A Beginner's Guide to the 2018/19 Fantasy Premier League (FPL) Season

The Fantasy Premier League opened its doors for the 2018/19 season on Thursday 5th July 2018, just shy of 5 weeks before the start of the new Premier League season. If you're new to FPL and want to get involved and do your homework before you set your first team, this article will cover all the bases for beginners, from point scoring, to following trend,s and how to get engaged with a wide community of knowledgable Fantasy experts. Strap in as we take you on a beginner's journey through the world of Fantasy football. All aboard.

For Absolute FPL Begineer's Ahead of the 2018/19 Season

We'll begin by providing some basic site information, how the game modes work, and general questions that arise when playing the FPL.

Basic Information

Website: fantasy.premierleague.com

The FPL's Twitter Account: @OfficialFPL

Accessible: Computer, tablet, mobile devices, and an official app (though the app is temperamental at times)

Game Formats:

- Classic League: Pick a squad of 15 players with a £100 million budget. When you've settled on your 3 keepers, 5 defenders, 5 midfielders, and 3 forwards, set a line-up each week with a captain, a vice captain, and any chips you may wish to use. You can two wildcards throughout the season, to completely change your team based off the budget of your team.

- Head to Head: With your team, join H2H leagues which pits you against your rivals each week, and works much like the Premier League table, with 3 points for a win, 1 for a draw, and nothing for defeat.

- Draft: An addition brought in for the 2017/18 season. There is no budget, a limit of 16 teams per Draft League, a league in which players takes in turns to draft players from the FPL game. It is a separate entity from the traditional FPL game. In the 2018/19 Draft game you can trade between players and you can pick the trading methods of players (i.e. you can choose to have the admin of the league, or its members, veto trades between players).

Chips

Chips are one-off tokens that you get to use throughout the season. You can find them below your squad list on your team's profile. This year the FPL has replaced the 'All Out Attack' chip, which allowed just 2 defenders to play, with a 'Free Hit' chip. Below we've outlined what the Chips are for the 2017/18 season.

- Bench Boost: For one week every one of your 15 man squad plays. If you use the chip during a Double Gameweek, you have the potential of 30 player appearances, with a captaincy playing twice.

- Free Hit: You can replace your entire team, but only for one week. After the week is over your team's value and your old squad is back in play.

- Triple Captain: Your captain earns triple points for one Gameweek, instead of the usual double points. This also applies if negative points are achieved.

Changes to the 2018/19 FPL Season

The FPL's launch earlier this month caught many off guard. Despite not changing much, the FPL gods have tried to define its rules more than anything, as well as adding to the Draft game this season.

More of the Same in the FPL

Point scoring: Unchanged

BPS System: Unchanged

Layout / Design: Unchanged

Changes for the 2018/19 Season

Prizes: To be available to win a weekly prize you must follow the below. Last season, FPL experienced a high volume of one-week teams, all in the pursuit of winning a weekly prize (presumably).

* To be eligible to win a weekly prize, you must have joined the game before the start of the season or a minimum of two clear Gameweek's before the one in which you are top of the weekly leaderboard. Players who have played a chip (including Bench Boost, Free Hit Triple Captain or Wildcard) will not be eligible to win a weekly prize for the Gameweek that such a chip has been used.

Assists:

There is usually rampant debate over the FPL's critera for awarding assists. They've attempted to clarify the rules this season:

Rebounds: If a shot on goal is blocked by an opposition player, is saved by a goalkeeper or hits the woodwork, and a goal is scored from the rebound, then an assist is awarded.

Own Goals: If a player shoots or passes the ball and forces an opposing player to put the ball in his own net, then an assist is awarded.

Penalties and Free-Kicks: In the event of a penalty or free-kick, the player earning the penalty or free-kick is awarded an assist if a goal is directly scored, but not if he takes it himself, in which case no assist is given.

Finalising Assists: Assist points awarded by Opta within Fantasy Premier League are calculated using additional stats which may differ from other websites. For example, some other sites would not show an assist where a player has won a penalty.

For the avoidance of doubt, points awarded in-game are subject to change up until one hour after the final whistle of the last match of any given day. Once the points have all been updated on that day, no further adjustments to points will be made.

FPL Draft:

This season, players have the ability to trade with each other, though the league admin will have to pick the setting.

Manager Veto:

Player trade requests can be vetoed by other league managers.

