Big Stats Award Winners -2017/18

We’re all familiar with the official Premier League player awards, such as the Golden Boot, which was won by Liverpool’s Mohamed Salah for scoring the most goals (32).

The Golden Glove, for most clean sheets was won by David De Gea (18) and the recently introduced Playmaker award for the most creative player, was scooped by Kevin De Bruyne (16 assists).

But what about those who have posted remarkable statistics during 2017/18? This article will look back on 38 Gameweeks of data to find out who the Big Stat Awards should go to.

Please note: each recipient of a Big Stat Award had to have started at least 19 games or half of the games this season. 

Baseline Bonus Award

Winner: Lukasz Fabianski

This award goes to the player with the highest BPS Baseline across the season. BPS baseline is an excellent indication of which players are likely to get bonus points, as it highlights those that get positive bonus for actions outside of the obvious, such as goals scored, clean sheets and assists. In first place is Swansea stopper Lukasz Fabianski, with a BPS baseline of 672.

In second is Chelsea defender Cesar Azpilicueta with 653 and Stoke stopper Jack Butland in third with 622.

Couldn’t Hit A Barn Door Award

Winner: Christian Benteke

This award is based on Big Chances Missed. Incredibly, the highest points scorer in the history of FPL, Salah, missed the most big chances this season with 23, followed by Benteke with 20 and, interestingly, Harry Kane with 18.

However, when you factor in the number of big chances missed as a percentage of the player’s ‘Total’ Big Chances, then there is only one clear winner  – the Palace striker.

This season the Belgian only had 23 big chances in total this season and he missed 20 of them, which is 87%, whereas Salah missed 53% of his big chances and Kane fluffed 46% of his.

Octopus Goalie Award

Winner: Jack Butland

This is based on Minutes Per Save and is the key indicator for goalkeepers who rack up save points throughout the season. Top spot goes to Butland with a save every 21.7 minutes, silver goes to that man again Fabianski (24.1 minutes per save) and bronze to West Ham’s Adrián (24.8 minutes per save).

The Fox In The Box Award

Winner: Sergio Aguero

The criteria for this award is Minutes Per Goal Attempt In The Box, possibly one of the biggest stats in Fantasy Football.

Looking at who is firing the most shots, most frequently in the box often reveals the players most likely to score. Aguero wins this one with a shot in the box every 24.6 minutes, closely followed by Kane (25.3 minutes) and Salah (25.8 minutes).

Top Crosser Award

Winner: Pascal Groß 

There is nothing more annoying than watching a live game and seeing a full-back or a winger putting lots of wayward crosses in the box that sail high above their intended target. With this mind, we look at the statistic of Successful Crosses and recognise those players with pinpoint accuracy.

Brighton number ten Pascal Groß leads the way with 70 successful crosses, closely followed by Gudmundsson on 65 and De Bruyne on 61.

The ‘On Me Head’ Award

Joint Winners: Marcos Alonso And Chris Smalling

When choosing a defender for your Fantasy team, you always want them to offer something more than just clean sheets. With this in mind, this award is based on Goals From Set Plays for defenders.

Top of the pile is Chelsea’s raiding left wing back Marcos Alonso and Manchester United centre back Chris Smalling with four set play goals apiece this season.

While Alonso’s free kicks will always be a part of FPL folklore, it seems that Smalling’s somewhat under-the-radar set piece threat may make him a shrewd Manchester United defensive pick next season, if he an retain a first XI berth. While David De Gea may garner a higher ownership, he will be stuck rooted at the opposite end of the pitch watching while Smalling trots up for those corners.

Tellingly, Smalling also has the highest Goal Conversion in the league last season with a whopping 30.8% of his chances scored.

The Team Relies On Me Award

Winner: Steve Mounie

This award is given to the player with the high Goal Involvement. First place is striker Steve Mounie who was involved in 57% of Huddersfield’s goals last season; second place goes to Salah (54%) and third place perhaps unsurprisingly goes to Stoke playmaker Shaqiri, who scored or assisted around half of Stoke’s 35 goals.

If Huddersfield up the goal threat next season (and admittedly they start from a low base with just 28 goals scored, the second lowest in the league), then a nailed-on Mounie could be a potent third striker. More importantly perhaps, when you consider that Liverpool were the division’s second highest scorers with 84 goals and that Salah was involved in more than half of those goals, it may make Salah essential in the 18/19 season, price-hike or no price-hike.