The WeAreBrighton.com Fantasy Premier League 2020-21 Preview

Good news for all you Fantasy Premier League players out there. WeAreBrighton.com will be teaming up with the number one independent fantasy football site in 2020-21 in the biggest summer transfer deal this side of Catalonia.

The guys at Fantasy Football Scout will be providing WAB readers with a weekly report packed with hints and tips to help you, hopefully, move from the lower reaches to the top tier of fantasy football management.

Fresh from finally finishing The Longest Season Ever, there ia a whole new campaign of football – and fantasy football – just around the corner.

But if you’re not sure what the early-season fantasy issues might be – or how you even play the game – Fantasy Football Scout has got your back.

To get the ball rolling, we’ll briefly run through the very basic rules of fantasy football, so for those already in the know, feel free to look away… now.

How It Plays Out
Playing the world’s most popular fantasy game – Fantasy Premier League – involves spending £100m on a squad of 15 players. You are allowed no more than three players from a single Premier League club.

You then select a weekly team of 11 players who score you points based on their on-pitch performance. Players earn points for minutes played, scoring or setting up goals and keeping clean sheets (if they’re goalkeepers or defenders).

Each week, you also make one of your players your captain, and another your vice-captain. He scores double points. If your captain doesn’t play, the vice-captain steps into his boots.

You are also allowed to make one free transfer every week, swapping one player out and another in to freshen up your squad. If you make more than one transfer in a week, then you’re penalised four points for every extra transaction.

Those are the very basic rules, but like every good game, an array of subtleties and nuances will reveal themselves the longer you play.

Seasoned Fantasy Premier League players… you’re back in the room.

Brighton’s Rocks
We might be waving goodbye to one cult Fantasy Premier League hero in Shane Duffy (£4.5m) this summer but there is plenty to like about Graham Potter’s troops for the upcoming season.

Skipper Lewis Dunk (£5.0m) – winner of the 2019-20 WeAreBrighton.com Player of the Season award – remains the best bet at the back: not one bona fide centre half registered more attacking returns (six) or attempts on goal (31) than Dunk in the Premier League last season, while he was largely immune to his manager’s rotation.

Further back, Maty Ryan (£4.5m) is already in nearly a quarter of all Fantasy Premier League managers’ teams. He was in the top eight for overall points among fantasy keepers last year and in the top four for saves – a valuable source of returns as keepers receive an extra point for every three saves they make in a match.

Ryan’s passing stats were also the best of the top-flight shot-stoppers, which could help the Aussie supplement his returns with bonus points.

Midfielder Leandro Trossard (£6.0m) is also worthy of consideration. The Belgian led the way among Brighton midfielders in his debut campaign, with 104 points, five goals and five assists – a total made more impressive as he was benched on 12 occasions in 2019-20.

A mixed bag of fixtures defines the Seagulls’ early season, with Chelsea, Man United and Tottenham Hotspur stiffening an otherwise attractive initial run of nine games.

Trossard could be the man to capitalise on that schedule – and in particular a game week five trip to a small team called Crystal Palace…

New Boys
One of the main questions of any season is how will the newcomers fit in? It’s early days on the transfer front, but this summer’s highest-profile signings include Chelsea striker Timo Werner (£9.5m) and his new midfield teammate Hakim Ziyech (£8.0m).

The Blues have an excellent opening schedule, with six sides who finished mid-table or worse, and newly promoted West Bromwich Albion, among their first nine fixtures.

Werner managed 28 goals and eight assists for RB Leipzig in last season’s Bundesliga and looks highly likely to lead the line for Frank Lampard’s men. Ziyech, meanwhile, totalled eight goals and 16 assists in 27 league and Champions League appearances for Ajax last term.

Defensively, Chelsea were of the basket case variety last season, but only Liverpool and Man City scored more goals. If the duo can bring their previous form with them, those early fixtures look like great opportunities for both to begin their Premier League careers with a bang.

All Change
One of last season’s fantasy hits was Sheffield United’s John Lundstram (£5.5m), who was classified as a defender but actually operated as a box-to-box midfielder.

