Sky fantasy football is a great fantasy football game especially for those who enjoy planning ahead. In many ways it is very similar to Fantasy Premier League but there are a few differences that make the game rather enjoyable. The person that finishes on top of the pile will scoop £50,000!
There are a number of players in FPL that won’t be considered at any point in the season, but could be a great option to choose from in Sky due to their being a number of avenues to score points.
Transfers
Unlike FPL you are limited to the amount of transfers you can use throughout the season. You are unable to take points hits and once you have used up all your transfers, that’s it! This means you have to use them much more strategically and think through your moves. For the season you have 40 transfers to use, which is just over 1 a week during the 38 gameweeks in the season. You are also allowed to use a maximum of 5 within a gameweek.
Like FPL you have two periods where you can completely change your side which is known as the ‘overhaul.’ Unlike FPL you can’t choose when you use it like a ‘chip’ as there’s set gameweek as to when it’s played for all managers. The first one is during the first international break in preparation for Gameweek 5 and the second is during the end of January after Gameweek 24 up until February 1st. This allows you to plan your team over 3 separate blocks.
There’s no price changes in Sky which massively helps managers plan future moves. It also means you’ve got no ties to any players by holding value which makes it easier to move on and off high scoring players. This means there will always be the odd bargain come the end of the season.
During any gameweek there’s not one deadline for transfers as you can use transfers within a gameweek. The deadline for a transfer is the kick-off time for the first game of the day, whereas in FPL it’s an hour before. This also means you get some team news to see if a player you own or are looking to bring in is playing. This is where planning comes into it as you can exploit the days teams play in order to transfer players in who play twice (or even 3 times on some occasions) before the player you transfer out plays again.
Eg: During Gameweek 2 if you own a Man City player, you can sell them after they play on Saturday for a Chelsea player on Sunday. You get the points from that Chelsea player playing against Leicester on Sunday and against Norwich the following Saturday before Man City play again.
Team structure
Managers have £100m to spend on 11 players. You are able to make 2 teams at the start of the season. This means there’s no bench to spend your money on but you have no one to bail you out if your players pick up injuries or you pick rotation prone players. It’s worth keeping this in mind as picking riskier players may cost you a precious transfer down the line which would be easier to deal with in FPL. Formations are exactly the same and you can change them freely during a gameweek through transfers. The only one unavailable is 5-4-1 which is quite annoying.
A key to Sky is being flexible in order to bring in captains. There’s plenty of different strategies but having a couple of premium players is handy as you can captain any player in the game with only making one transfer.
An example team. PC means potential captain (a captain on a future day during that gameweek).
Captains
One of the best things about Sky Fantasy Football is having multiple captains. Each day of the gameweek you can choose a captain to double their score but there’s no vice-captain if they don’t play. Unlike FPL where you are locked into one captain for the gameweek you are able to have a captain each day and you get to keep the double points from each captain. This benefits managers who plan ahead as they can capitalise by having a player on each day. There’s potential to have 4 captains over a standard gameweek from Friday-Monday.
You are able to change your captain right up until the deadline of each day, so you don’t have to make a decision early in the weekend. There’s also an area where you can select your captains for each day prior to the gameweek starting, so you don’t forget to select a captaincy during the gameweek. It shows what players you have on that day to choose from.
An example of how you choose between captains
With the increased number of Friday Night Football games and a number of Monday Night Football matches on during gameweeks, there’s going to be more single game days this season that you have to prepare for. On some occasions there will be days where both teams playing aren’t featured in your team and you have to decide are they worth a transfer in and possibly a second one out just to be a captain on that day. It’s not essential to have a captain every day but you would only want to be missing the odd day if it could hinder your long term plans.
It’s key you keep an eye out on when televised fixtures are announced as it allows you to plan upto 2-3 months ahead. For instance Arsenal and Man Utd will play more times on Sunday this season due to being in the Europa League.
Points scoring
There’s not a lot of difference between FPL and Sky other than bonus points but there’s also a minor few differences.
Players receive 2 points for starting and don’t have to reach 60 minutes and 1 for an appearance off the bench. A goal scored for each position is 1 point higher than FPL. A clean sheet is also a point higher for defenders (5) but a keeper will receive 7 points for a clean sheet (3 more than FPL). Another minor difference is that defenders and keepers will lose 1 point per goal conceded after they concede 1.
Bonus points awarded in Sky are majorly different to FPL as anyone can earn them for a number of different things. “Tier 1” and “Tier 2” are names given to the two types of bonus points awarded.
Starting at the back a keeper receives 2 points for making 3 saves and 3 points 5 saves. The number of saves needed to reach the two tiers has decreased from last season. Players who love to pass and/or tackle are awarded in Sky when they’re successful. Any player on the pitch who makes 60 successful passes earns 2 points and 70 will receive 3 (the equivalent of an assist). This majorly benefits teams who play a possession based game and play out from the back. Man City and Liverpool defenders benefitted massively from this last season. A player who makes 3 successful tackles earns 2 points or 4 tackles gets 3 points. Bonus is also awarded for shots on target and the number needed has also decreased this season. 2 shots on target gets 2 points and 3 shots on target gets 3 points
A Man of the match (MOTM) is awarded to a player in each game. It’s usually given by the commentator during live games but has changed in the past or by match reviewers, so there’s a bit of a grey area and there can be favourites. 3 points is given for this which has decreased from last season’s five. It’s difficult to predict these awards but there are some that standout like Eden Hazard did or Wilfred Zaha. Things like being a new signing in the opening few weeks, a young breakout player, a player who’s a good dribbler or a showboater are sometimes favoured but it’s usually those who standout in games.
Pricing
Pricing in Sky is much different to FPL. Players can differ by £0.1m from the get go unlike the £0.5m jumps in FPL. This is due to there being no price changes as previously mentioned. Premium keepers and defenders are priced much higher too and the latter are nearly as much as premium midfielders.
Goalkeepers have the smallest price range from £8m-£5.4m. The highest priced defender Van Dijk is £10.5m, £6m higher than the cheapest. Midfielders range from £11.6m-£4.5m, while striker range from £12.5m-£5.5m.
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It’s usually difficult to find value upfront but you do get the odd good valued forward that usually comes from a promoted side eg: Jimenez £7.9m last season. The majority of mid priced forwards in FPL are priced £9.5m+.
You have to keep in mind you’re only picking 11 players, so pricing is going to be higher than FPL where you choose 15 players. Bargain players are key to helping you afford premium captain options but they’re difficult to spot from the outset. Usually they crop up down the season from new signings, injuries or youth getting promoted. Bonus points make even the cheapest players viable as they can tick over steadily.
Leagues
Like FPL there’s your standard leagues but you don’t have a limit to the amount you can enter. Another benefit is you are able to create cash leagues between you and your mates if you want to put something on the line. Sky hold the money until the end of the season, so it’s as safe as it gets.
Towards the end of the season you are able to create a third team which you can use to try to win prizes such as manager of the week or manager of the month. Sometimes Sky run special leagues like a second half of the season league
You can enter our league here using code: PIN 8416987
Written by FPL Junior (@FPL_Junior)
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