Our Fantasy Premier League (FPL) 2024/25 end-of-season awards are up and running, with the poll for best goalkeeper open for voting in this article and on the sidebar.
We’ll be assessing the key candidates in each position in four separate articles. We start with the men between the sticks here.
Overall score, points per match and value in FPL were all factors we considered when compiling this shortlist. The rest we’ll leave up to you!
We’ll leave this poll open until after Gameweek 38 (Monday 26 May at 23:59 BST), for those of you who prefer to see the season through to its climax before deciding.
We’ll also update this article after the final day for the voters who want to weigh up the complete picture.
MATZ SELS
- Points: 150
- Points per match: 3.9
- Start cost: £4.5m
- End cost: £5.2m
- Value (points per million): 28.8
Where better to start than the man atop the FPL points leaderboards for much of the season?
That is, of course, none other than Matz Sels (£5.2m).
It’s unlikely that even the most diehard Nottingham Forest fan saw the Tricky Trees sitting in the Premier League’s top three for as long as they did this season. Even with a recent dip in form, Forest have still secured European football for next season.
Sels’s total of 13 league shut-outs can’t be bettered by any other goalkeeper. His total of 150 points was only beaten by one other custodian, too – and he started the season £0.5m more expensive than Sels.
The Belgian has proven tremendous value for anyone who hopped on the bandwagon early.
11 bonus points isn’t bad for a goalie either, particularly when he’s not had any penalty saves to help in that respect. Indeed, only two ‘keepers have racked up more bonus points than him (and they’re both on this list).
What’s more, Sels has the joint-second-highest cumulative score for expected goals (xG) prevented – at +4.50 – of any first-choice goalkeeper. So, has been a massive difference maker in Forest not conceding more goals than the 46 they have let in.
JORDAN PICKFORD
- Points: 158
- Points per match: 4.2
- Start cost: £5.0m
- Current cost: £5.2m
- Value (points per million): 30.4
Jordan Pickford (£5.2m) started this campaign with a price hike thanks to his status as FPL’s top-scoring goalkeeper in 2023/24.
It quickly looked like this might be a nightmare season for him when Everton lost their first two matches by a combined scoreline of 0-7. The Toffees, indeed, failed to keep a clean sheet until Gameweek 7.
That match, against Newcastle United, proved to be the turning point. A 15-point haul was Pickford’s highest score of the season as he saved a penalty – one of two efforts from the spot that he stopped this season – and racked up maximum bonus.
It also started a brilliant 10-game defensive run in which Everton recorded seven clean sheets.
With a dozen shut-outs to his name, he has now managed to hit double figures for clean sheets in the league for the fifth time in eight seasons.
Pickford is also the leading Premier League goalkeeper for bonus points this season.
He managed to leap to the top of the ‘keeper points standings on the final day, while no custodian has been in the weekly Dream Team on more occasions (five).
EDERSON
- Points: 111
- Points per match: 4.3
- Start cost: £5.5m
- Current cost: £5.3m
- Value (points per million): 20.9
If you were asked who the best first-choice goalkeeper was for points per match this season, you might think of Sels, Pickford or perhaps Alisson Becker (£5.5m).
But another name can claim that accolade: the unlikely figure of Ederson (£5.3m).
| Goalkeeper | Points per match |
|---|---|
| Ederson (MCI) | 4.3 |
| Pickford (EVE) | 4.2 |
| Alisson (LIV) | 4.0 |
| Sels (NFO) | 3.9 |
| Sanchez (CHE) | 3.9 |
For many reasons – the fact that he’s in the premium price bracket but rarely has to make many saves, has sometimes faced rotation with Stefan Ortega (£5.2m), and takes up a coveted Manchester City slot that we’d have once preferred for one of their many forwards, midfielders or attack-minded defenders – the Brazilian has never been a massively popular in FPL circles.
But this season, his stats suggest that perhaps we should have given Ederson greater consideration at times.
For example, he has kept 10 clean sheets – eight of them in the last 18 Gameweeks – despite only starting 26 matches. That is a better rate than Pickford’s 12 in 38 or even Sels’s 13 in 38.
The changes to the Bonus Points System (BPS) at the start of this season have made clean-sheet potential all the more important, with save merchants much less likely to pick up bonus if they’re not shutting the opposition out.
Ederson’s xG prevented score of +4.50 is also among the best in the league, sitting behind only Pickford from those on this list.
Aside from all of the above, the City custodian deserves mention for another achievement alone: his total of four assists is the most that any goalkeeper has registered in a single Premier League season.
MARK FLEKKEN
- Points: 138
- Points per match: 3.7
- Start cost: £4.5m
- Current cost: £4.5m
- Value (points per million): 30.7
Brentford’s wait for a first clean sheet of the season lasted all the way until their goalless Gameweek 12 stalemate at Everton.
Thankfully for his early backers, Mark Flekken (£4.5m) was at least racking up save points prior to that point. He registered 15 of them through the first 10 Gameweeks.
By the end of that aforementioned match at Goodison Park, he had then amassed 60 saves in total, a tally which has now more than doubled to 153 from his 37 league starts. For context, that’s nearly 30 more saves than the next-best goalkeeper:
Flekken’s 39 save points this season are naturally the most of any Premier League goalkeeper.
A dozen bonus points is a total only Pickford can better, while only Ederson can better the Bees’ goalie’s two assists.
Flekken has also recorded a joint league-high three double-digit hauls, alongside Pickford and Southampton’s Aaron Ramsdale (£4.4m). All three of those hauls by the Dutchman have come in the 12 matches from Gameweek 25 onwards, as have five of his shut-outs.
And given he’ll still only set you back £4.5m, exactly as he did at the start of the campaign, Flekken – who is the fourth-highest scoring goalkeeper in the game – presents the best value in his position when it comes to points per million (30.7), too.
DAVID RAYA
- Points: 142
- Points per match: 3.7
- Start cost: £5.5m
- Current cost: £5.6m
- Value (points per million): 25.4
Not stupendous value at £5.5m, David Raya has nevertheless sealed a second successive Golden Glove award – or at least a share of it.
He finished tied on 13 clean sheets with Sels.
The shut-out count alone is probably his only real selling point.
A tally of 16 save points is less than half what Flekken has managed, while there have been no penalty saves or assists thrown into the bargain.
Rather, as an ever-present starter, he’s been a dependable route into what is the division’s meanest defence for goals conceded (34). In FPL, that does at least count for a lot.
DEAN HENDERSON
- Points: 135
- Points per match: 3.6
- Start cost: £4.5m
- Current cost: £4.6m
- Value (points per million): 29.3
Dean Henderson‘s (£4.6m) FA Cup final heroics were the zenith of a superb second half of the season for the Palace custodian.
Henderson is one of just seven ‘keepers to hit double figures for Premier League clean sheets in 2024/25. Eight of his 11 shut-outs have come since Gameweek 18.
In terms of ‘value’ (points per million, based on current price), the England international is behind only Flekken and Pickford.
A Gameweek 12 penalty save has boosted his tally, as have 24 save points – although Flekken, Sels and Pickford can better that latter total.
A points-per-match average of 3.6 is also the lowest of the six goalkeepers in this piece.
VOTE HERE
