With just days to go until the 2021/22 Fantasy Bundesliga season kicks off, our series of preview articles continues with a look at the best forwards from the German top flight.
If you’re new to the game or just need a reminder of the rules, check out our ‘how to play’ guide below.
It was recently announced that this season will have five unlimited transfers, or Wildcard periods, with the first arriving on August 29, which follows Matchday 3 and precedes the first international break of the campaign.
This means we’ll only be looking at the opening three fixtures in this article, in an attempt to maximise points from the get-go.
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HOW FORWARDS SCORE POINTS
As with midfielders, the key to a high-scoring forward in Fantasy Bundesliga is a player who’s heavily involved in the game.
Alongside the four points for a goal and three points for an assist, forwards gain one point for every five duels won, two points for every two shots on goal and two points for every two passes that lead to a shot.
As with all other players, forwards gain one point for playing 69 minutes and two more if they play more than 70.
They get a point for scoring the winning goal and a point for scoring a brace, as well as three points for a hat-trick.
A penalty scored is worth three points, but a penalty missed also costs three points.
The scoring in Fantasy Bundesliga favours a dominant frontman.
Last season’s top five highest-scoring players in the game were forwards, with Robert Lewandowski’s (17.0m) 457 points a whopping 139 ahead of Filip Kostić (14.0m) as the highest-scoring midfielder and 164 ahead of Angeliño (14.0m), the highest-scoring defender.
These same five forwards were also the only five players to score more than 10 points in at least 50% of their games. Forwards also made up half of the players to average 10 points or more per game.
Planning for your three forwards to play at different times is also important so you can maximise your opportunities to score big through the star player chip.
THE BEST BUNDESLIGA FORWARDS
When it comes to Bundesliga forwards, there’s only one place to start.
Fresh from breaking Gerd Müller’s Bundesliga season goals record, Lewandowski is the most expensive player in the game this season. Scoring 41 goals and making seven assists in 29 games is almost superhuman, and Lewy looks set to be the first name on everyone’s team sheets. He got 457 points last season, at an average of 16 points per game. He’s even on penalties. After an opening day visit to Borussia Mönchengladbach, he then faces Köln and Hertha Berlin at home. This is really a no-brainer.
The second-most expensive player in the game also needs no introduction.
Borussia Dortmund’s Erling Haaland (16.0m) netted 27 goals plus 8 assists in 28 appearances last season and opened this season with a hat-trick in the DFB Pokal. His opening game against Eintracht Frankfurt may not seem easy, but Oliver Glasner’s new side are fresh from an incredibly poor cup loss. Haaland will continue to be the focal point of Marco Rose’s Dortmund side and it’s clear from their first competitive game together that this could be a special season for the Norwegian striker. With Jadon Sancho gone, he’s also the undisputed main penalty taker. Sign him up.
This then leaves just a third forward spot to fill, and there are plenty of strong candidates.
The most obvious is RB Leipzig’s new talisman André Silva (15.0m). Silva was the second-highest scoring forward in Fantasy Bundesliga while at Frankfurt last season and now joins a side in desperate need of a good number nine. The numbers Haaland and Patson Daka have put up at RB Salzburg show what Jesse Marsch can do with a great striker, so the sky really is the limit for the Portuguese. He averaged 14 points per game last season for a poorer side than the Leipzig one he’s just joined, who also have great fixtures starting against Mainz and VfB Stuttgart.
Thomas Müller (15.0m) may seem like another obvious choice, but he’s let down by playing for the same side as Lewandowski. His 364 points made him the third-highest scoring player in the game last season, but when you can’t put the star player chip on him, he becomes a much less attractive option. Of course, he could be used as an alternative to Lewandowski but that would be an incredibly bold decision.
The same goes for newly classified forward Leroy Sané (14.0m) and his partner Serge Gnabry (14.0m). Although they’re both strong options in their own right, Lewandowski and Müller being close to their price seems to nullify their appeal.
VfL Wolfsburg’s Wout Weghorst (14.0m) was the key attacking force behind his side’s top four campaign last season. Smashing home 20 goals and grabbing eight assists, he’s the true talisman for Mark van Bommel’s new side. However, it’s tough to predict whether a manager with van Bommel’s inexperience will start the season strong and there seem to be more secure and explosive picks than the veteran Dutchman.
Another interesting option is Hoffenheim’s Andrej Kramarić (14.0m). The Croatian forward’s record in the Bundesliga is impressive and he’s fresh from a DFB Pokal brace in just 55 minutes. Kramarić grabbed 20 goals and six assists for Hoffenheim last season, averaging 10 points per game in Fantasy Bundesliga. He also ended 2020/21 in incredible form, with six goals and two assists coming in his final five games. The only downside to Kramarić is a relatively tough start to the season, with games against Augsburg, Union Berlin and Dortmund less than ideal.
Marco Reus (13.0m) and new signing Donyell Malen (12.0m) fall into the same trap as Müller, Gnabry and Sané. They’re just simply not as strong an option as either Haaland or the others in their price bracket on current form, although there’s every chance that Malen could turn out to be great value if he hits the ground running.
The other options in this price point are Patrick Schick (13.0m) and Marcus Thuram (13.0m), although they both start the season with relatively tough fixtures.
Union Berlin’s Max Kruse (11.0m) offers a more left-field choice. He’s the main man, albeit in a team that doesn’t score too many goals. He netted 11 goals and registered five assists in 22 appearances last season, averaging seven points per game. For his price, he may not quite offer enough to be considered good value, but he’ll be key for Union this season.
For half the price of Lewandowski and Haaland, Mark Uth (8.0m), Simon Zoller (7.0m) and Rafael Borre (7.0m) offer value options up front.
Uth has re-signed for Köln after a poor season with Schalke. He was prolific in his half-season loan with the Billy Goats in 2019/20, grabbing five goals and five assists in 14 starts. If he could rediscover that form this season, then he’ll prove to be a real bargain.
VfL Bochum’s Zoller is their main goalscoring threat. 15 goals and 10 assists in 32 2. Bundesliga games shows how involved he is for Bochum, as he also grabbed a goal and an assist in their extra-time Pokal win this weekend. Whenever Bochum are scoring, expect this man to be involved.
Borre is perhaps the most intriguing value option in Fantasy Bundesliga. The Colombian striker is Eintracht Frankfurt’s replacement for André Silva, and if he could match his predecessor’s form then he will be this season’s big bargain. A tough opening game against Dortmund gives potential owners a chance to check out Borre before bringing him in.
The final option up front is the cheapest.
Stuttgart’s Hamadi Al Ghaddioui (4.0m) may well only start one game whilst Sasa Kalajdzic (12.0m) has COVID-19, but it is a prime fixture at home to Greuther Fürth. The veteran German striker could well be a great value differential to start your season off with a bang.
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