Draft Fantasy Football Christmas Tips
There are 7 gameweeks during the month of December, 8 if you include January 1st + 2nd. This number of games will push your Draft Team to its limits. There are 24 points up for grabs in head-to-head leagues during this time. This can set your team up for a title challenge, put you into mid-table obscurity, or drop you to the bottom of the pile. This article aims to give you advice on how to manage your Draft Team by giving you Christmas Tips!
If you are in a league without auto-subs or use pre-determined parameters surrounding player add/drops, a lot of the following tips may not be relevant, but the overall message is still worth knowing.
Benchwork
In order to give your team the best possible chance to perform to its best during this volatile time it is vital that you have a complete squad of active players. If your bench is currently a mixture of red and yellow, you really need to consider dropping them for players who are fit and start for their clubs. The risk of rotation is very high and last year we saw nailed on starters benched for a gameweek or two during the festive period. You need to ensure that you have a player to fill in for them when this inevitably happens. These bench points can be crucial in securing a win against a rival manager.
For those playing in a league using kante Points, or playing Fantrax, selecting a cdm as your 1st choice bench player may be a very handy strategy. Should one of your flair players get rested you can be safe in the knowledge that someone is going to come in and get you solid points. These players are also rotated less by managers. Some examples of players picking up big kante points in November follow!
Kevin de Bryune is perhaps an exception as he is due back early in December. If he is your only doubt, then you might be able to carry him for a few gameweeks while he returns to match-fitness. However, if you are also holding on to Mendy or Maguire who are other popular long-term absentee you really need to be considering dropping them. Yes, you may miss out on them when they return to fitness but is it worth picking up points early in the new year and potentially missing out on league points that are coming thick and fast now?
My rule is to have a maximum of 1 injured or doubtful player in my squad until after the FA Cup 3rd round.
A Draft Fantasy Managers' nightmare before Christmas
Reminder: There is still the final Champions League and Europa League group games to be played in December. Teams who require a result are less likely to field weakened teams, adding to your troubles of an already busy festive period. Add on top of that the fact that Manchester City, Leicester City; Chelsea, Bournemouth; and Arsenal, Tottenham also have League Cup games against each other and planning your player movements from gameweek to gameweek really does take on added importance.
Plan Ahead
Look at your upcoming opponents from GW14-21. Assess their team make-up and player fixtures to identify any potential weaknesses that you can take advantage of or neutralise. Come up with a plan where you strategise your waiver moves/free adds accordingly. By now you should be familiar with the types of players and teams who are on the free agency/waivers list for 1 or 2 players that you can request for each gameweek. Be old-school and write a list or go more high-tech and create a note on your phone if you must. This is especially useful if you are in multiple leagues to help you keep track of who your due to request.
Top-Tip: The fixture dates fall kindly with when waivers are processed on DraftFantasy this year with no waivers due to be processed mid gameweek. Waivers before GW19 will process on Christmas day, so I recommend building 10 minutes into your Christmas plans to make any free adds. I’m sure your family will understand… 😉. January 1st, GW21, is a close call as waivers are processed at 10am GMT and the GW will lock at 11:30am. You have 1 and a half hours to set your team after getting any new additions!
Those of you playing on draft.fantasypremierleague.com remember that your waivers are processed 24 hours before the next gameweek which makes this festive period easier to manage. If you are making trades it may be worth contacting the other manager to let them know as these expire each gameweek.
Waiver Priority – never reset leagues
With December set to be a busy month it can be easy to forget that the January transfer window is just 31 days away! Last year saw Fantasy heavyweight and future 1st round pick Aubameyang join the Premier League. If you were trigger happy with the waivers over Christmas then you no-doubt missed out on getting him in your team. If you are currently low in waiver priority then consider doing free picks from now until January to improve your chances of getting any hot addition!
Kante King of the Month 👑:
1) Jonathan Hogg: 10 Interceptions; 16 Tackles – KB Score: 8
=2) Milivojevic, Lemina: KB score 6
3) Gueye: KB score 5
(KB – Kante Bonus)
Hogg is a very solid choice in Fantrax and could be the answer to your festive 1st sub decisions. If Milivojevic is free he is likely the player that most managers will look to given that he is also Palace’s penalty taker. He also takes their set-pieces.
Thank you for reading December’s article! Check back on the blog towards the end of the month for the next article. In the meantime, get involved in the polls that will be posted on Twitter in the coming weeks!
If you have any Draft Fantasy Football starting XI problems, questions about who to trade in/out etc. then send a DM, or tweet @DraftAnswers, and I will poll the Draft community! Good luck!
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