FPL Preview: Best Value Goalkeepers
Who are the pick of the goalkeepers for the 2016/17 Official Fantasy Premier League game ?
Fantasy Premier League is back and we’ve got guides to all the best value picks for your teams right here at Fantasy Football Portal.
First up is goalkeepers, who are an underrated area of the squad. Last year, the top-scoring goalkeepers in the Fantasy Premier League game collected almost as many points as the best defenders, so it is vital to take plenty of care when selecting a stopper.
Here is our guide to five of the best value FPL goalkeepers available in 2016/17.
Petr Čech – £5.5m
Top of the list for many FPL players will be Petr Čech, who outscored every other Premier League goalkeeper last season, racking up 159 points over the course of the season.
Arsenal finished second behind surprise Premier League champions Leicester City and the strong form of Čech, who joined the club from Chelsea, was a decisive factor in their season.
Čech still has a few years left at the top of the game as, even at the age of 34, he still seems to be producing his best football, having shone in a narrow defeat to Spain at Euro 2016 this summer.
Heurelho Gomes – £5.0m
Watford’s Heurelho Gomes boosted his tally with a pair of penalty saves from Saido Berahino in one game against West Bromwich Albion last season, finishing second in the points behind Čech.
Gomes is much less erratic than he used to be, but it is unclear how defensively strong Watford will be this season under their latest new coach, with Walter Mazzarri the fresh face in the dugout at Vicarage Road, replacing the outgoing Quique Sánchez Flores.
Priced at £5.0m, Gomes may be more effective as a number two goalkeeper in Fantasy Premier League teams, but there is no doubting he has a lot of upside for his relatively low price.
Jack Butland – £5.0m
Having missed the closing couple of months of last season with a broken ankle sustained on international duty with England, Jack Butland is fit and ready to fire for Stoke City again.
Butland has his eye on usurping current England number one Joe Hart and if he can improve on last year’s haul of 10 clean sheets in the Premier League the talented stopper has a great chance.
Experienced despite being just 23, Butland is arguably the best young goalkeeper in the league.
Łukasz Fabiański – £5.0m
International form often rolls over into club appearances and Łukasz Fabiański was one of the best goalkeepers on show at this summer’s Euro 2016.
Swansea City stopper Fabiański was not even expected to start for Poland at the finals in France, but he found himself thrust into the spotlight after his former Arsenal colleague Wojciech Szczęsny suffered an injury that kept him on the sidelines.
Fabiański – who kept nine clean sheets for Swansea last season – took his chance well and can count himself unfortunate to have not gone further in the tournament after his side were knocked out on penalties by the eventual champions Portugal at the quarter-final stage.
The 31-year-old is a consistent, reliable selection for fantasy football teams, as he kept 13 clean sheets in the season before last, so he is a proven talent who will pick up high FPL points on regular occasions.
Víctor Valdés – £4.5m
The only player to have switched clubs on our list of the best value goalkeepers in Fantasy Premier League for the 2016/17 season is Middlesbrough’s new stopper Víctor Valdés.
The former Barcelona man, who has spent the last two years warming the bench at Manchester United, has joined the Premier League new boys and will bring a wealth of experience.
Aitor Karanka has wasted no time this summer, strengthening his squad with several impressive new arrivals, but it is perhaps Valdés who is the most eye-catching of the promoted side’s handful of fresh faces, especially as Boro face Stoke City at home on the opening weekend of the season.
However, bringing Valdés to the Riverside could be deemed to be a high-risk signing, as the 34-year-old fell out with Louis van Gaal after reportedly refusing to play in a reserve team game.