Vote for the best FPL forwards of 2023/24

Next up in our Fantasy Premier League (FPL) 2023/24 end-of-season awards poll are the forwards.

This follows the votes for best goalkeeper, defenders and midfielders.

Overall score, points per match and FPL value were all factors we considered when compiling a shortlist. The rest is up to you!

Voting for this poll and the other positions will remain open until 23:59 on Saturday 25 May.

At that point, the most popular goalkeeper, three defenders, two midfielders and one forward (the minimum requirements in an FPL team) from the respective polls will make the Team of the Season XI.

The other four spots will be decided in a run-off vote.

It’s all in the name of democracy, as we’re effectively giving you the chance to pick the formation of this end-of-year XI and all of the personnel within it, rather than making this final decision ourselves as we’ve done in the past.

ERLING HAALAND

• Points: 217
• Points per match: 7.0
• Start cost: £14.0m
• End cost: £14.3m

So extraordinary was Erling Haaland’s debut season that it’s easy to dismiss his 2023/24 as a disappointment. But 272 points was a ludicrously high bar to set – and his 217 in this campaign still earned him fifth place in the overall standings.

Throw in the fact that he only made 29 starts and it’s clear he still posted elite numbers. Indeed no forward came close to his average of 7.0 points per match. Ollie Watkins was the nearest contender with 6.2 – and he started eight more matches than his Man City counterpart.

Haaland’s explosivity and universal popularity is such that it takes a very brave FPL manager to overlook him. Despite his eye-watering price tag he was owned by 74% managers by the season’s end, and those who decided against captaining him in Gameweek 36, when he scored four goals against Wolves for a 21-point haul, paid for it with their overall rank.

Haaland won the Golden Boot for the second season running after rattling off 27 goals. No forward managed as many as his eight double-digit returns and only Watkins matched his 29 bonus points.

The big Norwegian also came second for attacking returns (35) in what can only be classified as another excellent campaign. 

OLLIE WATKINS

• Points: 228
• Points per match: 6.2
• Start cost: £8.0m
• End cost: £8.9m

After producing 175 points last season there were high hopes for Watkins at the start of this campaign, but few FPL managers could have predicted what a stellar season he would enjoy.

He improved on his goal tally by four to return 19 goals but where he really made the difference was with his assists. The Aston Villa forward won the Playmaker of the Year award after amassing 18 of them – more than double his total from the previous season.

Perhaps it was down to defensive injuries that Villa boss Unai Emery decided to take the handbrake off and encourage a front-footed approach from his side, but Watkins truly thrived, producing an unrivalled 37 attacking returns. 

Among forwards, only Haaland edged his seven double-digit returns. Watkins also came joint-top with the Norwegian for bonus points (29).

He was even leading the FPL points charts up to Gameweek 34, only to be pipped into third place by Cole Palmer and Phil Foden. His 228 points ensured he was the top scoring forward of 2023/24 and a price hike for 2024/25 will be inevitable. 

DOMINIC SOLANKE

• Points: 175
• Points per match: 4.6
• Start cost: £6.5m
• End cost: £6.9m

Dominic Solanke was one of the most highly regarded players of his generation when he was coming through the Chelsea academy. The fear was, after an indifferent spell at Liverpool, that he might never quite deliver on his promise at the highest level.

Those concerns have evaporated at Bournemouth, though. Under Andoni Ireola, the striker has truly come into his own, firing 19 goals this season to finish joint-fourth in the race for the Golden Boot. 

The 26-year-old achieved 22 attacking returns, 20 bonus points and was second among forwards for goal attempts with 109.

His 175 points ensured he was the third-highest FPL points-scoring forward – an impressive achievement for a striker playing for a side who finished 12^th in the league. It was all the more commendable given his starting price of £6.5m.

Solanke’s development is well worth bearing in mind for next season, too, as in the last two seasons his trajectory bears a remarkable similarity to that of Watkins. The Villa man’s last three FPL points totals read: 131, 175, 228. Solanke’s last two read: 130, 175. Spooky.

ALEXANDER ISAK

• Points: 172
• Points per match: 5.7
• Start cost: £7.5m
• End cost: £8.4m

Rumours have it that Alexander Isak almost moved to Arsenal two seasons ago and one suspects those whispers won’t go away any time soon after the Swede’s brilliant season. He is rapid, times his runs brilliantly and can score with either foot.

