Here’s Joseph Crilley with his fantasy premier league article “searching for a 3rd striker”. There’s a number of options and detailed stats in the assessment. Joseph finished with an overall rank of 13k last season
FANTASY PREMIER LEAGUE – SEARCHING FOR A 3RD STRIKER
We are fast approaching the start of the season when we need to finalise our GW1 teams. I imagine that most will line up with a formation containing 3 strikers and therefore will be searching for a budget 3rd striker option. In my opinion, this is a key position in our teams as selecting the right one can really help your team prosper. You only have to look at how helpful the likes of Harry Kane and Jamie Vardy have been to our teams back in their cheaper days. Last year, we had a severe lack of 3rd striker options which was a factor in the increased use of 3-5-2. However, I’m hopeful that some decent choices will emerge in this bracket and I’m going to run through some options in this article.
Stats Table
For this analysis, I have looked at the strikers who cost 7.0mil or less and should be starting in GW1.
*these percentages are correct as at the time of writing
At first glance, there are quite few options but they all contain some risk. Some are new to the league, some are in newly promoted teams and some have possible rotation issues. They all have potential though so let’s take a look in a little more detail.
Chicharito
The new signing for West Ham has proven FPL history after his previous stint in the league with Man Utd. The “Little Pea” scored 33 goals in 77 games during his first 3 seasons in the Premier League. Chicharito will now get the chance to be the main man for West Ham. He has spent the last 2 years in the Bundesliga with Bayern Leverkusen and showed some good form by scoring 28 goals in that time.
He has proved very popular since being added to the game and is the 3rd highest selected forward behind Lukaku and Kane. The ‘Little Pea’ does look a great option on paper and I was expecting him to be priced much higher at around 8.0mil so he could prove to be great value. However, looking at West Ham’s opening fixtures and his minimal pre-season minutes, I prefer to wait and assess the situation further down the line, around GW4.
First 6 fixtures:
Man Utd (A)
Southampton (A)
Newcastle (A)
Huddersfield (H)
West Brom (A)
Tottenham (H)
Gayle/Mounie/Murray
I’m not going to go into too much detail about the three promoted strikers as FFG covered these in his cheap forward article. I agree with his summary that Gayle is the one to choose if you’re going to punt on a promoted forward. I’m yet to be convinced by Mounie despite his good pre-season form and I worry about Murray given his age. Gayle also has a decent set of opening fixtures once the game against Spurs on the opening weekend is out of the way.
Gabbiadini/Austin
The Southampton boys both look like good selections but have the same issue – each other. Their manager, Mauricio Pelligrino, prefers to only play one striker so it seems to be a case of Austin or Gabbiadini. Until we can be sure who he favours, I don’t think that we pick either to take advantage of Southampton’s great looking opening games.
If I could choose which one was to become nailed in the team, I would prefer Austin. I spoke about him in my differentials article. He has more proven FPL history after his time with QPR and comes in slighter cheaper at 6.5mil compared to 7.0mil. If his place was assured, there’s a very good chance that he’d be in my team. For now, I say it’s best to avoid both.
Swansea (H)
West Ham (H)
Huddersfield (A)
Watford (H)
Palace (A)
Man Utd (H)
Abraham
Tammy Abraham had his breakout season last year in the Championship with Bristol City scoring 23 goals after being loaned out from Chelsea. After signing a new contract with the champions, he will be spending another season on loan but this time in the Premier League with Swansea. Last season’s top scorer Fernando Llorente suffered an unfortunate broken arm earlier in the summer. Abraham is now in line to be given the opportunity to lead the attack.
The good news is that he comes in at just £5.5m, the cheapest of all the strikers on the list. He has scored some goals in pre-season. However, it remains to be seen if he can make the step-up to the top division. Personally, I’m looking to have Tom Carroll in my team and I prefer to avoid a double up in the Swansea attack. However, that’s not to say that he’s not a good option and you should consider reserving a place in your team.
Southampton (A)
Man Utd (H)
Crystal Palace (A)
Newcastle (H)
Tottenham (A)
Watford (H)
Rodriguez
I’ve always had a bit of a soft spot for Jay Rodriguez. I remember when he injured his knee back in April 2014 which stopped him going to the World Cup that year and he’s never quite fully recovered since. Hopefully with his move to West Brom, he’ll be able to return the form of the 2013/14 season where he scored 15 goals.
There is a couple of issues with him in terms of potential fantasy returns. He is going to be part of a Tony Pulis attack which is not normally associated with scintillating attacking football. Moreover, from what we have seen in pre-season, he will be lining up as part of the 3 in a 4-2-3-1 formation behind Rondon. Nonetheless, he is priced at just 6.0mil with strong opening fixtures so there’s a good chance that he will be in my GW1 team.
Bournemouth (H)
Burnley (A)
Stoke (H)
Brighton (A)
West Ham (H)
Arsenal (A)
Iheanacho
There was a lot of excitement in the FPL community when Iheanacho completed his move to Leicester City. At 7.0 mil, he could be a great option for our teams at certain stages of or even throughout the season. Kelechi is a natural goal scorer having scored 12 goals from just 19 shots on target and will be looking to form a good partnership with Jamie Vardy. In fact, he already laid on an assist for the England man in Leicester’s latest pre-season game.
Leicester do have some decent options in the striking department and this could lead to some rotation issues. However, having forked out £25 million for the Nigerian, he should be an assured starter. Leicester have some tricky opening games as they have to play four of last season’s top 6 during their opening six gameweeks. Therefore, similar to Hernandez, I’m willing to wait a few weeks before considering him.
Arsenal (A)
Brighton (H)
Man Utd (A)
Chelsea (H)
Huddersfield (A)
Liverpool (H)
Vokes
Surprisingly to me, Sam Vokes was the highest points scorer last season amongst this group. The Welshman caught fire towards the end of the season with 5 goals in his last 5 games. He should be leading the line for Sean Dyche’s side though his record of just 21 starts last year is hardly reassuring. With Gray, Barnes and new signing Jonathan Walters competing for 2 spots, there will likely be rotation again this year.
A Burnley forward is never the most exciting FPL prospect but Vokes did show some potential last year. Nevertheless, he still won’t be getting anywhere near my GW1 side, especially as their fixtures are rather mixed to start the season.
Chelsea (A)
West Brom (H)
Tottenham (A)
Crystal Palace (H)
Liverpool (A)
Huddersfield (H)
Summary
Looking into the options, I would not blame people for wanting to use just 2 upfront or perhaps splashing out some extra cash on someone like Firmino or Benteke. The only ones that I would consider for a GW1 squad are Rodriguez, Gayle or maybe Abraham. The rest I’m happy to bide my time and see if anyone stands out from the crowd further down the line. I will be keeping a close eye on Chicharito and Iheanacho to see how they settle in at their new clubs. Rodriguez is the man in my squad currently, though I’m seriously considering upgrading him to Firmino.
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