Aug 4, 20213 min read

EPL Draft Tiered Rankings Cheat Sheet

Updated: Aug 17, 2021

Our Fantasy EPL 21/22 Draft Kit promises to be the most comprehensive set of pre-season Draft Premier League articles ever produced! Obviously, our rankings will be one of the most featured parts of the Draft Kit, but some of us don't prefer to use a 1 to 150 ranking system when rating players. Instead, I prefer to use a tiered system. This article, available to our Inner Circle subscribers, will walk fantasy managers through the benefits of using tiers when drafting, how to best make use of this cheat sheet, and how to personalize it should you want to tweak any of our player valuations. By the time draft day rolls around, you will have an entirely unique draft cheat sheet and a leg up on the competition. Keep in mind: these tiered rankings reflect Fantrax Default Scoring, which does differ from Official FPL scoring. Though, we'd like to think that these tiers could be helpful to most drafters this summer.

Check out our 21/22 Draft Kit for all the pre-season information you would ever need. Draft Rankings, Team Previews, Strategy, Draft 101. We've got it all!!!

Tiered Rankings

Below, you will find a link to the Tiered Rankings document. Before you check it out, there are a few things to be aware of when using tiers when drafting as opposed to using a numerical list from 1-150+. There are also a couple of things to be aware of regarding the document itself, which will also be explained briefly. It will vastly improve your ability to effectively and strategically use the tiers document if you consider these quick points.

How to Use Tiers

Again, let us first provide a couple of pointers to explain the use of a tiered system as opposed to a numerical rankings system.

A tier 1 DEF is not necessarily as valuable as a tier 1 MID or FWD. It's important to understand that a tier is simply a measurement of the perceived value of each player as compared to the rest of the players at their position. So, don't necessarily compare tiers across the positions.
However, tiers can help you to see when a certain caliber of player at a certain position has dried up, potentially prompting you to draft a player at another position in a higher tier. This, to be completely honest, is one of the most valuable insights that using tiers can offer.
Finally, feel free to customize your Tiered Rankings Cheat Sheet as you see fit. However, moving players around inside an existing tier (moving a player up or down, but keeping them in the same tier) is largely pointless. This is because the tiers themselves indicate that every player within that tier is perceived to have approximately the same season-long value. So, if using the tiers as intended, any player from that tier would suffice.

The Tiered Rankings Cheat Sheet!

Follow the below link to the cheat sheet. Once inside of the document, follow the directions on the right side of the sheet to create your own customizable version of this document. Also, be aware that this will be updated several times throughout the summer. Happy drafting!

Version 3 - (8/4/2021)

Well, the preseason is well underway and starting XIs are starting to take shape. All the while, transfer rumors continue to swirl. At the time of publication, Kane is skipping training and Grealish is rumored to have had a medical at City. That, plus many other developments within the Premier League, played a part in the most recent update to the Tiered Rankings Cheat Sheet.

Risers: Firmino, Jimenez, Benrahma, Saka, Bowen, Fraser, Gibbs-White, Schlupp, Chambers, Abraham, Martial, Coleman, Alexander-Arnold, Veltman, Bachmann, Raya.
Fallers: Lingard, Trezeguet, Partey, Werner, Jesus, Rodriguez, Jensen, Lacazette, Maupay, B. Silva, Semedo, Lamptey, Rashford (again), N. Phillips, B. Traore.
Fit Again: Alexander-Arnold, Barnes, Castagne, Jimenez.
Added: Leon Bailey.