Return of fan favourite Fantasy Premier League

The 2019/2020 English Premier League season gets underway this Friday, 9 August and every young fan should be preparing to take part in their favourite passtime which is the Fantasy Premier League (FPL).

The new season brings new challenges, with world class talent constantly flooding the most watched league in the world.

Many players like myself are eager to hit the ground running and sign the marque players that get us all the goals and key bonus points that will separate you from your competitors in your league.

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My advice heading into the new season is to have a balanced squad that evenly contributes to your weekly points tally.

The 100 million pound budget allows you to assemble your squad of 16 players and one rookie error most newcomers make is splashing their cash on attackers only.

Although the Premier League entertains us with a lot of goals – it’s still easy for players to go for dry-spells in front of goal, so do not be careless and ruin your budget on attackers who could bring you plenty of goals but could get injured just as easily.

In the game, having a top goalkeeper who makes plenty of saves or keeps a lot of clean sheets is something that keeps your points tally ticking over.

Everton goalkeeper, Jordan Pickford, earned me points with a lot of saves but sadly, he and his team shipped in a lot goals as well, so I need to find a keeper who strikes a good balance between clean sheets and saves. Maybe Liverpool stopper, Allison could give me that?

The back four tends to be the hardest for me to pick because I don’t know whether I should be conservative and pick players that don’t concede a lot or players that make valiant goal contributions. My advice for this season is to buy the players that make goal contributions, they earn you more points than the clean sheet focused players.

In midfield – it’s all about the productivity of the player.

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It’s pointless to have an aesthetically pleasing player, like Everton’s Andre Gomes or former Tottenham Hotspurs player, Moussa Dembele.

Acquire a player who gets those assists and pops in with a goal or two in every other game.

With attackers, it’s simple. Get the player who bangs it in for fun! Harry Kane has always been my player for that but the league has new potential goal scorers like Moise Kean (Everton), Sebastian Haller (West Ham), Nicholas Pepe (Arsenal) and Allan Saint-Maxim (Newcastle) all of which can score goals and could prove to be a bargain.

I spoke to some fans of FPL and here’s what they had to say about the game:

Keegan: I think the competitive side of the game is fun and seeing which of your mates has the best knowledge of football and the game in general.

Njabulo: It tests your knowledge of the game as well as how well you know the players in the league. The game is also about taking risks and rewards to benefit your team, it makes you feel like you’re an actual manager.

Luke: The predicting aspect is cool. They give you a budget and you have to choose players with that money and see if you do well, the stats do help you in finding a nice balance in your side.

Send your comments to student@dbn.caxton.co.za

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