“Stamford Bridge awaiting a new era under Maurizio Sarri” (CC by 4.0) by Ungry Young Man
One of the best indicators of value for FPL managers is the Points per Million ratio, which refers to the number of points a player has scored in relation to his price at that moment. Last season, for example, Watford’s Richarlison scored 4 goals and provided 5 assists over the 12 first gameweeks, despite costing less than £6.5 million. For the amount of money he cost, he was winning his owners a lot of points per game (around 5.5 in that period) and he was considered one of the bargains of the season due to the points return per £m invested in buying him on to your squad. That is, at least until his output kind of dried up in the second half of the season. In this article, we’ll be pointing out a few of the players in the current FPL line-up who have the potential to perform better than their initial price tag suggests in the coming season. And while we’re on the subject of looking out for better returns, if you’d rather play online casino whilst weighing up your team selection options then Casino-Experts.com can help you boost your winnings.
Goalkeepers
Price differences between top and reserve goalkeepers are usually relatively small, no more than around £2.0 million max, but picking the right combination can easily save you a million or more to spend elsewhere, as well as a few selection headaches. As usual, the top goalies this season will be priced between £5.5 and £6.0 million, with De Gea being the most expensive.
There don’t seem to be any nailed-on starters in goal for anything below £4.5 million, but at that price, some decent FPL potential is available, starting with West Ham’s Lukasz Fabianski. The Polish goalkeeper came over from relegated Swansea, where he was one of the few consistent positives over the stretch of last season. He had the third-highest save percentage last year, behind Pope and De Gea, though with the Hammers, each season is a guess in terms of how they’ll turn up at the start.
Other interesting budget goalkeepers might be Wolverhampton’s new man and Portuguese international Rui Patricio, Watford’s former West Brom man and FPL veteran Ben Foster, and Palace’s Spanish signing Vicente Guaita (all at £4.5 million). As with many potential bargains though, keep an eye out on possible signs of a definite starting spot for either of these.
Defenders
In terms of existing price differences, what goes for goalkeepers pretty much goes for defenders as well in FPL. The official game’s top-rated defenders cost £6.5 million, so a bargain could be considered any regular points scorer with a value of no more than £5.0 million, at most.
There seems to be some pre-season hype building up around Crystal Palace right-back Aaron Wan-Bissaka, mainly thanks to his low price of £4.0 million. The 19-year old was Joel Ward’s replacement last season and showed that he was more than deserving of minutes in the first team. The rest of the pre-season will hopefully tell us more about his starting chances, but there is potential for a 4.0-million starter at a mid-table club here.
Another potential bargain could be Bournemouth’s Charlie Daniels for just £4.5 million. The Cherries are not known for their defensive impermeability, but they do get the occasional clean sheet and their wing-backs usually get plenty of time on the ball in the attacking third. Daniels, who’s had fantastic spells as an FPL asset over the past years, likes to get involved, has an excellent delivery, and looks set to be Bournemouth’s first-choice left-back again this season.
Watford’s Jose Holebas is another well-known name to many FPL managers and another potential bargain. The Greek left-back was in and out of the starting eleven during the second half of last season as Watford experienced something of a collective collapse, but he seems to be set for a starting spot again this season. In combination with the odd clean sheet, Holebas’ set-piece duties and fine deliveries from open play can make him an interesting asset early on.
Midfielders
When it comes to midfielders, there are many to choose from and pricing varies a lot. This season’s most expensive midfielder in the official game is Liverpool’s Mohamed Salah. His price of £13 million was to be expected, but his positioning as a midfielder less so. He’s followed by Raheem Sterling (£11 million), Eden Hazard (£10.5 million), and Alexis (£10.5) million. For the sake of this article, we’ll consider any player below £7.0 million a potential bargain.
At £5.5 million, Bournemouth’s Ryan Fraser might be an interesting addition to squads that need some more funding in other places. The 24-year old midfielder/winger scored 5 goals and gave 3 assists over last year’s Premier League campaign, and he’ll be hoping to be a certain starter for the Cherries this season. He also often takes free-kicks and corners, which adds to his points potential.
With 10 goals and an assist to his name last season, penalty specialist Luka Milivojevic can hardly be called a “hidden gem” or a “great differential”. His price of still just £6.5 million does put him straight into the “potential bargains” category, though. Milivojevic is a fixed starter at Crystal Palace, he’s a central midfielder who’s not afraid to go forward, and most importantly, he’s on penalties (7 goals from the spot in 2017/2018 for the Eagles).
A lot is moving and changing at West Ham, so it remains to be seen how Manuel Pellegrini’s men will line up for their season’s first game, but an interesting name on their team sheet is Jack Wilshere. After a decent season at Bournemouth two years ago, Wilshere’s last season saw him in and out of the Arsenal team that reached the Europa League semi-finals. The 26-year old Englishman usually started the European games (1 goal and 3 assists in 13 games), while he was benched much more often than he would’ve liked in the Prem (1 goal and 3 assists in 20 appearances). Still, West Ham might be the right place for the midfielder to gain some confidence and to get back to the level that saw him hailed as one of Arsenal’s very biggest talents just some years ago. A price of just £5.0 million might make it worth the punt.
Forwards
Unsurprisingly, Harry Kane is this year’s most expensive attacker, with a price of £12.5 million. Following him are Arsenal’s Aubameyang, City’s Kun Aguero, and Man United’s Romelu Lukaku (all three of them priced at £11 million). We’ll use the same benchmark as we did for midfielders (£7.0 million) to decide on which players could be considered potential bargains. The issue with budget strikers in FPL is often that either they don’t get enough minutes at a top-6 club or they play for the smaller clubs where goals (and thus, FPL points) are something of a rare commodity.
The first striker on the list comes with a disclaimer, an injury disclaimer to be exact. If Southampton’s Charlie Austin can start off this season fit and if he can maintain that fitness throughout, at least, longer periods of the season, then the 29-year old Englishman might just turn out to be a huge bargain for just £6.0 million. We know there’s nothing wrong with his scoring prowess, he scored 7 in just 1,000 minutes of Premier League football last season for a less than prolific team, but he has to remain fit. With the Saints not having made any big investments in the front line so far, a fit Austin could mean a starting Austin.
Though at our very price limit, Everton’s Cenk Tosun could be considered a bargain as well if he gets the opportunity in a newly-renovated Everton side. Signed in January of this year for a sum of £22.50 million, this season will be the Turk’s first full season at the club. He left quite a good impression over the second half of last season, coming into a largely struggling side and still managing to score 5. His price in the official game is set at £7.0 million, and with games against Wolves, Southampton, Bournemouth, and Huddersfield to begin with, he could be a differential up front early on.
More of an enabler than a real bargain or differential, at £4.5 million, Hudderfield’s Collin Quaner is probably the official game’s cheapest attacker who’s most likely to get some game time. If you’re looking for a serious budget enabler in attack with some points potential to come off your bench in emergency situations, the quick winger is an option. Last season, he made 26 appearances for the Terriers, in which he provided 4 assists and ended on a total of 44 points in FPL.