PICKING THE DEFENCE

Okay, it isn't new knowledge that the 2016/17 fantasy premier league site is live. Now the hard part of picking a nice 15 man squad begins. for those who haven't played the game before, give it a try at fantasy premier league and you will be in for a super exciting premier league season.

For the newbies, you have to pick a squad of 15 players where 11 will start and 4 including a goalie will be on the bench.

How to pick your squad

With £100 available, you have to be very careful as you will have only one free transfer per week once the season starts.

The Defenders

This is one of the easiest ways to get points as there are many team templates and many options to pick per team as unlike forwards were goals are the main source of points, for defenders clean sheets are the main source of points so it is easier to identify. That been said attack minded defenders are very important as they tend to rack up more points and more bonus and so are evidently more expensive.

1. 3 way rotation. 

This is one of the more popular picks. It involves selecting 2 premium defenders(£5.5- £6.5) that have more chances of cleansheets/attacking returns usually from the top teams then combining them with 3 cheaper options who rotate well over the season either in terms of  “easier fixtures” or home and away rotation (to be treated later). The rotators are mainly cheapies (£4.5 - £5.0 or £4.0 if you pick a £6.5) and will be the additions to the steady 2 premium defenders who will almost never be benched.

A classic example was the 5.5,5.5,4.5,4.5,4.5 of bellerin, alderweireld, morgan, evans, pieters of last season with the last 3 picking themselves based on form/fixtures.

2. 5 way street

Here instead of going for premiums, you go for mid priced assests with attacking instincts that you can rotate anytime. The advantage of this method is that you are not restricted to just 3 players to pick from and can freely select even 4 defenders based on fixtures as you will have a better bigger combination pool.

A classic example was the £5.0 quintuple of dawsom, Williams, rose, fuchs, van aanholt.

Overall you should consider who you’ve selected as your goalie before picking your defence. Also at the beginning of the season I do not advice a double up on any defence as it could be costly.

Finally, you shouldn’t spend more than £25 on your defence as it could squeeze your hand further forward.

Thanks For reading and I’ll be happy to read your thoughts or questions.