End of Season Awards – The Goalkeepers

The Fantasy Football Scout end of season awards have now been launched, with the first poll released today.

We start with the goalkeepers, offering the chance to pick your favourite shot-stopper of 2017/18 from a Fantasy Football perspective.

Overall points, price and value across both Fantasy Premier League and Sky Sports Fantasy games are all factors to consider.

Before getting underway, let’s have a glance back at last year’s team of the season, with a particular focus on 2016/17’s selected goalkeeper.

2016/17 Fantasy Football Scout Team of the Season Review

Goalkeeper – Tom Heaton
Defenders – Marcos Alonso, Gareth McAuley, Seamus Coleman
Midfielders – Dele Alli, Alexis Sanchez, Christian Eriksen, Joshua King
Forwards – Zlatan Ibrahimovic, Romelu Lukaku, Harry Kane

As it was for his predecessor, it has been a tough ride for Tom Heaton since being named our goalkeeper of the season for 2016/17.

Just as 2015/16 winner Jack Butland missed most of last year through injury, Heaton has been absent from the Burnley side since Gameweek 4.

He finished last season as the top-scoring goalkeeper with 149 FPL points, was ranked number one for saves (142) and steamed clear of his competitors on bonus points, too (21).

Starting that season at £4.5m, he worked out as the number one player in terms of points per million across all positions. It was no surprise that Heaton earned a well-deserved new starting price for 2017/18 of £5.0m.

Despite that hike, he was still included in roughly 10% of teams going into Gameweek 1.

However, a dislocated shoulder against Crystal Palace back in September ended his season prematurely.

Since then, Heaton has not featured and therefore misses out on this year’s shortlist, although his replacement at Turf Moor has a very strong case…

David De Gea

Having sealed a fourth consecutive place in the Premier League PFA Team of the Year, David De Gea is a standout candidate for our shot-stopper of the season.

The most expensive goalkeeper option (starting at £5.5m and rising to £5.9m) has certainly lived up to his price tag in 2017/18, currently leading the way on FPL total score with 166 points.

That has been underpinned by the 17 clean sheets De Gea has kept this season, more than any other goalkeeper in the top flight.

Also crucial to his appeal has been security of starts compared to other defensive options at Manchester United. Jose Mourinho’s rotation of the back four has caused some problems for Fantasy managers this season, while Phil Jones has been absent for large spells with injury.

De Gea has played every minute of the campaign enabling him to regularly capitalise on United’s shutouts.

Furthermore, the Spaniard’s role in that defensive solidity is a significant one. De Gea has saved 11.4 expected goals (xG Prevented) and ranks highest for percentage of shots saved (81.9%).

Incredibly, the Manchester United man, now owned by 45.3% of Fantasy managers, has made no appearances in the FPL weekly Dream Team.

Ederson

Manchester City’s custodian has managed to creep under the radar for the vast majority of Fantasy managers in 2017/18.

With one game left against favourable opposition (Southampton), he is just seven points off De Gea’s table-topping total score of 166 and –depending on United’s final two results – could yet match his clean sheet tally (16 vs 17).

Despite that, his ownership has never gone above 10% with just over 6% of teams invested at the turn of the year.

How he has not matched David De Gea for popularity is worth considering. The Brazilian has spent much of the campaign as a cheaper alternative, while also providing a reliable route into the league’s best defence. Nobody has conceded fewer goals than champions City (27).

It is likely that Ederson suffered from the appeal of Nicolas Otamendi, who began the season at the same price point.

The centre-back quickly became a regular in Pep Guardiola’s defence with both goal threat and a propensity for accruing bonus points. No defender accrued more points for pass completion on the Bonus Points System than Otamendi’s 182.

Conversely, it has been rare for Ederson to pick up any extras on top of his clean sheets. Level with De Gea in joint-seventh place, he only has 10 bonus points so far, as City’s style of defending is largely based on retaining possession rather than saving or blocking opponents’ shots.

Nick Pope

Filling in for the injured Tom Heaton from Gameweek 4, Nick Pope has assumed his team-mate’s mantle as the king of goalkeeping bonus points this season.

Like Heaton experienced last term, a large part of Pope’s success has come from his defensive colleagues missing out on pass completion bonuses when keeping clean sheets.

Sean Dyche sets up his Burnley side to allow shots from range, affording his goalkeepers more opportunity to pick up save points and bonus. Also, the Clarets’ manager prefers his defenders to pass the ball less often than the so-called bigger clubs.

While the aforementioned Otamendi has clocked up 182 points for pass completion on the BPS and De Gea’s colleague Antonio Valencia collected 110, Burnley’s best passer at the back is Ben Mee who has just 52 (ranked 53rd).

