Abdul Rehman (FPL_Salah) has teamed up with SportsCasting to provide you with another round of Fantasy Football tips for Gameweek 12 and beyond.
Every week FPL Salah will be providing you with insight and advice to gear you up, continuing with his Fantasy Premier League tips for Gameweek 12.
This is his 18th season playing FPL, and he’s finished in the top 1,000 four times, with 14 finishes in the top 50,000. He also writes weekly FPL articles for The Athletic and Fantasy Football Hub.
This week, FPL Salah will be presenting some Fantasy Football tips to help managers navigate the busy and packed festive schedule.
Fantasy Football Tips For The Busy Festive Period by FPL_Salah
We are about to enter one of the most important periods of the FPL season.
From next gameweek we will have nine gameweek’s in the next seven weeks and we won’t have another international break until after Gameweek 29 (March 2025).
This will include two midweek gameweek’s and not to mention there is also European and Cup competitions sandwiched in during this period too.
We really need to prepare as there will be no margin for error.
Here I will give some fantasy football tips on how to navigate this tricky and jam-packed festive football period.
1. Have a Deep Squad
There is no room for passengers in these next few months. We really need to make sure we have a full squad of 15 players who are fit and reliable options.
If you have any injured or rotation risk players it’s best to transfer them out now for the most reliable picks.
There will no doubt be rotation during this period even for the some of the most nailed on players in the league.
At the end of the day we might not be able to avoid getting hit by it completely but we can attempt to minimise the damage as much as possible.
Now isn’t the time to be going for differential picks or taking risks with our captains.Also there will inevitably be injuries too. With the amount of games over a short period and harsh winter weather we need to prepare for this.
When looking at which players you are transferring in, I would advise to have a look at their injury records as well as their fixture runs. Make sure you have a strong bench in case one of your starting XI players misses out.
2. Save As Many Transfers As Possible
If you have a good squad or are able to save a transfer then I would definitely advise doing this.
Making luxury transfers is risky at this time of year and saving up your transfers for possible injuries or issues will serve you well.
Of course if you need to make a transfer for an injured or rotation risk player then do it, but save where you can.I appreciate some teams may not be in a position to do this, so this is why you have to make sure the players you are buying now are as rotation-free as possible and fully fit.
We also have to be a bit more aggressive with injured players. Usually if a good asset like Bukayo Saka (£10.1m) for example, was only out for one game then we would probably keep.
However, with games so close together a player being out for one week might be mean he is out for two or three games, so don’t be afraid to remove vulnerable players even if they are premium assets.
3. Stay Vigilant With Team News
Keeping up to date with injuries and team news is paramount. Watching pre-match press conferences can be great not only for injury updates but managers could tell us, or give clues if they plan to rotate certain players.
Also with so many games close together I would advise keeping an eye on social media, reliable journalists and any other outlets you can. We often get the bulk of team news from pre-match press conferences but not always the full picture.
Keeping an eye on reliable social media accounts or journalists can be a great way to pick up any snippets of information the main stream media may have missed.
4. Avoid Early Transfers
This is the time of year I try my hardest to make transfers as late as possible.
Don’t worry about team value or players rising or falling in price as the most important thing is having reliable and fit players in our squads. Information is key.
Wait until the last possible moment to make your transfers to minimise the risk of missing any crucial team news. Also in this day and age we quite often get leaked early team news before the FPL deadline.
Therefore being patient can make a significant difference to your rank at this time of year.
Be strategic, act with as much information as possible and avoid knee jerk transfers and you will have a much better chance of navigating the festive chaos and get ahead of your rivals.
