An unintentional sucker-punch to seasoned FPL managers who have never reached such giddy heights, Moore said: “Up until a couple of years ago I had not taken much notice of FPL but I was then asked to join my office league who wanted more team players. I did not want to embarrass myself so I had a trial run in 2017/18, finishing 56,051 overall."
After 25 years of woking for a holiday company in Folkestone, Moore was made redundant but remained in the company's mini-league. "Gradually each week I continued to improve my overall position. I noticed that the game was slowly taking up more and more of my time particularly during my three weeks out of work.”
Thankfully, a new job was around the corner for Moore - a Palace fan since 1978 - but that didn’t curb his focus on FPL. He said: “Some balance to my life was restored, which no doubt was much appreciated by my family. They had very little interest in my latest chip strategy or how I was intending to play the upcoming double gameweeks!”
Moore modestly credits much of his success to luck, citing his decision to captain Sergio Aguero in Gameweek 25 where he notched a sublime hat-trick against Arsenal.
Exclusively for cpfc.co.uk, Moore has revealed his top 10 tips for FPL success this year.
- Invest in City & Liverpool
“Each week I ensured I had decent Liverpool and City coverage. Salah played 37 times for me, the Robertson / Alexander-Arnold full back combination 34 times, Aguero 27 and Ederson 26. These two clubs had some real big hitters and without them it was difficult to get towards the top.”
- Target players who are nailed-on to start.
“I benefitted from having Luiz and Digne who almost always played and many also chose Wan-Bissaka for the same reason, whereas other players particularly at Arsenal and Spurs were heavily rotated.”
- Keep your eye on emerging stars, and move early.
“Early season I was on the look-out for emerging players and got fortunate with both Doherty and Jiminez who proved to be key assets at Wolves. Next season I will be tracking Brooks at Bournemouth, Maddison at Leicester, Wan-Bissaka and possibly Pukki at Norwich.”
- Look at the opposition.
“This season many FPL players (unfortunately not myself) just looked for the team scheduled to play Huddersfield and promptly picked the opposition key striker, who then went on to bag a couple of goals.”
- Try to avoid points hits by transferring more than one player in a Gameweek.
“I tried to look ahead to the next set of six or so fixtures. I only took 12 points in hits during the season which was way down from my first season.”
- Plan early!
“Set up your team the week before just in case life gets in the way and you miss the deadline. The Friday evening games caught out quite a few players this year.”
- Look for players with bonus point appeal.
“Alexander-Arnold, Wan-Bissaka and Jiminez scored heavily for me with extra points whereas for some reason Zaha for all his brilliance rarely got bonus points.”
- Avoid knee-jerk transfer decisions after a disastrous game week.
“I remember quickly regretting transferring in Walcott for the suspended Richarlison.”
- Copy and follow others.
“I found there is lots of great information out there. I followed @Fergi222 as well as @DayvyFPL. I also used Fantasy Football Geek www.fantasyfootballgeek.co.uk for team selections.”
- Have Fun.
“Essentially it is a lot of luck and getting the 50/50 calls to go in your favour. I did not play for money and I also found a couple of live websites added to my enjoyment as you can track your up to date progress. www.livefpl.net and www.anewpla.net/fpl/live are both good. You will need your ID number but there are easy to follow instructions.”
Register your FPL team at fantasy.premierleague.com and compete with fellow Palace supporters like Tremaine this season.