In fact, 17 clubs had at least one defender with more BPS from pass completion than the Lancashire outfit.

So with less competition from his team-mates, no shot stopper has more bonus points than Pope’s 19 in 2017/18, despite five goalkeepers besting his save count of 110.

That combined with a starting price of £4.5m made him a strong value pick for the first half of the season.

Between Gameweek 4 and 18, the 26-year-old kept eight clean sheets and conceded fewer goals than each of the top six’s more expensive assets.

During that period he boasted the best save percentage among regularly starting shot-stoppers, with 86.7% compared with De Gea’s 85.3%. Across the whole campaign, Pope hasn’t been far behind De Gea when it comes to xG Prevented either, with a figure of 9.3. He is also well clear of third-placed Lukasz Fabianski in that respect, who registered 3.8.

Unfortunately, his prospects have deteriorated since the turn of the year. Thanks to injury and suspensions at the back, the Clarets have just three clean sheets from Gameweek 19.

With Pope’s price rising to £5.0m in Gameweek 33, he has become less of a value option now that Dyche’s men, in his own words, have nothing left to play for.

But Pope has kept his FPL score ticking over despite conceding goals. He has picked up extra points for saves in nine of the last 18 matches and ranks second only to Butland for BPS Baseline points (314 to 371) since Gameweek 19.

He has proved better value on Sky Sports Fantasy despite the lack of clean sheets, given that, at £5.5m, he is still cheaper than Mat Ryan (£5.8m), despite outscoring the Australian.

Lukasz Fabianski

Another busy season between the sticks for Fabianski means he now boasts the best points-per-million value across all positions in FPL.

The Swansea City man has been among the top three goalkeepers for total saves in each of the three campaigns before this one – 2017/18 has been no different.

Fabianski’s 134 stops puts him in second place behind Butland (136). He tops the Stoke man for saves made in the box, though, by 91 to 75, with the Potters facing more efforts from range.

Another consistent season of regular shot-saving has seen the Polish international pick up nine clean sheets, 12 bonus points as well as adding save points in 25 of his 37 matches.

That’s why Fabianski is the fourth highest for total score among goalkeepers in FPL this season (148 points).

He has particularly shone in high profile matches, clinching clean sheets and some extras in both a memorable 0-0 draw with Tottenham Hotspur in Gameweek 5 as well as the shock 1-0 home win over an in-form Liverpool in Gameweek 24.

Few Fantasy managers will forget him also earning maximum bonus after saving a penalty in a 5-0 defeat to Manchester City. However, for many, he would have been left on the bench in those matches.

Fabianski’s clean sheet potential has dropped off a little following the appointment of Carlos Carvalhal. The ex-Sheffield Wednesday manager has opted for a more attacking style than his predecessor.

That has meant his points per match have decreased since Carvalhal’s first game in Gameweek 21. Between Gameweek 1 and 18 he was averaging 4.44 points but since Gameweek 21 it’s down to 3.76.

Mat Ryan

In his first season in England, Brighton’s goalkeeper is not far behind Fabianski when it comes to points-per-million.

While Pope provided exceptional value in the first half of the season and less so afterwards, Ryan has been more consistent.

Ten clean sheets across the campaign, a joint-best two penalty stops and 118 total saves (more than Pope and De Gea) means he ranks fourth for bonus points among goalkeepers (13).

In Sky Sports Fantasy, only four goalkeepers have pulled in more points than Ryan’s 171, an impressive tally from a price tag of £5.8m.

His FPL cost has remained stable at £4.5m for much of 2017/18 (the only price increase coming Gameweek 32), proving great value despite never rising above 4% ownership.

Jordan Pickford

Level on FPL points with Ryan is Everton’s shot-stopper Jordan Pickford.

One of the most cost-effective options in 2016/17, he made 141 saves (one less than Heaton) as Sunderland were relegated to the Championship.

His FPL prospects haven’t been as impressive in 2016/17, but the Toffees’ summer signing has still managed to register 121 stops, the third best in the division.

That’s much less of a drop off than you would expect considering Everton have allowed 69 fewer shots this season (174) than Sunderland allowed previously (243).

Pickford has manager Sam Allardyce to thank for the fact that he is in the frame for this prize after an inauspicious start to the campaign.

He recorded just one clean sheet in the nine fixtures that Ronald Koeman was in charge for at Goodison Park. However, since Allardyce’s first match in Gameweek 15 he’s registered a better save percentage (74.8%) than his breakthrough season (73%) and claimed a further eight shut outs.

That’s the same number as De Gea accumulated over that time frame and is two more than Pope. Also, during that period, only Butland made more saves.

That said, the fact that Pickford was priced up at £5.0m for most of the campaign may count against him, particularly as Pope presented himself as a cheaper option.