injury for example. Most experienced football fans will know that players can miss months and, even though it may be reported they are back to full training, it can still take a further few weeks for the player to be fully ‘match fit’. These returning players are far more likely to make some brief ‘cameo’ appearances first as they build up their ‘game time’. If they’ve been out for a long period, it’s highly unlikely they will be risked in a starting lineup just as they return to full training.
Bad boys in the FPL
The other notable reason for players being unavailable for selection is suspension. In the Premier League, anyone who gets five yellow cards in the first 19 games (first half of the season), will receive a one-game suspension. The same rule applies for the next five yellows, and so on. If someone is sent off after a second yellow card in the same game, they will also miss a game. A direct red card for a professional foul carries a single game ban too. Suspensions can be more than one game – for example, if a player is sent off for dissent or, of course, violent conduct.
To check what players are currently suspended, your best bet is probably the official FPL site.