Administrator Veto:

Player trade requests can be vetoed by the league administrator.

All:

Player trades will not require league approval.

None:

Player trades will not be allowed in this league.

General FPL Questions

How to your players earn points?:

Via goals, assists, appearance points, clean sheets, and bonus points.

Can points be taken away?:

Only through yellow and red cards, retrospective bans (a suspension after a Gameweek ends).

Factors to consider when playing:

Injuries, suspensions, rotation risk, and the value of your FPL team.

FPL Captaincy:

Your captain earns double points. If your captain doesn't play, your Vice Captain will earn double points. If neither your captain or vice play, you'll get nothing.

When should I play my chips?:

Wait until the Double Gameweek's and later in the season when you can fully utilise the potential of the Chips when form players, teams, and weaker opposition is clearly identified.

When should I use my two wildcards?:

Most people use theirs early on in the season once everything has settled down. That is usually after the first international break at the end of August. The second wildcard should be used the week before a Double Gameweek, nearer the end of the season.

Does my team value matter?:

Yes, incredibly so. The more you look after your team, making the right transfers, your team value will go up, which over time should allow you to purchase more premium player options.

What are we, the Hype Train, mostly asked about?:

Which players to transfer in, to transfer out, when to play Chips, if any differentials worth it for the week, and most importantly, who to captain.

What is the biggest problem FPL players have in the game?

Without question, it's setting line ups and making transfers. If you want to play, take a few minutes each week to set your team. Make transfers if you wish (depending on if your squad needs it), but just make sure you set a captain, a vice, and press the 'Save Your Team' button that is below your squad. Double checking this goes a long way with remaining invested in the game.

FPL Terminology:

FPL - Fantasy Premier League

PL - Premier League

Differential - A player with low player percentage ownership who your fellow players might not have

Pundits - Member's of the FPL community who blog, vlog, tweet, or have a general influence surrounding the game, but who are not part of the official FPL itself

The Scout - The FPL's official online tabloid, which provides news and puff-piece articles surrounding certain players and tactics

Gameweek - Each round of Premier League fixtures, from an FPL point of view, is refereed to as a Gameweek. On social media there are abbreviations used for each GW - GW1, GW2, GW3, GW4, GW5, etc

Green/Red Arrows - Depending on your performance for any given Gameweek, your Overall rank, and your positions in mini-leagues, might vary. If you did well you're likely to have a green arrow, and if you had a nightmare of a week, your arrows will be red.

#AlwaysCaptain - A popular hashtag amongst Twitter users ahead of each Gameweek, usually used when their captaincy choice has performed. For example, #AlwaysCaptainSalah or #AlwaysCaptainKane

Blank Gameweek - Known on Social Media as a BGW, this is a round of games with less than 10 matches, meaning that some players will be enduring a bye week. This occurs after the final of the League Cup, and during the weekend of the FA Cup semi-finals.

Double Gameweek - When PL fixtures are rearranged some teams play twice in the same week, meaning that players can play twice, which means twice the opportunity to score FPL points. On Social Media the abbreviation #DGW is used.

Deduction / Hit - When you're forced into making more than the permitted free transfers, you take a -4 deduction per transfer.

Dead/Inactive Teams - These are inactive players whose accounts have not made transfers, or maintained their squads, in some time.

For FPL Players Looking to Improve Their 2018/19 Rankings

There's a heap of ways to get further involved with the FPL that won't eat up your time. Experienced players that are usually contesting the top spots in the game are usually doing some of the below, in order to stay maintained in the news.

Join and Interact on Social Media

Websites such as our own, and others, use platforms such as Twitter and Facebook, among other platforms, to gather the latest scoop on the FPL.

Do we rate the FPL Twitter account?

We're not especially keen on the @OfficialFPL account as they have created an "us vs. them" mentality in the larger FPL community. This isn't us being bitter that they're isolating themselves, and not feeding off a massive talent pool of good writers and contributors, no this is an analytical take on the account and their practises.

They offer, at times, great insight into player selection and stats, but alternatively they are an institution that only uses buzz words, tiresome questions and emoji's, and pose questions and solutions that real players of the game know are there for click-bait purposes to build on their own analytics without offering in terms of top-notch advice.

When using Chips in the FPL, this is where the account is at its weakest, imploring players to use chips at random times of the season, for no reason, other than to stoke a potential fire within the FPL Community.

