In this, the first of a series of articles, I’m going to share my wealth of fantasy football knowledge(!) by posting some principles which I feel are very important to adhere to in the Official Fantasy Premier League game…

Don’t use more than one transfer per gameweek!
The guys at the top at the end of this competition don’t lose unnecessary points by making more than one transfer every gameweek. Just remember, if you do this just once every month for the entire season, you have just given away 40 points for no good reason.

Pick up on the 8/7 principle!
Pick 8 long-term regulars who consistently score high points and fill the rest of your team with newly promoted players and bargain buys. Pick (1) a top 4 goalkeeper, (2-3) two top 4 defenders, (4-6) three very strong midfielders who cost a minimum of 8.0m each, and (7-8) two strikers who are guaranteed to get you regular goals (you should have a good idea of who those are). Select these 8 players wisely, because they will be the spine of your team for the rest of the season.

Set a minimum gameweek target!
If you can average 50 points per week in this game, then you’ll be there or thereabouts at the end of the season. Anything above 50 counts as a bonus for that given week, but a minimum of 50 ensures that you will definitely not fall behind in your personal leagues at least!

Don’t panic!
The key in this game is not to panic once a couple of your players go through a bad patch… if they are quality players then they are worth keeping long term because you know they’ll produce eventually. This is especially relevant for strikers, who you sometimes have to stick with through bad patches in order to see long-term results.

Cheaper is not always better!
This holds true for defence more than anywhere else. If you can, use defenders from the “Big 4″ as they bring you an almost guaranteed clean sheet more often than not - this is the equavalent of a 6-point head start for each of them. They obviously have to be regular starters or else they are not worth bringing in. If you are going to gamble on cheaper defenders, go for the few who seem to pop up with regular goals, although you do this at your peril.

Pick regular set-piece takers amongst your midfielders!
This might just sound like common sense, but it is very important to have midfielders who take their team’s offensive free-kicks and, if possible, penalties. Sure it is great to have a winger who scores the odd goal, but long term it pays to have someone who will get you 20 assists and 7 goals rather than someone who gets 12 goals and 5 assists

So there you are. There will inevitably be a second part to this article, as you are constantly picking things up in this game. As always, feel free to post in the comments section with your own Fantasy League tips.