Our series on the newly-promoted Premier League sides continues with this look at Bournemouth’s goalkeeper and defenders.
In this article, we will assess the Cherries’ overall clean sheet chances and then present a player-by-player rundown of their backline ahead of their Fantasy Premier League (FPL) return.
We’ve asked Bournemouth supporters and Fantasy Football Scout users PaulRUK3 and FPLScofield for their input here, to provide a fan’s view.
Articles on manager Scott Parker and the Cherries’ attack will follow, while you can read up on Fulham via the links below:
READ MORE: What to expect from Fulham manager Marco Silva in FPL
READ MORE: Fulham’s defence assessed ahead of FPL return in 2022/23
READ MORE: What can we expect from Aleksandar Mitrovic and Fulham’s midfielders in FPL?
The stats in this piece are taken from Fbref, Fotmob and WhoScored, with the heatmap courtesy of SofaScore.
WHAT IS BOURNEMOUTH’S CLEAN SHEET POTENTIAL?
P | W | D | L | F | A | GD | PTS | CS | |
Total | 46 | 25 | 13 | 8 | 74 | 39 | +35 | 88 | 21 |
Home | 23 | 13 | 7 | 3 | 41 | 21 | +20 | 46 | 8 |
Away | 23 | 12 | 6 | 5 | 33 | 18 | +15 | 42 | 13 |
Bournemouth came up from the Championship with the best defensive record in the league, both in terms of clean sheets and goals conceded.
Interestingly, 13 of their 21 shut-outs came on the road; perhaps this was due to less pressure from the Dean Court faithful on Scott Parker to deviate from his usual conservative style.
“Away from home, we were very solid. We had a clean sheet rate of 57% on the road, the best by far in the league. Over half of our home games saw both teams score, by contrast. I’m not sure how that will translate into the Premier League, though. We may have to be more cautious at home and so we’ll play how we did away last year at home this coming year possibly. And away, I think we could struggle but our blueprint will be to keep it tight.” – FPLScofield
We’ve got one, cautionary word for you: Watford.
The Hornets were last year’s ‘Bournemouth’, boasting the meanest backline in the English second tier. They even beat the Cherries’ 2021/22 clean sheet tally in that campaign (23 v 21) and conceded far fewer goals (30 v 39).
And look at what happened to the Hornets this season, as they disappeared back to the Championship with the lowest shut-out count in the division.
Perhaps we’re comparing chalk and cheese here, with Bournemouth seeming like a less volatile club (Watford played well over 50 different players in pre-season last summer, going into Gameweek 1 without any kind of defensive cohesion), but it’s worth stressing that solidity in the Championship often doesn’t translate into clean sheets in the division above:
Team (season promoted) | Goals conceded in Championship promotion season | Clean sheets kept in Championship promotion season | Goals conceded in following Premier League season | Clean sheets kept in following Premier League season |
Norwich (2020/21) | 36 | 18 | 84 | 6 |
Watford (2020/21) | 30 | 23 | 77 | 4 |
Brentford (2020/21) | 42 | 17 | 56 | 9 |
Leeds (2019/20) | 35 | 22 | 54 | 12 |
West Brom (2019/20) | 45 | 14 | 76 | 6 |
Fulham (2019/20) | 48 | 17 | 53 | 9 |
Norwich (2018/19) | 57 | 13 | 75 | 5 |
Sheff Utd (2018/19) | 41 | 21 | 39 | 13 |
Aston Villa (2018/19) | 61 | 12 | 67 | 7 |
Wolves (2017/18) | 39 | 24 | 46 | 9 |
Cardiff (2017/18) | 39 | 19 | 69 | 10 |
Fulham (2017/18) | 46 | 15 | 81 | 5 |
Newcastle (2016/17) | 40 | 19 | 47 | 9 |
Brighton (2016/17) | 40 | 21 | 54 | 10 |
Huddersfield (2016/17) | 58 | 12 | 58 | 10 |
Average | 43.8 | 17.8 | 62.4 | 8.3 |
The underlying stats are perhaps a concern, too.
Whilst the Cherries did finish first for fewest goals conceded and most clean sheets, plenty of debt was owed to multi-award-winning Mark Travers; if your goalkeeper ends up as Player of the Season, he’s not been quiet.
Indeed, the Cherries faced over 40 more shots on target than 10th-place West Bromwich Albion, although the expected goals against (xGA) tally would suggest that plenty have been routine in nature.
Bournemouth’s 2021/22 total (rank v other Championship clubs) | |
Goals conceded | 39 (1st) |
Clean sheets | 21 (1st) |
Shots conceded | 429 (4th) |
Shots on target conceded | 155 (6th) |
Saves made | 120 (9th) |
Expected goals against (xGA) | 47.3 (3rd) |
Above: Apart from clean sheets, 1st means fewest in the division and 24th the most.
THE PLAYERS
APPS, GOALS AND ASSISTS
*released by the club at the end of 2021/22
**a loanee in 2021/22, has returned to parent club
***was transferred elsewhere in 2021/22
1 year, 10 months ago
I find it sort of odd that the top 3 players in the overall rankings all have Twitter accounts with 'FPL' in their usernames.
Is this going to become a thing now? Basically if you have a lucky enough season to finish top 5 then you turn yourself into a twitter brand?