That brought in extra points whenever he scored, which he did five times, and extra chances to set up goals, which he did four times. Those heady days are over this season – Lundstram is a midfielder in Fantasy Premier League now – but others will be revelling in new roles that could give them a fantasy edge.

Top of the shop is probably Arsenal striker Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang (£12.0m), who will plough a fantasy furrow as a midfielder this campaign.

Despite spending much of last season cutting in from the left flank, he still managed to bring in 205 points – the exact same total as the year before when he was the Gunners’ main striker.

The downside is Arsenal’s start, which is great for two games (Fulham away, West Ham United at home) and then nosedives, with Liverpool, Sheffield United, Manchester City and Leicester City to follow.

At least he’s got a Gameweek one fixture, which is more than can be said for another striker-turned-midfielder, Manchester United’s Marcus Rashford (£9.5m).

A best-ever campaign, involving 17 goals and eight assists, last time out came despite him playing deeper, and wider, than teammate Anthony Martial (£9.0m), who was classified as a midfielder while the England man was considered a Fantasy Premier League forward.

The pair have had their FPL roles reversed this season, which should benefit Rashford. Because of their European duties in August, you’ll have to wait until Gameweek two, however, when the Red Devils embark on a mouth-watering ten-match run of favourable fixtures.

United starlet Mason Greenwood (£7.5m), another forward moved back into midfield, will also be worth monitoring, although all of the team’s attacking assets will need to be re-assessed should the club sign Jadon Sancho from Borussia Dortmund.

Forward Thinking
Those newly-minted midfielders are only going to cloud the issue when it comes to packing our fantasy engine rooms. The majority of last season’s biggest points scorers were middle men, including City duo Kevin De Bruyne (£11.5m and 251 points) and Raheem Sterling (£11.5m/204pts) and Liverpool pair Mohamed Salah (£12.0m/233pts) and Sadio Mane (£12.0m/221pts).

Throw in United’s winter signing Bruno Fernandes (£10.5m), who managed to score more points (117) in half a season than cross-town rival Bernardo Silva (£7.5m and 116) notched from almost double the minutes, and midfield again looks like the place to be for major fantasy hauls.

That, of course, will have a knock-on effect when it comes to picking three strikers. Presuming large chunks of budget are going to go on premium midfielders, many managers will struggle to find the cash for more than one marquee signing up front.

So we’re going to need a bargain or two to play alongside the likes of Harry Kane (£10.5m) and Sergio Aguero (£10.5m). Last season’s cheap and cheerfuls included Danny Ings (now £8.5m) and the aforementioned Mason Greenwood.

Only time will tell us who will emerge from this year’s bargain bucket, but that man Werner has the pedigree, if not the cheap as chips price point, while Fulham’s Aleksandar Mitrovic (£6.0m) has Premier League experience and a good schedule across the first nine games of the season.

The Case for the Defence
Don’t ever overlook a decent defender, however. Last season’s wunderkind, Liverpool full-back Trent Alexander-Arnold (£7.5m) brought in 210 points – the exact same total as FPL’s highest-scoring striker, Leicester’s Jamie Vardy (£10.0m).

Both Alexander-Arnold and his colleague Andy Robertson (£7.0m) are already racking up some big ownership figures, and many managers are likely to set and forget – buy them now and leave them in their teams all season long.

To do that, however, requires making some savings elsewhere. Wolverhampton Wanderers, Burnley and Sheffield United defenders all brought in good points for a relatively small outlay last term and many of them could perform well again this year, just for more money.

The notable exception there could be Wolves wing-back Ruben Vinagre (£4.5m), who is due a decent run in the side in the continued absence, through injury, of Jonny (£5.5m).

Finding other performers at that attractive £4.5m (and possibly below) price point will be more of a challenge, with a few Newcastle United and Palace players in the frame, should they get consistent starts.

Some Arsenal defenders are also temptingly priced. Mikel Arteta certainly stiffened the side’s resolve when he took over and should new signing William Saliba (£4.5m) settle in quickly and secure a starting berth, he could be one to watch.

You can read more on this season’s Fantasy Premier League at the Fantasy Football Scout