Isak scored 100 points in only half a season in 2023 and he proved that was no fluke by recording 172 points this time around. Only Haaland and Palmer scored more than his 21 goals and, among forwards, only Haaland and Watkins exceeded his 25 attacking returns.

The Newcastle forward also came third among forwards for double-digit returns, with six. Four of them came in the final nine Gameweeks of the campaign.

An average of 5.7 points per match placed him third among forwards for end-product.

His 41% ownership by the end of the season reflected how highly regarded he was – a mid-priced goalscoring forward in a team set up to play attacking football is FPL gold.

JEAN-PHILIPPE MATETA

• Points: 165
• Points per match: 4.7
• Start cost: £5.0m
• End cost: £5.1m

Jean-Philippe Mateta’s season can be divided into two parts: pre- and post-Glasner.

Under Roy Hodgson the forward produced 65 FPL points in 22 matches, at a rate of 2.95 pts/match.

Under new boss Oliver Glasner he racked up 100 points in 13 matches at a rate of 7.7 pts/match. The difference was night and day.

In defence of Hodgson, the return from long-term injury of Michael Olise and Ezerechi Eze undoubtedly helped improve Palace’s and Mateta’s fortunes, but under Glasner the Eagles played with more freedom and verve and their Parisien striker was transformed.

From Gameweek 26, no player scored as many as his 13 goals and no forward produced as many as his 15 attacking returns or his century of FPL points. 

It particularly helped FPL managers to know that Mateta was a guaranteed source of points in home matches. He scored in all seven Selhurst Park appearances under Glasner, including three double-digit hauls in his last four sorties in South London. He soared to fifth place in the list of top scoring forwards in FPL.

At a cost of £5.0m/£5.1m he was an absolute bargain during the run-in. At 32.4 points per million over the season, he was also FPL’s ‘best value’ forward.

JULIAN ALVAREZ

• Points: 158
• Points per match: 4.4
• Start cost: £6.5m
• End cost: £6.4m

It’s never easy to predict which player will fall victim to ‘Pep roulette’ at Manchester City but Julian Alvarez was completely exempt from rotation in the first half of the season. With Kevin De Bruyne out injured and Jack Grealish struggling for form and fitness, Alvarez was entrusted with a regular run in the side, making the first XI for every match from Gameweek 1-25.

He started well, returning in six of his first nine matches for the champions. By Gameweek 25, he was the fourth-highest scoring forward in the game after Watkins, Haaland and Solanke, and third among frontmen for bonus points.

Thereafter the return of De Bruyne, the increased use of Jeremy Doku and the distraction of Champions League football limited the Argentinian’s number of league starts to six.

However, he still returned four times in five matches from Gameweeks 33-37 as City mounted their title charge.

His 11 goals and 11 assists over the course of the season placed him sixth among forwards with a points-per-match ratio of 4.4.

CARLTON MORRIS

• Points: 146
• Points per match: 3.8
• Start cost: £5.5m
• End cost: £4.7m

Carlton Morris was the go-to budget enabler for managers investing big in their midfielders – until Mateta turned into Harry Kane.

The Luton forward returned in four of the first six Gameweeks of the season before catching fire again in Gameweek 19 as the Hatters began to find their feet in the top flight.

From Gameweeks 19 to 27, he scored five goals and produced seven attacking returns for 54 points, making him the third-highest scoring forward over that period behind Watkins and Rasmus Hojlund.

He finished the season well, scoring in six of his last nine appearances at Kenilworth Road and coming seventh among forwards in the final FPL points table with 142 points – ahead of more expensive assets such as Darwin Nunez, Nicolas Jackson and Hojlund.

Considering where Luton finished in the table his was a superb season – and a lesson to managers who discount players from promoted sides.

NOT MAKING THE CUT

Speaking of Darwin and Jackson, both had their moments. They each reached the 20 mark for attacking returns but the overriding feeling with both of them was one of frustration.

Darwin only made the starting XI on 22 occasions, so reliability of starts was a black mark against him.

Jackson was a bit feast or famine. Nine of his 20 attacking returns came in three matches, with blanks arriving in 60% of his appearances.

Rodrigo Muniz and Chris Wood both had strong ends to the season but only made the starting XI in around half of their team’s games over the course of 2023/24, so they didn’t quite make the shortlist.

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