Often a neglected position, the two goalkeeper slots in our Fantasy Premier League (FPL) team can nonetheless prove worthwhile differentials. With templates often forming around selections in midfield and up front, our combination of keepers and defenders, particularly during the season climax when clean sheets can be more frequent, may prove vital.
There are several approaches when considering goalkeeper options. Many will reject the idea of investing in a single heavy-hitter in this position, favouring the acquisition of two low-to-mid-price options, working in rotation according to fixture difficulty.
In this first Wildcard selection article we’ll look at both approaches, considering the merits and pitfalls of adopting a rotation pairing and checking in on those who have the potential to provide suitable single or “one stop shop” keeper option.
Can Rotation Work for Me?
Our article is fortunate enough to arrive shortly after Sticky Mockwell’s latest and greatest update of his goalkeeper rotation series. If you haven’t scanned his analysis, offering an appraisal of goalkeeper rotation up to Gameweek 20, you should stop reading right now and soak it up.
Sticky Mockwell’s assessment is pretty conclusive – an effective rotation pairing can outscore a single keeper option by some margin. His findings revealed that a combination of Burnley’s Tom Heaton and Swansea’s Lukas Fabianski could have returned 109 points. That total beats the best single keeper option – Southampton’s Frazer Forster – by an impressive 28 points.
There is one caveat to consider, however. When deciding upon a rotation pairing, you’re backing yourself to make the right call on your selection each and every Gameweek. The Heaton/Fabianski combination failed to provide perfect home and away rotation so, on occasions, the right choice was contentious.
With this in mind, we appraised the fixture pairs they presented. When honestly assessing these for each keeper and making a retrospective selection, we believe most would have scored 102 points from the duo: a decline on the maximum return, but still 21 points greater than Forster.
While that finding supports Sticky Mockwell’s view, when we consider another pairing he put forward – that of the Newcastle/Sunderland combination – the story is somewhat different.
Newcastle and Sunderland rotate perfectly home and away but, if you’d followed that pattern, you would have scored just 67 points from their respective keepers – 14 fewer than Frazer Forster.
The Sunderland stoppers have earned a staggering 51 points away from home so, at times, you would have had to back them in some of the away matches, forgoing your home keeper option, in order to have fetched optimum returns.
Hand on heart, would you honestly have benefited from the 10 points for your Sunderland keeper at Burnley when Newcastle faced Hull at home in the same Gameweek (and scored just 1 point)?
This is a good example of the problems you may face when opting for a rotation pairing: on occasions there are real dilemmas and the effectiveness of the end result is based on making judgment calls.
If you’re an FFS member, we can try to help guide your decisions with the Season Ticker, which will offer a view on fixture difficulty, and Rate My Team, which will even suggest which of your keepers to bench.
Despite all this, you have to be prepared for the frustration when you make the wrong call: as Sticky Mockwell concluded, you have to find pairings that offer a predictable pattern of clean sheets to make those decisions easy for you: that’s the holy grail and it’s not easy to find.
Wildcard Rotation Pairings
Again, our community section includes a great article to help guide you to locating an option for rotating stoppers. Saata’s recent summary presents a number of low-to-mid-price pairings, outlining the fixtures they present.
For the purpose of this article, I’ve singled out a trio that we feel are worthy of further attention.
Tom Heaton and Costel Pantilimon
The combination of the Burnley and Sunderland stoppers looks to be the best fit when hunting out that perfect marriage of fixture difficulty. This immediately offers a run of nine home matches and a favourable away trip returns (QPR CPL BUR WBA QPR WBA SWA hul AVL), before things falter for Gameweek 30, to rally with a fairly decent season climax (LEI SOT hul LEI avl) from Gameweek 34.
Currently available for a knock-down price of 9.1, the duo look an obvious route to take when adopting a Wildcard rotation pairing.
One factor to consider, however, is that a combination of Black Cat Patrick van Annholt and Burnley’s Kieran Trippier is available for a sum of 9.0 – a pairing that would cover that same clean sheet potential with the added bonus of attacking returns. Swap Trippier for Burnley’s Michael Duff (once fit) and you’ll also be able to achieve cover of these two teams for the sum of just 8.2. Having that flexibility to acquire Van Annholt now and bring in Duff at just 4.0 later might just convince you to look elsewhere.
Ben Foster and Brad Guzan
With Tony Pulis installed at the Hawthorns, we’re suddenly looking on the Baggies defensive assets in a whole new light. We’re anticipating an immediate boost in returns, with Ben Foster suddenly emerging as a prime keeper selection.
Pair him with Aston Villa’s Brad Guzan and you get another fine shot-stopper in front of a resilient mid-table defence, achieving perfect home and away rotation.
It’s fair to say that, even with Guzan as an alternative, Foster may well carry the burden of claiming clean sheets over the majority of the remaining Gameweeks.
Not only is there a chance that his output will improve once Pulis’s methods kick-in, it should be noted that, from now until Gameweek 30, West Brom have arguably the most favourable run of opponents in the league when it comes to keeping shut-outs. You’ll likely call on Guzan for Gameweek 30 when the Baggies play Man City and Gameweek 35 when Pulis’s side make the trip to Old Trafford.
