The time of year has come again, when the days are long and the sun once more reveals to us its existence (albeit with subtlety). Families go on picnics, people go on walks, and financially dominant football franchises throw ridiculous sums of money at various prospects in the hope of a successful title challenge. And much like these professional football managers, we as fantasy managers must also consider the implications of each promising prospect. As the time for the league draft approaches, we are suddenly gripped with feelings of dread as we realise there is a possibility that we might panic and go for Courtois in the first round. However, fear not fantasy hopefuls, for I have devised a guide to help you decipher which picks to make and when.

Gossip

To kick it all off, I have to stress the danger of picking up a player surrounded by gossip and uncertainty. Take Diego Costa for example. If draft day comes around, and he has not yet left Chelsea, you may be fooled by his reputation and assume he is a safe pick to make. Alas, his position as Chelsea’s stalwart frontman has been in jeopardy ever since Antonio Conte told him he wasn’t part of Chelsea’s plan for the following season. So, some research into the BBC Sport gossip column is advised to make sure you don’t waste an early pick on someone who won’t be around much longer (or if you are a particularly crafty individual, you might draft a player such as Costa, and then use reputation to trade him for a slightly inferior player, giving your rivals nothing).

New Arrivals

In terms of draft preparation, it would probably help to research a few of the new arrivals to the Premier League (including new signings as well as promoted teams), but even with only rudimentary knowledge of team rosters, you should be able to get through a substantial part of the draft before making picks based merely on rank or scores from the previous season alone. Whether you use auto-draft or actually pick the players manually shouldn’t matter too much, especially if you have players prioritised for the auto-draft. But in terms of how to prioritise who to pick and when, stay tuned for the following article.