The English Premier League is one of the most watched soccer competitions in the world and if you consider yourself an expert, you may want to check out where to participate in Fantasy Premier League Betting. It used to only be NFL, NBA, NHL, and MLB that you could play Daily Fantasy Sports (DFS) with, but an increasing number of fantasy sports sites are spreading to soccer, and with the Premier League being so popular, this is one of the first soccer league they offer contests for.
You must pick a team from a pool of real Premier League players. There are rules in place to prevent you from simply filling your team with the best possible players. You then receive points based on those players’ performances in a specific game or number of games. If your team finishes with the most points when the contest ends, you win.
How strong is your Premier League knowledge? Are you confident that your Premier League expertise could win you cash prizes? Then why not get involved in some Fantasy Premier League contests?
Best Online Fantasy Premier Leagues
DraftKings is widely regarded as the best online Fantasy Premier League site due to its easy-to-learn scoring system. It is not too complicated but is still complex enough for there to be plenty of skill needed to win some of the cash prizes.
Another great feature of DraftKings are the sheer number of contests available to choose from including games where only five people play for a prize, 10 people play for a prize, or large tournament which can have several thousand players competing at the same time. In early 2016, a poker player known as “aejones” won a $5 million prize by becoming the DraftKings’ Fantasy Football World Champion, fingers crossed that fantasy soccer grows to a similar size in the near future.
How Does Fantasy Premer League Work?
So how does the DratKings Fantasy Premier League work? Choose a team of eight players, from a pool of real Premier League players, to make a team consisting of a goalkeeper, two defenders, two midfielders, two forwards, and a utility player (any non-GK).
You receive points based on how your players perform in real Premier League matches, gaining points for things like scoring goals, having a shot on target, crossing the ball into the box, making a successful tackle, being fouled, making a save and keeping a clean sheet. You lose points for conceding goals, receiving yellow and red cards, for fouling, and several others.
DraftKings has a rule that states each fantasy team must have players from at least three different teams, plus each player has a value or salary assigned to them, and you must stay within a salary cap. This makes for an exciting challenge. Do you spend a large percentage of your salary on a star forward, or opt for a lesser forward to spend more money on a good midfield player?
You don’t need to invest a lot of your own money or bankroll into playing contests at DraftKings because there are some free-to-play games that are perfect for cutting your teeth in the world of fantasy sports, and for beating your friends in a battle of bragging rights.
When you do come to enter some real-money contests you will find a wide range of entry fee from a dollar up to $300 and sometimes even higher, meaning the prizes on offer can be huge.
How To Win Fantasy Premier League
Fail to prepare, prepare to fail should be your motto when it comes to Fantasy Premier League. There is a plethora of information about each Premier League team, their players, and past results against specific teams. You can bet your bottom dollar that your opponents will be a lot of reasearch, so don't slack off.
Picking Goalkeepers
The most important player in your team is the goalkeeper. Goalkeepers not only receive points for making saves and keeping clean sheets, but also receive five points for a victory. They lose two points per goal conceded so it is crucial to pick a ‘keeper who has a solid defence in front of him. That last part is vital because a goalkeeper who keeps a clean sheet and wins would net 10 points plus 2 points for every save made, while a ‘keeper in a team losing 1-0 will be on -2 points, an eight point difference.
Picking Goal Scorers & Set Up Men
Next on your team sheet should be players who can score goals for fun. In the 2015/16 Premier League season, Harry Kane scored 25 goals, with both Sergio Aguero and Jamie Vardy scoring 24 goals each. Even without any assists these players scored a combined 730 points.
Out and out strikers tend to only score goals and not make many for their teammates, so finding a player who can do both can be a real point earner. Expect players such as Riyad Mahrez and Dimitri Payet to be very expensive. They both make and score goals in equal amounts and the points can rack up quickly when six oints per assist is on offer.
Mahrez has scored 22 goals and assisted 15 in his 78 Premier League career games, while Payet has 10 goals and 16 assists from his 39 career appearances.
Choosing Midfielders & Defenders
When choosing a midfielder, decide whether you want an attacking player in the mould of Mahrez or Payet, or a ball-winning midfielder like N’Golo Kante or Yohan Cabaye. Kante may only have two career goals, but he made 175 tackles in 2015-16 alone, the most of any player in the Premier League. Cabaye is a more all-round player. He scored 23 goals and 11 assists in 121 games, making 106 tackles in the process.
Now to your defenders, where you can choose between central defenders and full backs. The former tend to pick up mostly defensive points for clean sheets and tackling, with full backs more likely to pick up points from offensive categories, crossing and assists.
Whoever you’re picking and whatever position they play, look out for their disciplinary record. Last season, Erik Pieters was booked 10 times, the same number of yellow cards as defensive central midfielder Eric Dier. Points are hard enough to come by without one or two players giving them away needlessly.
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