Most of us know what makes a desirable Fantasy Premier League (FPL) goalkeeper: clean sheet potential with the ability to supplement those shut-outs with a decent number of save points.
That’s exactly what Nick Pope (£5.2m) is currently offering, and the Newcastle United number one indeed leads the FPL goalkeeper standings for points ahead of Gameweek 9.
While acknowledging that pinpointing an appealing goalkeeper is hardly rocket science, we here take a brief look at how this season’s shot-stoppers are scoring their points in FPL.
POINTS BREAKDOWN
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Dean Henderson (£4.7m) is a good example of why it’s important to look beyond the total points column.
The Nottingham Forest goalkeeper may sit third in these positional standings but 10 of his points have come directly from penalty saves, a semi-freak occurrence and something we can’t really rely on as owners – even if your chosen goalkeeper has a decent record from spot-kicks. All of his bonus points, and his only clean sheet, have also come as a result of those two saves from 12 yards. Had both of those penalties been scored past him, he’d now be sitting on 15 points instead of 33.
It’s something we’ve known about for years but Ederson (£5.5m) is essentially a ‘clean sheet or nothing’ type of goalkeeper: he is the Premier League’s only current starter between the sticks who hasn’t registered a single save point this season.
Other custodians struggling for save points as a result of solid defences in front of them and/or easier fixtures are Aaron Ramsdale (£4.9m, one save point from seven starts), Robert Sanchez (£4.6m, two save points from six starts) and Alisson (£5.4m, two save points from six starts).
Contrast that with David Raya (£4.5m), whose Brentford side had one of the more straightforward fixture runs in the first eight Gameweeks but who also allowed more shots on target than any other team except for Nottingham Forest.
Raya only has one clean sheet to his name in 2022/23 but can’t be matched for save points (nine). In fact, in every Premier League match this season, the Spaniard registered at least one save point. A total of 43.3% of the stops he has made have come from efforts outside of the area, shots that typically (if not always) represent ‘easy’ save points as there is a smaller chance of them finding the back of the net.
| Goalkeeper | % of total saves made from efforts outside of box |
| Lloris | 68.8% |
| Alisson | 53.8% |
| Raya Martin | 43.3% |
| Fabianski | 42.9% |
| Ederson | 42.9% |
| Pope | 40.0% |
| José Sá | 38.1% |
| Henderson (Dean) | 34.5% |
| Leno | 30.0% |
| Neto (Murara) | 30.0% |
| Ward (Danny) | 28.6% |
| Sanchez (Robert) | 26.7% |
| Meslier | 23.5% |
| Travers | 23.1% |
| Mendy (Edouard) | 22.2% |
| De Gea | 22.2% |
| Pickford | 19.2% |
| Martinez | 18.2% |
| Bazunu | 17.6% |
| Ramsdale | 6.7% |
| Guaita | 6.3% |
| Begovic | 0.0% |
CLEAN SHEET POINTS (MINUS GOALS CONCEDED) v SAVE POINTS
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