Fantasy Premier League stats – the underlying stats team of the season

Fantasy Premier League

Here’s our fantasy premier league stats article where we go over our season player rankings articles to find our underlying stats team of the season.

Fantasy Premier League stats – the underlying stats team of the season

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Introduction

Here we look back at our player rankings articles for defenders, midfield and forwards and come up with a team that is a team of the season based on their underlying stats but also with an eye to the Points Per Match from the FPL site.  It’s not just based on total FPL points or total Points per million so there maybe some left field picks there but I do my best to give you a rationale.  I do look at their value for money factor as well.




Goalkeeper

Nick Pope

Well I haven’t started particularly controversially for all that I said up there.  I rated Burnley as only the 10th best defensive team but Pope was easily the FPL points winner, 2nd in Points per Match, runaway bonus points winner and 4th in total saves.  Burnley were also 2nd in clean sheets only to Man City and equal with Liverpool in clean sheets.

However that doesn’t disguise some comical moments (that Chelsea goal at Stamford Bridge for example) and some pretty saveable stuff that he let in.  He was also only 9th in goalkeeper save % and 10 other teams beat their defensive expected goals by a bigger margin than Burnley.  That’s not a strict indication of a goalkeeper but if I told you the 2 teams that underscored their defensive expected goals the most were Chelsea and Everton it would give you some indication that there is something in the stat

LLoris

The goalkeeper with the best save % in the league and on the pitch for 6 of their miserly 8 clean sheets and the top GK in points per match helped by a penalty save vs Man City.  That was enough for me

Defenders

Alexander Arnold

What can you say about this guy?  The top point scoring defender by a country mile, 2nd only to Alonso in Points Per Match.  Only De Bruyne’s 23 assists of all players beat him for assists with a truly incredible 15.  Robertson was next back with 12.  No defender came near him in underlying stats with him miles ahead in expected assists per 90 and key passes per game.  In fact in both those categories only 4 players overall beat him.

His 24 points at Leicester will be indelibly etched on every FPL managers mind either positively or negatively.

Matt Doherty

More of an all round performance from Doherty with 4 goals and 8 assists making him 2nd and 3rd equal respectively among defenders. Add this to Wolves clean sheets and you’ve got a guy who was 6th in Points Per Match and 4th in total points.

He will be remembered for his marauding runs and extreme positioning high up the pitch.  Only Lundstram who wasn’t a defender at all had a better xG90 that Doherty of FPL defenders.

Laporte

In my mind and in my rankings Man City were the best defensive side in the league leading in clean sheets, xG conceded, shots per game against and 2nd in goals conceded.  That’s despite universal criticism.  Laporte despite only starting 14 matches was involved in 8 of the 17 clean sheets and only missed out on a 9th by 3 minutes.  His Total Points and Points Per match for the price do question his position in this team but I believe Man City deserve a representative and if he can stay fit a Man City defender that is reasonably assured of starts and isn’t overly expensive could provide decent returns next season.  That is if that person exists.

Wan Bissaka

Like Laporte more a representative of the defence than in himself a player that particularly ranked highly in total points or Points per match.  Manchester United finished 2nd in my team defensive rankings and were 3rd equal in clean sheets with 13 after finishing the season strongly enough to convert underlying stats into clean sheets.  It was a disappointing 4 assists only for Wan Bissaka but with United having potential for better defensive returns and Wan Bissaka hopefully on an upward curve attacking wise he could be a pick for next season

Soyuncu

The only defender in the top 10 defensive sides in my rankings that was under £5.0m.  Although he represented the lowest points per match player who started over 10 games for many of the FFGeek Contributors and the 10 top managers  having a player who can get 12 clean sheet in a decent defensive side for a starting price of £4.5m was some feat.

A few others worth mentioning 

I didn’t include Lundstram as he lost his place towards the end of the season.  I also didn’t include any Sheffield United players as they finished the season poorly.  Albeit due in part to injury and suspension issues.




Midfield

Salah

Salah was top of my midfield player rankings, shots per game and xG90 stats.   He was also the top player of most of the FFGeek Contributors and Top 10 FPL managers Points Per Match stat.

He was 2nd however to De Bruyne in total FPL points and 3rd to De Bruyne and Fernandes in FPL points per match.

De Bruyne

His ability to score from distance means he regularly out performs his underlying stats so he is only 4th in my rankings.  However as I said above top in total points and 2nd in Points per match.

Fernandes

When your team tops the penalty charts 2 seasons in a row with 14 penalties and 12 penalties received respectively then whoever is the designated penalty taker is going to get a handy boost to his stats.  Of Fernandes 8 goals 4 were penalties.  Although to be fair he weighed in with 8 assists as well and was the best player in the game points per match wise.

He did overperform his underlying stats quite significantly though which is one warning for next season in addition to the reliance on penalties.

Antonio

What a finish to the season this guy had.  10 goals and 4 assists with 9 coming since GW28.  Playing as a striker definitely  helped and he could easily be reclassified as that next season.  No midfielder had a better xG90 which says alot.

Pulisic

Was great value for a Chelsea player and for the underlying stats produced and was regularly in the front 3.  Had a great balance between scorer and assister and should his average minutes have been higher who knows what his finishing rank would have been

Other notables

Sterling, Martial and Mahrez all could have featured but it was Pulisic and Antonio’s value for money that swung it.

Forwards

Chris Wood

A very left field pick.  Produced consistent underlying stats all season and only 4 players had a better xG90 than him.  Should have got more than his 14 goals as unlike in previous seasons his finishing deserted him and he ended up underperforming his underlying stats.  That’s why he was only 11th in points per match and total points.

Jamie Vardy

Consistently top of my underlying stats player rankings and deserved the golden boot.  His ability to consistently play 90 minutes helped him massively as well as his ability most seasons to over perform his underlying stats. That helped him finish the season top in points per match and total FPL points for forwards.

Jimenez 

His underlying stats dipped badly at the end of the season which came close to ruling him out of the running but over the season he just about sneaked in.

Other notables

I know where’s Danny Ings.  The truth is the guys underlying stats and minutes during the season are pretty ordinary and he finished a mere 14th in my player rankings.  The reason he finished 6th in points per match and 3rd in total points was his insane over performance of his underlying stats.  Something he has never done before.  For that reason I didn’t have him in the team

Here’s how it looks. 

By the way It’s way over a normal budget and is there as a player menu rather than a true FPL team

fantasy premier league stats

 

Other posts

The FFGeek season review

Andrew Whitfield season review

Costas Chari end of season review

A deep dive on the FFGeek Contributors

Final wrap up of the 10 top FPL managers

Rob Reid’s season review

Rob Reids overview of the Promoted Teams

Player Rankings Defenders

Player Rankings Midfielders

Player Rankings forwards

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