Goalkeeper Options for Fantasy Football

Posted by Rob Shepherd on Friday, July 28, 2017

Goalkeepers are a great way of scoring in Fantasy Football with points available for clean sheets and saving penalties. So many players agonise for hours on who to put between the sticks in their teams. In this article, I pick out the top five keepers you should consider.

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What Are My Goalkeeping Options?

Unfortunately, “Roly, Poly, Goaly” Wayne Shaw is not an option this year but fear not, there are 46 other options out there for you. Pricewise, there is very little fluctuation in the prices. The cheapest you can get a keeper for is £4 million, the maximum is £5.5 million. That means the worst keeper in the league is likely to only be £1.5 million more than the best.

What Difference Can a Goalkeeper Make to My Score?

If we look at last year’s results as a comparison;

The best performing goalkeeper was Heaton (£5m) who is at Burnley. Heaton gained 149 points. The top four defenders were Cahill (£6.5M) with 178, Alonso (£7m) with 177, Azpilicueta (£6.5m) with 170 and Walker (£6.5m) with 142.

If we take Heaton’s cost and divide by his points it equals £33,557 per point. Cahill comes in at £36,526, Alonso at £39,548, Azpilicueta at £38,235 and Walker at £45,774. This shows that goalkeepers are good value (when you pick a good one) compared to defenders.

The Key to building a decent fantasy football team is finding the balance between value and points. Some players will get you lots of points, no doubt! But are they cost effective?

If we compare the goalkeeper to the midfield position, there is no way a keeper will match the points total of the best midfielder. Last year Sanchez scored 264, Ali 225, Hazard 224 and Eriksen 218 compared to Heaton’s 149.

But if we do the same cost comparison that we did with the defenders we find out the cost per point ratio for the top midfielders. Remember Heaton’s cost per point was £33,557. Sanchez (£12m) = £45,454, Ali (£9.5m) = £43,222, Hazard (£10.5m) = £46,875 and Eriksen (£9.5m) = £43,577.

So, whilst a midfielder will score more points, they are certainly more expensive per point gained.

Which Goalkeepers Did Well Last Year?

Which Goalkeepers Didn’t do Well Last Year?

The table of the worst performing keepers is a bit silly really as you would have transferred them out of your team way before the end of the season but it does go to illustrate how the choice of keeper can have a big effect on the score and the £ per point total.

Who are the Ones to Look Out For?

Jordan Pickford became the most expensive British goalkeeper when Everton signed him from Sunderland in a deal that could rise to £30 million. Pickford can be picked up for £5m and he scored 102 pts last season.

England goalkeeper Joe Hart has signed for West Ham after being loaned to Torino last season. Hart will be a popular choice and can be bought for £4.5m.

Another couple of player who are valued at £4.5m are Grant from Stoke and Fabianski from Swansea. Both these players scored a respectable 113 pts last year. The best performing player at that price range is Boruc from Bournemouth with 120pts.

Anything Else I Need to Consider?

Playing time is an important consideration, if the player doesn’t play then you don’t score points so picking at least one regular starter out of your two keepers is recommended.

A bad choice of goalkeeper can really affect your score, there were 14 goalkeepers that scored over 100 points and these should be considered first, I have created a full list to make it easier.

Choose the right goalkeeper based on the opposition. In my team, I have gone for Pickford and Hart. Everton’s first game of the season is against Stoke, West Ham’s is against Manchester United. I expect less goals to be conceded by Pickford than Hart so Pickford will make my line-up.

Full List of Goalkeepers (As of 27.7.2017)