Fantasy Premier League

FPL champion's tips: Getting the most from budget enablers

By The Scout 2 Jun 2023

2022/23 winner Ali Jahangirov explains the strategy behind selecting the best cut-price differentials

The Scout analyses the strategies of 2022/23 Fantasy Premier League champion Ali Jahangirov, so other managers can learn from the best.

Promoted clubs offer value

A key part of being a Fantasy manager is choosing the best possible squad using the £100million budget.

Title-winner Jahangirov believes that the teams coming up from the Championship can be a big help to managers next season.

"Last season, promoted teams were really exciting," he says.

"Nottingham Forest were recruiting a lot of new players and were really promising, as well as Fulham, who had a good start to the season, and with a good manager. I'll be doing my research during the summer, as I think some of Burnley's assets could be good value under Vincent Kompany.

"It is risky to go with promoted teams, but we all remember Sheffield United’s John Lundstram [in 2019/20 Fantasy], so we might have some gems."

Picking differentials

Over the course of the campaign Jahangirov had a number of cut-price players in his team including Fulham’s Andreas Pereira and Everton’s Nathan Patterson, who he started the season with.

But it is his later budget-friendly players he credits for helping him to victory.

"This season, I've had differential picks like Wilfried Gnonto from Leeds United, who delivered well for me in a Double Gameweek," he says.

See: Jahangirov's Double Gameweek 22 team

"I've had a lot of points from Tyrone Mings because he was quite cheap and was usually my first sub. He's scored over 30 or 40 points throughout five or six Gameweeks, even a 15-pointer from a clean sheet and a goal. When you get those points off the bench, it's really satisfying.”

Jahangirov also suggests a player's popularity in Fantasy can be crucial in deciding which budget options to pick.

"Going into a new season, I think you have to look at the transfers in and see what the ownership is", Jahangirov adds.

"This season was really kind on budget because we had a lot of enablers from Brighton & Hove Albion and Arsenal. Having Marcus Rashford for a starting cost of £6.5m was really great."

Risk-free approach

Jahangirov adopted a risk-free approach when selecting his budget picks early on, using the ownership statistics as a guide.

Later in the season, though, turning to in-form, cut-price differentials allowed him to get the edge on his rivals and ultimately helped steer him to glory.