While this pairing will set you back 9.3 in the FPL, given that you may only call upon Guzan twice, there is a clear case to consider saving funds and exploring Foster as a “one-stop shop” – at least until Gameweek 34. Back him with Boaz Myhill and you’re assured of cover of West Brom’s potentially improved defence with their strong fixtures for the sum of 8.6.
That option would allow you to retain the services of Alan Hutton as one of two or three rotating defenders. Should you ignore Foster, of course, you could also look to acquire Andre Wisdom to provide your Baggies’ returns, though we’re not quite sure how Pulis’s rearguard will be set up as he may look to bring in his own men. If Wisdom does retain his start, the combination with Hutton would set you back 8.8. You could also consider Ron Vlaar – priced at 4.4 (identical to Hutton) – as there’s every chance that the Villa skipper may yet get a move to a bigger club in the January window.
Asmir Begovic and Lukas Fabianski
With just four clean sheets to his name, Begovic has probably burnt his bridges this season for many Fantasy managers. Having said that, the Potters have kept shut-outs in two of their last three and boast a run from now until Gameweek 30 that should deliver more. Begovic could be considered as a risky option on his own, but pair the Stoke man with Swansea’s Lukas Fabianski and you achieve perfect home and away rotation, providing a run of fixtures that are well worthy of consideration, up to Gameweek 30 (WHM lei QPR SUN wba avl HUL eve wba CPL).
The major caveat here is that this pair will set you back a handsome 10.1, whilst the same teams can be covered via Neil Taylor and Erik Pieters for 9.4.
The One-Stop Shops
While rotating pairs can offer improved returns, some may look to avoid the headaches of the decision-making they force. The “one-stop shop” or “fire and forget” keeper selection provides the solution.
It can also be argued that, by opting for a single goalkeeper, you’re giving yourself more flexibility. Even by using just one transfer between now and the end of the season, you can react to form and fixtures to optimise returns in this position.
Remember those 102 points from our appraisal of the Heaton/Fabianski combination? While that tally did beat Frazer Forster’s total, if you’d have switched from the Saints man to Costel Pantilimon in Gameweek 12, prior to Southampton’s testing run, you would have also totalled 102 points. That’s the same tally without having to make the decision on who to select from your keeper rotation each Gameweek.
Clearly then, it’s not wise to dismiss the option of acquiring a single keeper with the Wildcard, perhaps with a view to use just one transfer before the season ends to switch according to fixtures.
With this in mind, here’s our selection of Wildcard options to consider:
Thibaut Courtois
While it’s going to prove difficult to reserve a Chelsea slot for their Belgian keeper, there’s little doubt that the Blues number one presents a convincing case. Doubling on Mourinho’s defence with two of Branislav Ivanovic, John Terry or Courtois looks to be a viable tactic, with Eden Hazard taking care of matters further up the pitch.
Quite simply, Chelsea benefit from a favourable second half of the season which should see them flourish and possibly claim the title at a canter. Admittedly, Courtois’ run looks good until Gameweek 32 when Mourinho’s men go to QPR and Arsenal and face Man United at the Bridge. At that point, you could use a trade and back the Liverpool or Arsenal stoppers, or look to Frazer Forster: all three have favourable run-ins over the final seven matches.
Costel Pantilimon
It took nine Gameweeks and a series of calamities from Vito Manonne to bring Pantilimon onto the radar; once installed, the Romanian certainly seized his opportunity to flourish. If you’d opted for the Sunderland pair from the start of the season you’d have registered 85 points – four more than the top-scoring keeper, Frazer Forster. The Black Cats pairing gathered more bonus points that any other stoppers and have claimed an impressive 21 points from saves.
With Burnley, QPR, West Brom, Villa, Newcastle, Crystal Palace, Southampton and Leicester due at the Stadium of Light before the season ends, there’s every reason for the Pantilimon/Manonne option to go on delivering. You have to consider that those home fixtures look extremely favourable while, to this point, the pair have gathered no fewer than 51 of their 85 points away from home.
Things certainly stiffen for Sunderland from Gameweek 33 onwards (ars stk SOT eve LEI che) but, at this point, a whole raft of favourable options become available at a variety of price points, including the Leicester keeper, Tom Heaton at Burnley and, further up the price brackets, Joe Hart and the Liverpool custodian.
Ben Foster
As mentioned, this could be the Wildcard option for many. We’re anticipating great things down at the Hawthorns, and with the fixtures aligning nicely with Pulis’ arrival, Foster has the platform to deliver. He’s a fine shot-stopper, capable of providing save and bonus points and, with Myhill available for just 4.0, you can cover the West Brom potential from now and until the season climax for just 8.6.
The schedule stiffens severely for Foster by Gameweek 34, however: the Baggies run-in is simply pure evil (LIV mun new CHE ars). Those holding Foster will be looking to get rid at this stage but, again, the options are plentiful at this time with Leicester, Burnley, City and Newcastle all enjoying favourable final fives.
The Conclusion
The goalkeeper is a unique position in our squads. We’re reluctant to overspend, both in terms of funds or transfers. However, make the decision hastily and you could burden yourself with a scenario that will curse and potentially cost you over the remaining fixtures.
While our guide has hopefully offered insight into your options and the some of they key candidates, it’s often best to consider your keeper selection alongside the defence. We’ve discussed how some rotation pairings can be best covered by defenders rather than stoppers and, in the next selection guide, we’ll hark back to this as we examine the options available as we look to fill our five defender slots.