The account's comment section has been bombarded with beginner's whose advice is at times criminal - so you don't want to be that kind of beginner that feeds off advice from a player with Callum Wilson as their FPL captain. Be one that goes outside of the FPL's lines when researching your tactics, as there's plenty of self-help out there with a unique voice and offering the community.

FPL Things you can do on Social Media

- Engage with a vibrant #FPL Community on Twitter.

- Ask for advice on your team for an upcoming Gameweek (you can upload your squads on to these platforms easily, especially via mobile through screenshots. It's easy for account Admins to reply with a short comment, or give players room to debate on comment threads. These threads can be particularly useful as it is filled with long term players who have been thinking the same thing.

- Message or speak with veterans that can offer solid advice about your team's organisation, captaincy picks, and future transfer plans.

- Get a general consensus of if a potential transfer or captaincy choice is worth taking. You'll be able to find captaincy polls, and feature articles anywhere you go if you just type in a few key words such as FPL, Captaincy, and the Gameweek we're approaching.

- The use of Chips in the FPL is one where the wider FPL community can help navigate. Unlike the FPL account who doesn't care when you use it, we'll help find the best time to use the chip, and maximise your points potential.

- Generally speaking, there are very good statisticians who provide detailed graphs of fixtures, form, and potential.

- Graphically speaking, we're one account which loves graphical awareness, and we're not the only ones. Photos, videos, and articles that take serious production time, are rolled out free of charge, and they are filled with colourful and personal entries on a week-to-week basis.

- You can join cash leagues and competition based leagues to spice up your experience of the game.

- We scream the weekly FPL deadline in your faces, just in case you're unaware.

- It's an avenue where you can have a voice in the FPL. We started out as a bunch of 3 n00bs looking to advance our FPL rankings. If you're not happy with what other people are slating to be good, it's your chance to warn people of potential pitfalls.

Established FPL Tactics for your Benefit

So, now that we've established that there is a big wide world of the FPL out there to explore, how do these accounts and players do well (usually)? Here's a few suggestions below.

1) Set Piece Takers

Penalty kicks, free kicks, and corners. The ultimate bail out for any FPL player that has bad luck picking strong outfield players. Using any of the FPL resources above, or by your own findings, get together who will be taking what this season. Set piece takers usually chip in with goals and assists out of nowhere, so they're always worth to keep an eye on.

We'd recommend to start the season with ample set-piece takers, as it is always harder to judge where points are coming from in the outfield for the early weeks of the season.

2) Understand the Bonus Points System

The Premier League and the FPL runs its BPS System through Opta, which calculates everything in a player's performance in determining who gets additional points. You can find all of this information on the FPL's 'Help' section, for a full rundown of how players acquired BPS. King of this is usually scoring goals, claiming assists, and keeping clean sheets. It's not always the way though. Sometimes players with no impact in the goals will get BPS points (David Silva is one key example of this).

- Centre back's more often than not get more bonus points than full backs.

- Aguero is a BPS magnet, especially when he takes penalties. This applies for all Forward's that don't have too many shots at goal.

- Goal scoring defenders usually claim all 3 bonus points on a good day.

- Wingers without any set-piece duty (aka Sadio Mane) struggle to attract BPS when Coutinho and Milner play.

- Goalkeeper's rarely get on the bonus points charts unless they save penalties, or if you're Nick Pope (BUR) or Lukasz Fabianski (WHU), who usually will make 5+ saves a game.

- The biggest impact for Forward's and Midfielder's is being caught offside and being yellow carded. This takes away significant BPS, so keep the players in your squads clean.

- Set piece takers are quite prone to BPS points (De Bruyne), as well as certain defensive assets who have a high work rate (Azpilicueta, Monreal).

3) Team Value is Important

The FPL also acts like a stock market. If a player does well and scores a few goals, people will transfer that player in. If that player gets transferred in enough, his price will rise. Equally, if the player gets injured, suspended, or players run of patience, and start to drop the asset, his price will fall. We've put some points below regarding team value.

- On the FPL's homepage you can find the live transfer boxes, indicating who the popular transfers in and out are. This is usually indicative of who will rise and fall.

- There is no live stock market on the FPL to indicate when price rises and falls will happen. @FantasyFootyFix do a quite accurate price rise/fall indicators.

