With the fantasy football geek’s team draft day on Draft Fantasy Football coming up on August 3rd here’s a few more thoughts on strategies to employ and to avoid
draft fantasy football – a few thoughts before draft day
So a few contributors and friends of fantasy football geek will be doing draft day on August 3rd.
Sign up to play this with your friends if draft fantasy football appeals to you
Here’s links to my 2 previous articles:
Draft fantasy the rules and concept
Premier league transfers in and out
When putting together your draft order and when in the actual draft itself be wary of players who maybe transferred out of the premier league or be replaced by someone coming in. That’s especially so if, like us, your draft is completed with nearly a month before the transfer window closes
Diego Costa is probably the most obvious example of someone who probably won’t be there come the end of the transfer window.
Potential transfers out
Here’s some potential transfers out of the league. I’ve also covered some inter premier league transfers
Alexis Sanchez
Probably the biggest name under a transfer cloud. He’s also yet to play a pre-season game. His potential to go abroad is limited but even if he goes to Man City he will surely be rotated more than he is at Arsenal. That transfer would probably have a knock on effect of Sane’s gametime
Coutinho
Rumours surround him and Barcelona. I expect him to be a quite high round pick
Mahrez
Roma seems to be interested here.
Van Dijk
A move from Southampton to Man City, Liverpool or Man Utd could be a positive thing here although there could be uncertainty over the first couple of gameweeks
Barkley
Lastest rumours are Chelsea and Spurs. He will surely be rotated here
Llorente
Chelsea rumours continue. Sounds good in theory but he will go from being the main man at Swansea to a backup at best at Chelsea
Matic
For those playing the Kante rule Matic looks certain to go abroad
Potential transfers in
Here are some potential transfers into the league as well as some inter league transfers:
Sandro
Chelsea LWB Alonso will be a big favourite but the Sandro transfer rumours still persist.
Perisic to Man Utd
The transfer rumours continue. The speedster has to make Rashford and Martial nervous about their potential place on the flanks
Keita to Liverpool
For those with the Kante rule the continued pursuit of Keita will be a risk for Henderson and Can owners
Nice CB Seri
This has to have implications for Mustafi and Monreal/Kolasinac if one of them only is moved to the wingback position
Sigurdsson to Everton
This will mean an improvement in club but will he monopolise set pieces and have penalty duties as he does at Swansea. Conversley it could make Tom Carroll of Swansea more valuable
Injuries
There are a number of players with short term injuries who could still be valuable over a season especially if you buy their temporary replacement in later rounds
Hazard
Hazard will be out a few weeks. Willian the likely replacement
Danny Rose
He could potentially only be out for a week although we have heard this before. Ben Davies the likely replacement
Mane
Could be fit for the start of the season. Salah will benefit from that although he could be an early round pick anyway.
Mendy
The Man City LB could be out for a couple of weeks. Danilo is the likely replacement and quite a versatile player for a later round pick.
Llorente
May not make it for GW1. Abraham the likely replacement
Double ups
One of the ways to cover yourself for injuries in the future is to pick the potential replacement in later rounds. This will be particularly relevant for strikers who are a rare breed. Here’s some examples
Morata and Batshuyai
Kane and Janssen
Gayle and Mitrovic
Berahino and Crouch
Llorente and Abraham
The Kante rule
Our league won’t have the Kante rule. It would allow a wider choice of player which is a good thing especially if you have a large number of managers in your league. However it does mean that you are varying from the fantasy premier league game and have to take on an additional layer of knowledge. Whether you do that will probably depend on the knowledge of the people you’re playing with and the size of the manager group
Your original selection won’t define your season
Alot of stuff I’ve been reading suggests that the initial draft team you end up with doesn’t determine your season. I think that’s one of the advantages of an early draft date. Things can change alot. You may think that unpredictability doesn’t reward research and planning but you can see above that it is possible to factor in a risk element to your choices and hedge against it. Once the season starts free agents and waivers will help you improve your team. Also the ability to trade with other managers gives that room to improve your team
FFGeek draft date
As I said above our draft date is Thursday 3rd August. I’ll do an article the next day with the team I draft
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