In the spirit of getting more data here’s the GW2 follow up to see how the Barclays fantasy premier league bonus points were allocated in GW2. Its more of the same but even more compelling.
GW2 was interesting as it had 3 0-0 draws and with another 3 clean sheets in the other games making a total of 9 clean sheets out of 20 opportunities. GW1 only had 7 out of 22 opportunities and no 0-0 draws.
Ok just to remind you that the basis of the exercise is to see how they are allocated. I decided for simplicity that a bonus was a bonus irrespective of 3 point or 1 point as I was trying to decide who got the bonuses rather than who got which bonus.
The very simple maths
There were 37 bonus points given out in GW1. Here’s where they were allocated:
1. Goal scorer – 14 times
2. Assister – 4 times
3. Clean sheet defender – 20 times
4. Penalty saved – 0 times
5. Other – 1 time (to Lovren of Southampton)
If you’re wondering why that doesn’t add up to 37 its because Enrique and Campbell got into more than 1 of the categories twice. Not surprisingly they both got the 3 point bonuses.
The 3 categories covered all the bonus points apart from Lovren making it very easy in terms of implications for our teams
Now lets look at it in reverse
If you scored or assisted or were a defender that got a clean sheet, what were the chances of you then getting a bonus point of some sort:
1. 14/15 (93%) of goal scorers got some sort of bonus. This compares to 79% in GW1
2. However only 4/14 (27%) of assisters got some sort of bonus. This compares to 41% in GW1
3. There were 9 clean sheets in GW2, in 9/10 cases at least 2 defenders or GKs got a bonus point. In the other case 1 defender got a bonus point. Unlike GW1 where the allocation of bonus points between CBs and FBs was reasonably even the emphasis on bonus points was towards CB’s. Out of the 20 clean sheet related bonus point awards 12 went to CBs, 6 to FBs and 2 to GKs. Pirce and gametime security should still be your main focus when picking a fantasy premier league defender in my mind but if it’s close go go for a CB
So what does this all mean
So the conclusions are the same as GW1, just more so. Goal scorers will continue to be rewarded. If you score you’re virtually guaranteed a bonus point. Assisters are far less likely to get the bonus points. Goal scoring midfielders such as Walcott Michu and Lampard will continue to be rewarded. Assist based midfielders like Jarvis Downing and Lennon will be disadvantaged
Clean sheets are good for defenders making them worth investing in. Bargains in teams like City, Chelsea, Arsenal, and Liverpool who all got 14 clean sheets plus will be rewarded well.
This could see a result in the restructuring of our teams to 4-3-3. Fantasy premier league teams with 3 front line defenders from the top 4 challengers of Man U, Man City, Chelsea, Arsenal Spurs and Liverpool plus 2 rotating defenders. 3 front line mids with 2 rotating and 3 front line strikers. The trouble is were only 2 game weeks in and to suddenly use your wildcard in a knee jerk reaction to restructure your team is a bit early. If you started out with a balanced team between the 3 areas then you can still react to trends in a managed way. Once we get past GW5 we will have a reasonable amount of data to see where were going. The key is not to panic and knee jerk transfer.
That’s it hope you found it helpful for future selection
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