- You can sell a player for a profit if you have them in your squad and they rise by £0.2 million - then you can sell that player by £0.1 million more than you originally brought the player in for.

- If you buy a player at his original price, and his price falls, you can only sell him for the lower price.

- Team value matters most near the end of the season. If you have a low budget, it'll be harder to get more premium assets in your squad for Double Gameweek's. Sometimes jumping on the bandwagon can have positive affects for your team later down the down.

4) Try to Avoid Points Deductions

Each week you are gifted a free transfer. Anything over, you have to take a -4 hit to your score for the Gameweek in which you made your transfers. Unless it is absolutely necessary, avoid doing this like the plague. Chances in the early part of the season of a player recouping his points, and then some, can be a hard ask, and can affect your Head to Head results.

5) The 3-4-3 Formation

The 3-4-3 has been a long standing tradition for players in the FPL. With this new season, players are already trying to figure out the optimum formation, and with higher priced assets some are saying 4 defenders might be the way to go. Regardless of punditry, the 3-4-3 system has been king for a long time, and will take some time to dethrone.

6) Understand Trends from the Top 1000 FPL Players

The best way to play the game is to play it the way you want, but if you're ever stuck and looking for inspiration, there is no shame in going to the overall tables and looking at who the top players have banked on. They're doing something right, so if you've not got the luck of the Irish, maybe check out some of the upper competition and take a little inspiration. The game is points based after all, so it's all fare in love and war.

7) Keep up to date with Differentials

When the FPL's game is released every year, there is a lot of noise about high priced players, but they aren't guarantees for points. In the Dream Team each Gameweek, it is more than common than three quarters of the players are differentials - i.e. players with a low ownership percentage selection. These are the players who will shape the rest of your squad to fit around premium assets, and it's important that you have the right mix of potential points, form, and fixtures, or face a lot of 'secondary' players just not cutting the mustard.

We run our own 'Weekly Wildcards' feature article for each FPL Gameweek which tackles this issue. We've found a lot of success in the likes of picking Gylfi Sigurdsson, Troy Deeney, Gini Wijnaldum, Wilfried Zaha and Marcos Alonso, points only a few banked on because they are not the 'traditional' type of player that the FPL will bank on.

8) The Importance of Squad Depth

With most players under the sun costing an arm and a leg, it can be easy to just bank on a main starting eleven, leaving your budget bench to squander. This is a tactic that we'd like to avoid. By all means have a low cost bench, but the options have to be smart. If a player is rotated, suspended, injured, or simply can't play the next week, you suddenly have to compromise your superstar eleven.

Too much tinkering always leads to heartbreak, trust us. The message is simple, breathe easy when the fixtures are released, just in case life decides to kick you in the nuts, and in the points your FPL team are missing out on.

What is the best advice to give before a season starts?

You can't win them all, and you certainly don't win the FPL in its first few weeks. To begin with, we'd suggest taking a look more closely at set-piece takers, and not buying into the hype of particular players and teams with questionable fixtures and on-field positioning.

Begin the season with some squad depth so you're not left red faced after the first week, panicking that your team has already fallen apart, and try to find value in players at top half clubs who are guaranteed to play. Captains are usually a start.

The 2018/19 season sees price rises for players continue to exceed the £100.0m value, which means picking budget options means more than any other season. Pre-season is usually the telling factor with selection for the opening weeks, especially with the World Cup in Russia ending in mid July. This will give a new indication of players that will be lining up in the early weeks, and those to avoid.

Aside from that, experiment with lots of different variations of your team, and set on one a few days before the start of the season. Transfers aren't done for quite a while yet.

Want to know more about The Hype Train?

The Hype Train is an entertainment website founded in 2015, specialising in the Fantasy Premier League (#FPL), providing beautiful graphics and weekly insight for hopeful players attempting to climb ranking tables. We are also occasional media reviewers, with a keen interest to review movies, live sport, and professional wrestling.

As well as providing FPL articles on our website, we are a founding Contributor to the new Fantasy Football Hub, where you can find more unique articles from The Hype Team. You can support us and read exclusive members only content for just £2 per-month by clicking here.

The Hype Train were nominated and shortlisted for the 'Best Football Blog 2016' by the Football Bloggers Association at their annual Football Blogging Awards (The FBA's), with the final presentation held at Old Trafford in Manchester.

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All aboard.