Draft Fantasy Football Tips – March

Ever wondered what streaming a defender / midfielder actually involves? Wonder no more as all is explained here! Tips for which players to stream for the remainder of the season are also highlighted. I briefly explain how you should be using the waiver system now that we are in the final months, before moving on to discuss 2 players that have good fixtures and may well be available in your league. Finally I will end this months article by touching on those upcoming blank and double gameweeks.

All of this is to help give you the best strategies for getting those all important 3 points!

 

Streaming a defender

Many Draft Fantasy players stream a defender. For those unfamiliar with this concept, this is changing 1 of your defenders each week. The aim is to bring in a defender from a team that you believe will keep a clean sheet.

In previous seasons, selecting defenders from teams playing Swansea was one effective way of streaming players, as they were poor in front of goal. This year, by being the lowest scorers, Huddersfield (15 goals) are the team to target for clean sheets the remainder of the season.

Another benefit of streaming a defender is that it keeps you involved in your Draft Team, either by submitting waiver requests, or selecting from free agency. It is a fun addition to an already fun game!

Here is a table of teams that play Huddersfield from now until the end of the season. The listed defenders are players with low ownership and who are currently starting for their team. Keep on top of the current XI for each team as the season progresses and amend as required.

Huddersfield play 3 teams with expected high ownership defenders. For these fixtures I have selected a different fixture where a clean sheet could occur. Feel free to look at those gameweeks yourself and change the fixture as required.

 

Streaming Midfielders

Unfortunately for Huddersfield their inability to score goals is compounded by a lack of goals scored at the other end. While bad news for them and their supporters, this is good news for Draft Fantasy Managers. In the same way as streaming a defender, you can also stream a midfielder or attacker from your Draft Fantasy team!

You probably have a player that you class as being your ‘worst’ midfield player and aren’t that attached to them. This makes them the best choice of player to be able to stream the position and hopefully receive more frequent fantasy returns.

Below is a table of teams that play Huddersfield and a selection of low ownership midfielders that could be available in your Draft League. When Huddersfield play a top 6 team their players are likely to be owned. Take a look at that weeks’ fixtures and pick a player that is free and on form, or stick with your current player.

Unfortunately for all but the smallest of Draft Leagues it is unlikely that sufficient forwards will be available for you to stream the position.

 

Midfield Streaming Challenge

For those of you seeking more of a challenge, why not stream 2 midfielders! With the loss of Bamba in defence, Cardiff, already the league’s 2nd worst defence, would be another team to target. Fulham also not far behind in this regard either, increasing your choice of players. While this does involve streaming another midfielder, there are plenty of managers out there who will only have 3 preffered mids. One benefit of streaming a 2nd mid is that you provide cover for your other streamed player. They will also come in if one of your other players gets rested for that gameweek. Placing this player as 1st sub would mean that they would come in for a player from any outfield position in your team. Handy!

 

Waivers

Those of you playing Draft Fantasy with ‘never reset’ waivers settings, you are unlikely to require a high waiver position for the rest of the season. Once a new gameweek has begun you are now free to stack all your pre-planned changes for the following week. The added benefit of doing this is that you give yourself the earliest chance of getting the players, rather than waiting until after waivers have been processed to see who is still available. Remember – another manager may have the same tactics as you. It is in your best interest to join in with the waiver requests, rather than allowing everyone else priority!

 

Player to Target 🎯

Harvey Barnes – Leicester

Despite only 2 assists since joining Leicester, Harvey Barnes has the Twitter Draft Fantasy Community in a frenzy. Slotting straight into a front 3 with Maddison and Vardy, many managers have been quick to snap him up. However, despite this, his ownership percentage is a very low 1.1% at the time of writing. After the arrival of Brendon Rodgers as manager Barnes has kept his place in the front 3 against Watford. Don’t let the fact he was subbed off before 60 minutes deter you though. He was playing in a very advanced role on the left and on another day could have got an assist.

Leicester’s fixtures remain favourable until the last 3 weeks of the season, providing him with enough time to hopefully provide your team with fantasy returns! If you would like another player to consider, then new signing Tielemans also has a low ownership (0%?!) and has been providing assists even from his deeper midfield role.

In a recent poll the Twitter Draft Fantasy Community were asked who they would prefer to own between Barnes and Tielemans. It was very close, with Tielemans edging it by 2% (48% > 46%)

Note – Leicester also have a fixture in GW31. More on that below!

 

Blank and Double Gameweeks

It is rumoured that after blank gameweek 31 begins the Premier League will announce a series of fixtures set to be played in GW32. This will mean that once GW31 has begun any waivers submitted will be for GW32. Keep an eye on social media to get the full info once it is published!

Wolves v Manchester United is already a confirmed fixture, moving from GW33. Their players will have 2 fixtures that week, but do not play in GW33.

Gamweek 35 is also likely to be a doubleweek. Again, more information will come out in the coming weeks.

What all of this means is that you need to decide if it is worth you bringing in players with fixtures during the blank gameweeks. As before, you will need to look at your team and your rival managers’ team for those weeks to see if it is worth making changes to your team. The recently updated ‘Tables’ page of Draft Fantasy now shows your players fixtures for each gamweek selected, making this process much easier!

Check out The Fantasy Football Chaps who have a more in depth article on BGW31 here! They will also have more content in the coming weeks on any future blank and double gameweeks.

Finally, a  sneaky tactic you could pursue would be to drop players not playing in a blank gameweek after 10pm GMT on the Thursday before the GW. These players would then be blocked and unable to be picked up by other managers until Tuesday. This gives you the oppertunity to put waivers in for the players that you dropped, increasing your chance of getting them back!

 

Check back on the blog in April for the next article. In the meantime, get involved in the polls that will be posted on Twitter over 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!

#HelpMyPLDraft