Tips for DraftKings £40K English Premier League 1-day fantasy football contest

There’s a $5,000 top prize up for grabs in DraftKings English Premier Kick-Off contest and all new UK accounts who sign up here will be entitled to a free entry.

DraftKings differs from many of its rivals in a number of areas and new players need to take note of these:

(1) It’s a 8-man format and line-ups need to contain 1 goalkeeper, 2 defenders, 2 midfielders, 2 forwards and 1 utility pick who can occupy any of the outfield positions from the $50k budget.

(2) Late swap is permitted meaning that you can edit players who are scheduled to take part in later games, after the first match in the contest gets under way, so long as you stay within the stipulated budget. For this particular £40k Premier League contest, late swap is only relevant for the Manchester City vs Sunderland match since all the other games kick-off simultaneously at 3pm UK time.

(3) The DraftKings scoring system handsomely rewards players who are capable of putting in a lot of crosses, so targeting this player pool type becomes a pivotal part of any strategy.

As usual goal projections will play their part but it should also be noted that goalkeepers pick up a 5 point bonus if their team is successful.

We’ve taken a look at the contest and here are our recommended tips:

Burnley return to the top flight and a game against Swansea City looks like the perfect opener. The Welsh team have been rocked by the loss of club captain Ashley Williams, who has moved to Everton, while they must also bed-in two new strikers. Tom Heaton gets the nod in goal.

We’ve included 5 players who are capable of getting forward and putting in plenty of crosses – Leighton Baines, Andros Townsend, European champion Cédric Soares, Dusan Tadic and Matt Phillips. The importance of crossing, where each delivery earns a player 0.75 points cannot be over-stated.

Phillips has arrived at WBA from QPR and we’re hoping that he can supply the ammunition for Venezuelan forward Salomón Rondón, something of a differential pick, that should really make our line-up stand out from the crowd.

We’re expecting many managers to stack their line-ups with Manchester City players but predicting how Pep Guardiola’s charges will set-up is frought with dangers, so simply selecting Sergio Agüero looks the safest bet!

Here’s our tips in full:

Good luck!

Claim that FREE ENTRY now