Barclays fantasy premier league – “ones to watch” forwards

Fantasy Premier League, Player Rankings

Here’s the “ones to watch” for forwards on the Barclays fantasy premier league format.  This will give the best forward players at a variety of price ranges

There is no rule for forwards just pick the best ones.  

As for midfielders  I’ve provided the following stats to support the player choices and to guide you in your decisions:

1.  Goals and assists last year 

2.  Time per point scored last year.  This is how many minutes it takes for a Barclays fantasy premier league point to be scored over the course of last season.  The lower the better obviously

3.  Rotation risk.  High, medium or low.  High is the greatest risk of rotation.

4.  Fixture ease ranking:  The link is at the bottom of the article but essentially I’ve ranked all the teams by the ease of the first 6 fixtures.  The team with the best ranking ie 1 will have the easiest next fixtures of any of the fantasy premier league teams over the next 6 games. 

5.  Consistency:  The % of times that the player got a goal or assist or 2 point mnimum bonus last year as a % of games played

Elite forwards

RVP (£14.0m) 

  • Goals and assists least year:  26 goals 15 assists.  Time per point scored last year:  12 mins .  Rotation risk: low.   fixture ease ranking: 19th.  Consistency 89%

What can you say about RVP.  Top goalscorer and 2nd in the underlying stats to Suarez and the most consistent returner in fantasy premier league.  Its just the price and the limitations that brings to the rest of your team.  The good news is that Man Utds fixtures are horrible so its possible to put off having him while you load up on Chelsea double game week assets.  The bad news is that he’s the most owned fantasy premier league player (39%) and will probably be a captain choice every week by 1/3 of  fantasy premier league managers.   So if he does score heavily one week and you dont have him,  then think what it will do to your ranking.  At the moment I’m still undecided.

Benteke (£9.0m)  

  • Goals and assists least year:  19 goals 4 assists.  Time per point scored last year:  17 mins .  Rotation risk: low.   fixture ease ranking: 13th.  Consistency 46%

Fantastic first season and 3rd top goal scoring forward and 4th overall points scoring forward in fantasy premier league.  He’s really a selection for the double game week because in my mind he’s just too expensive for a non top 6 type forward and the only one outside the clubs that will be looking to get in to the top 4.

Soldado (£9.5m) 

  • Goals and assists least year:  24 goals 4 assists (La Liga).  Time per point scored last year:  N/A .  Rotation risk: low.   fixture ease ranking: 4th .  Consistency N/A

5th top goal scorer in La Liga and certain of starts and  being the main striker in a team with great fxtures to start. The best option to replace Bale. William Hill at the moment have him at 14/1 to be top goal scorer only behind RVP and Aguero.  That in itself shows his quality.  A great pick in my mind

Sturridge (£9.0m)  

  • Goals and assists least year:  11 goals 5 assists.  Time per point scored last year:  13 mins .  Rotation risk: low.   fixture ease ranking: 6th.  Consistency 66%

Assuming Suarez goes Sturridge will be the main striker and the focal point of chances created.  Great returns, great stats, consistent returner  and good underlying stats.  Hard to choose between him and Coutinho.  Its just where who fits in your fantasy premier league team best

Lukaku (£8.0m)

  • Goals and assists least year:  17 goals 7 assists.  Time per point scored last year:  13 mins .  Rotation risk: high.   fixture ease ranking: 17th.  Consistency 71%

Early on last year I was saying this guy is going to be one of the best strikers in the world and his season ended up nothing short of phenomenal.  Why he was played so sparingly is beyond me?    Returns hardly different than RVP, underlying stats exceptionally good for the game time and a consistency for a player in a mid table team that was unreal.  One word, rotation, ruins everything though but he showed he can score off the bench so maybe its not the end of the world.

Mid price forwards

Dzeko (£7.5m)

  • Goals and assists least year:  14 goals 6 assists.  Time per point scored last year:  14 mins .  Rotation risk: high.   fixture ease ranking: 2nd.  Consistency 80%

 Has had a lot of pre-season time playing and alot of good words said about him by Pellegrini.  Funnily enough I know alot of City fans who go to games who think he’s hopeless but stats are stats and his whether they be actual returns or underlying shooting stats are fantastic.  Will he play as the lead striker in 4-2-3-1?  Its a big risk but at £7.5m as a City player with great fixtures  and  with a track record of scoring as a sub its very tempting to put him in my fantasy premier league side. 

Lambert (£7.5m)

  • Goals and assists least year:  15 goals 8 assists.  Time per point scored last year:  17  mins .  Rotation risk: low.   fixture ease ranking: 11th.  Consistency 50%

Not great fixtures but  quite good consistency for a club not challenging for the top 4.  Underlying stats were reasonable but shot and created chances so was multifunctional.  Has free kicks and pens in his armoury and should be improved for a year in the premier league.

Budget forwards  

Cornelius (£5.5m)

  • Goals and assists least year:  18 goals 5 assists (Danish league).  Time per point scored last year:  NA .  Rotation risk: low.   fixture ease ranking: 14th.  Consistency N/A

Has an injury doubt for Cardiffs GW1.  Good scoring record in the Danish league and the fixtures will be improving after that.  Will be the main man and good value.

Anelka £5.5m

  • Goals and assists least year:  24 goals 3 assists.  Time per point scored last year:  NA .  Rotation risk: high.   fixture ease ranking: 10th.  Consistency N/A

Has been tearing up in pre-season but frankly his recent goal scoring record isn’t great but at this price its worth the risk to see if he can roll back the years to 2008/09 when he got 19 goals and 5 assists in a far more defensively competent era.  Rotation mad Clarke increased the risk by signing Vydra today

Some I’m not considering

Carroll (£7.5m)  – wont be ready for GW1.  Shame though as with those fixtures he would have been an option

Aguero (£11.0m) – struggling for fitness, may play behind the front line striker and £11.0m is just too much to have this amount of rotation hanging over him.

Jovetic and Negredo (both £9.5)  – Jovetic will be a number 10 and Negredo rotation and Ecuaor for GW1

Giroud (£.5m) – weirdly on the bench for the last pre-season game, vulnerable to a last minute signing and why when you’ve got Walcott to choose. 

Van Wolswinkel (£7.0m) –  Only an ok scoring record in Portugal and Hughton only playing one striker with Hoolahan behind is worrying.

Kone  (£7.0m)- ordinary record for Wigan and must feel under pressure with great pre-season from Jelavic

Chamakh (£5.0m) – Can he be match fit?

Bony (£8.0m) – amazing scoring record in Holland but very expensive and with horrible fixtures to start, I’ll check him out before jumping in

 Thats it.  I’ll do a draft team tomorrow

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