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Sponsored by Sleeper

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Several weeks ago, we explained how to successfully conduct a Fantasy FC draft in the popular app Sleeper.

2024/25 is Sleeper’s first dip into Premier League life, after specialising in American sports head-to-head leagues for the likes of the NFL and NBA.

As Fantasy Football Scout is partnering with them on this journey, it only makes sense that our core team of staff sits down and does our own draft, in a quest to see who reigns supreme.

Done during the September international break, with the summer transfer window closed, we did just that. Let us know who you think has the strongest initial squad.

WHAT IS SLEEPER?

Simply download it on either the App Store or Play Store.

Built like a messenger app, Sleeper launched in 2014 as a place to chat about Fantasy games. Their initial US leagues debuted in 2017 and they’ve now decided to branch into football with some exciting Premier League and La Liga contests.

Pride is taken in its design, aided by initially hiring a bunch of casual fans and first-time Fantasy players to bring out-of-the-box ideas that created a less intimidating interface for new players. And this seems to have worked, as Sleeper continues to gain popularity.

OUR SCOUT DRAFT LEAGUE

First, let’s introduce the 10 competitors:

• Sam Bonfield – General Manager, half of FPL Family and a regular on Sky Sports News
• Chris James – CEO of Scout, ‘El Fozzie’ hosts our Spaces on X
• Neale Rigg – Editor who does a bit of line-up predicting on the side
• Tom Freeman – Deputy Editor, a differential specialist and five-time top 1k finisher
• Marc Jobling – Staff Writer who is now the Goals Imminent podcast co-host
• Ian (FPL Partridge) – Social Media Manager, formerly of the FPL Partridge ‘X’ account
• Tom Johnson – Multimedia Manager, began with Ian but recently expanded into video
• Ed Gray – Strategic Advisor, UCL podcast co-host and creator of Fantasy Football Fest
• Louis Roberts – Fantasy Football Community Staff Writer and master of many formats
• Scott Worrall – Social Media Executive, the newest recruit and an EFL Fantasy contributor

Once we were all settled in, a few rules were agreed upon. Sixty seconds per pick, going in a Snake order until each had chosen 17 players.

A randomised order generator handed Marc the first pick. Despite the poisonous mind games being played within the chat, he held firm and began with Erling Haaland.

Here is a visually pleasing overview of the complete Sleeper draft.

So what do you think?

Louis wasn’t initially around and his pre-selected queue of targets automatically kicked in – although his first six players are all in midfield! He held off a late push from fellow Chelsea fan Tom J to secure the most Blues assets.

Similarly, Chris did a superb job at collecting as many current or former Everton names as possible. Two-thirds of his forward line play for his beloved team, something which definitely won’t become a problem at any point.

In a staff room of numerous Newcastle United fans, Ed was able to gather five Magpies. Footballers, not birds. Two of Sam’s first three picks are defenders, while Neale sensibly looked over the scoring rules (points for tackles, interceptions etc) and noticed that Declan Rice may prove handy.

As each player can only be selected once, it quickly became difficult to select the next name. But trade requests are already underway using the app’s chat feature.

Stay tuned to see if any swaps are agreed upon. Gameweek 4 sees the first set of head-to-head Sleeper draft clashes – let the trash-talking commence.

JOIN OUR SCOUT PICK’EM LEAGUE

As well as Fantasy FC drafts, there’s Pick’em – a Premier League prediction league. You can join Scout’s for free by clicking here.

In Pick’em, all you do is predict wins and draws for the upcoming matches, earning a point for every correct guess.

Not only is there a football shirt of choice to win each month but the overall season-long winner gets £7,500 worth of prizes!

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