For the last two or three seasons Fantasy managers have often overlooked Steven Gerrard, with excuses ranging from his age and withdrawn role to his often steep price tag. But with 205 Fantasy Premier League (FPL) points last season and already a goal and five FPL bonus points this term is it time to admit he should be one of the first names in your Fantasy side?
HISTORY
To show just what a key player he is in the FPL game, in particular, where his goal and assist count is supplemented with bonus points, here is a run down of his history.
- 06/07 – 180pts (10.5)
- 07/08 – 200pts (10.6)
- 08/09 – 216pts (12.4)
- 09/10 – 159pts (12.5)
- 10/11 – 88pts (11.3 – fewer than 1900 minutes played)
- 11/12 – 75pts (9.4 – fewer than 1300 minutes played)
- 12/13 – 185pts (9.2)
- 13/14 – 205pts (9.7)
This averages at 9.4 goals and 8.8 assists a season and increases to 11 goals and 10.5 assists per season when you remove the 10/11 and 11/12 seasons in which he barely played due to injury.
Six Reasons To Draft In Gerrard
Here are my six key reasons why Steven Gerrard is still a force to be reckoned with in Fantasy Football.
- His Record – As shown above, when given playing time he scores points. Lots of them. Also important is the fact that he rarely loses them as his low proportion of cards shows. He was one of the top midfielders last season and is only priced at 9.0 (8.9 as of writing).
- 90 minutes – He rarely gets substituted and, whilst Liverpool are in the Champions League this season, he is likely to start the vast majority of Premiership games. Also, with his position in the Liverpool formation, and the attacking quality of the rest of the Liverpool midfield, he doesn’t have to bomb forward anywhere near as much as he did when he was younger, maintaing his fitness levels for longer.
- Assists – Gerrard has a massive potential for assists. He takes free kicks and corners, has accurate long passes and posesses a sublime through ball. Whilst we rarely saw this for England, for Liverpool, especially under Rodgers, he sets up a lot of goals.
- Penalties – These are more or less free points. According to the FPL history he has only missed five since 2006 which is an excellent conversion record. Nor is anyone likely to take penalties off him. Whilst the lack of Suarez has made many think that Liverpool will not win as many penalties as before, Raheem Sterling’s runs, coupled with the penalty-box presence of Daniel Sturridge and Mario Ballotelli, should still see a fair return from the spot.
- FPL Bonus – Whilst having been tweaked in a way that seems to predominantly favour centre-backs, Gerrard has shown that his defensive anchor role benefits as well. In three games thus far he has scored one goal and returned five out of a maximum of nine bonus points. Most telling, for me, are the Manchester City game’s bonus points award. In a match where Liverpool were trounced and he neither scored nor assisted, Gerrard still picked up two bonus points. This suggests he will be a source of points even when Livepool struggle in matches. With most of the top sides playing attacking football this opens up returns that the likes of Sterling, who relies on goals and assists alone, will be unable to provide.
- Fixtures – The next six fixtures for Liverpool are exquisite, with home games against Aston Villa, Everton, West Brom and Hull as well as away fixtures against West Ham and QPR. The potential for Gerrard to rack up a penalties, assists, goals and bonus points looks strong over the coming months.
There you have it. Steven Gerrard. Steady source of good points in Liverpool’s midfield. With an FPL ownership of just 5.5% and with hugely favourable fixtures over the autumn, Gerrard could be one of the best differentials in the game.
9 years, 7 months agoI'm convinced. Gerrard is my kind of player and those fixtures are sensational. Sterling and Gerrard double up very much a possibility.