Five simple ways to win your FPL Mini League

There’s nothing better than beating your friends at fantasy football and Matthew Glazier of Bettingpro.com offers some straightforward advice to ensure the bragging rights

I’m no different to most of you reading this.

I go to bed every evening thinking about which players in the “Get It Ready” squad are underperforming. I log into my FPL account every morning to see if my team value has risen or gone down after the price changes. I spend Saturday and Sunday afternoons refreshing the points page and checking to see how my rivals are faring.

Having been playing FPL for a couple of seasons, I think I’ve cracked a way of beating friends and work colleagues, even if the top players are still streets ahead of where I want to be. Here are five useful pointers which can help you win your personal Mini League.

1)    Make your transfers early

This is a contentious one but it’s worked well for me so far. The only reason to make transfers on a Friday evening / Saturday morning is because you’re waiting on injury news. However, Juan Mata, Frank Lampard or Demba Ba might have risen in price several times after last weekend’s bonus point performance – it usually pays to get the changes made quickly and boost your overall squad value.

2)    Stick to your guns after a slow start

It’s all too easy to chop and change if one of your strikers doesn’t score for a game or two. The same applies to midfielders who are scoring two points every week but, providing there was a strong basis for why you picked the player, sticking to your guns often pays off. Robin van Persie last season was a classic example as the Dutchman started to find real scoring form after a few weeks. The same has applied to Gareth Bale this term.

3)    Keep a note of the Premier League fixtures

I don’t have an algorithm which works out which teams have the easiest upcoming fixtures. However, simply inputting the next six weeks’ worth of fixtures into a spreadsheet and marking the home / away matches will give you a useful overview of what’s on the horizon. I often make a few short notes, eg Manchester United have four of their next six matches at home.

4)    Hey! You’ve got to hide your points away

You’ve worked hard to get points on the board so think carefully about those four-point deductions because you’re convinced that Steven Gerrard is going to score a hat-trick in the Merseyside derby. OK, so if your squad is decimated by injury, there might be a case for taking a hit but it usually pays to be patient before making your next transfer.

5)    Don’t pin your hopes on a DGW

There are 38 Game Weeks during the season and winning your Mini League isn’t about trying to smash it when two teams are playing twice in a week. For a start, they are facing each other in one of those games which negates their potential points-scoring impact.  Secondly, you can be stuck with players that you don’t want in the long-term.

About the Author:

Matthew Glazier is a self-confessed fantasy football geek who runs www.bettingpro.com and finished 3,794^th in the FPL overall standings last season. He’s currently 27,446^th this time around.

 Bettingpro.com is the number one source for sports betting tips, breaking news and expert views. With the help of  exclusive promotions and a team of experts, their members remain one step ahead of all the leading bookmakers.