MailOnline Fantasy Football: How to prepare your team for the season and what to do each week

Sportsmail has put together a beginner's guide to joining the game and what to do once it begins.

How to win prizes

Creating a team and registering it is the first step towards qualifying yourself for the prize pool.

If you open the app or sign up on the website, you will be prompted to create a new team. Select your competition of choice from the list and then you will be guided through the game.

You will then be asked to select your team. It's easier than ever this season as values have been adjusted to best work with the £75million transfer budget.

But there is one limitation - you have to select a valid formation for the team to be accepted.

Putting a team together

The days of everyone thinking in terms of a 4-4-2 have come and gone, best symbolised by Chelsea's brilliant 3-4-3 formation in the Premier League last season.

That same system is quite useful in fantasy football as it maximises the number of attacking players while limiting defenders, who lose points if they concede goals.

You can sort players by position and value, and stats are readily available by tapping their name. Clicking their value will pick them for your side.

The app and website track your efforts at putting together a valid formation and how much money you have left to spend. It's simple enough - pick the players you want, stay within your budget and make sure you have a formation.

Once that is sorted, you will need to pick a captain. That player scores double points and you can change it each week, allowing you to adjust based on form and opponent.

Making transfers

An important part of the game on a week to week basis is making transfers.

It's essential that you replace injured and suspended players while improving the squad by bringing in players who have impressed is another key part of fantasy football. These need to be completed before the first fixture of the game week.

We will provide advice as to who you should sign throughout the season.