AllAboutForwards

Forwards is the position which usually brings down your purse  and at the same helps you to make giant strides in your classic and head to head leagues. Having a striker who can score week in week out is very essential if you want to have a successful FPL season, Remember Robin van persie popularly known as “Robin Reliant” by FPL managers RVP scored consistently right through out the season with his price increasing almost every other week. Now let’s look into strikers who can potentially give you a van persieisque season.

Fantasy points system for forwards :

•  For playing up to 60 minutes : 1 point

• For playing more than 60 minutes : 2 points

• For each goal scored : 4 points

• For every assist made : 3 points

• For each penalty miss : -2 points

• For each yellow card : -1 points

• For each red card : -3 points

THE STRATEGY :

The forwards can usually be divided into three parts :

The premium strikers – Price range of 9.0-12.0

Budget strikers – Price range of 6.5-8.5

Cheap strikers – 6.5 and below

The ideal striker combination would be go with one premium striker, one budget striker, one cheap striker so that there are enough funds to accommodate equally good players in defense and midfield. However you can always work out the tactics by playing two premium strikers. You are also not too far away from taking a gamble by playing three budget strikers and rotate them according to the fixtures!

Premium Strikers :

It is definitely impossible to get all of Aguero(12.0),Aubameyang(11.0),Kane(11.0),Lacazette(9.5),Firmino(9.5),Vardy(9.0) in your team. So we will help you choose whom to go with in the initial weeks and so on.

Sergio Aguero(12.0) :

Having involved in 21 goals and 11 assists last season that equates to 32 goal contribution in 33 games, Sergio Aguero is the best bet among the premium strikers for the season start. Man city have been fabulous in the preseason as they have been through the last season and it will be difficult for the opposition teams to stop Aguero. For a team that has scored 106 and 95 goals in the last season, you need not look at the fixtures at all. The only concern with Aguero is that Pep Guardiola will be tempted to put in Jesus by 70 or 80 minutes if City have already sealed the game.

Harry Kane(11.0) :

14 game,988 minutes,46 shots,0 goals. These were the stats of Harry Kane in the month of August before he broke the drought by scoring against Fulham and Manchester United last season. It looks very likely that ‘Worldcup Golden boot’ winner will be on the scoresheet in the initial game weeks. Home fixtures against Aston Villa and Newcastle in the first three game weeks makes him a must have in your fantasy team.

Aubameyang(11.0) and Lacazette(9.5) :

Fixtures :  Newcastle(A),Burnley(H),Liverpool(A),Tottenham(H),Watford(A)

The first five fixtures does not look quite promising for the last season leading points scorer among strikers Pierre Emrick Aubameyang( who also does not have the greatest of records against top 6.) Lacazette(12 assists) topped the assist table for the strikers last season. However, Lacazette averages only 71 minutes per game last season which is the lowest among the premium strikers . Having a look at their first five weeks, it will be wise to skip both of them for the initial weeks.

Firmino(9.5) :

Fixtures : Norwich(H), Southmapton(A),Arsenal(H), Burnley(A), Newcastle(H)

Firmino sounds like a brilliant option if you are looking for your premium striker value to be less than 10.0 and the fixtures are also tempting.  But again only three players are allowed from a particular team. Mohammad Salah , Robertson and Arnold are expected to provide better returns from midfield and defense. Firmino is also one of the few premium strikers who is not on penalty duties. Also tracking back and helping your team in defense does not necessarily fetch you points in FPL!

 Jamie Vardy(9.0) :

Fixtures : Wolves(H),Chelsea(A),Sheffield(A),Bounremouth(H),Manchester United(A),Tottenham(H)

The foxes did look like a very good team under Brendan Rodgers in the few months he managed them last season. Jamie Vardy also remarkably got his goal scoring touch under Brendan Rodgers scoring 11 goals in the last 13 games of the season. Three top-6 six teams in the first six fixtures should not worry Vardy who has a fantastic goal scoring record against the top 6.

Budget Strikers (7.0– 8.5)

Raul Jimenez(7.5) :

Fixtures : Leicester(A),Manchester United(H),Burnley(H),Everton(A),Chelsea(H)

The Wolves have confirmed the signing of Raul Jimenez from Benfica after the brilliant loan spell last season at the Molineux. He was arguably the best budget striker available last season after starting the season at just 5.5 million. He got 13 goals and 10 assists in his first season at the club, but there is pressure this time for him to do even better and lead them from the front.

Callum Wilson(8.5) :

Fixtures : Sheffield United(H),Aston Villa(H),Manchester City(H),Leicester(A),Everton(H)

Last season, Wilson had his best season at club level notching up 14 goals and 12 assists which even got him his first international cap. You can even gamble him up as a differential captian for the first two weeks considering the two home fixtures against the promoted teams.

Marcus Rashford and Romelu Lukaku(8.5) :

Fixtures : Chelsea(H),Wolves(A),Crystal Palace(H),Southhampton(A),Leicester(A)

Marcus Rashford is defenitely the number one striker for Manchester United at the moment and is certainly the best bet from the United squad in FPL. Romelu Lukaku fell off the pecking order towards the end of last season and is certainly on his way out of Old Trafford. So you can skip Lukaku without a thought.

Oliver Giroud, Batshuayi,Abraham(all 7.0) :

Fixtures : United(A),Leicester(H),Norwich(A),Sheffield(H),Wolves(A)

It is still unclear that who will be leading the line for Frank Lampard’s men. So it will be wise to skip all of the Chelsea strikers for the initial few weeks and see on from there.

CHEAP STRIKERS (6.5 and below) :

Joshua King and Jota(both 6.5) :

Fixtures for King : Sheffield(H),Aston Villa(A),City(H),Leicester(A),Everton(H)

Fixtures for Jota : Leicester(A),United(H),Burnley(H),Everton(A),Chelsea(H)

Both King and Jota are really good options if you want a save a million or two instead of going for Wilson and Jimenez respectively. But King seems to be a better option than Jota considering the signing of the exciting youngster Patrick Cutrone from AC Milan which suggests that there may be rotation among the forwards for Wolves. Also the first ten games for Bournemouth looks much better than that of Wolves.

Deulofeu and Deeney(both 6.5) :

Fixtures : Brighton(H),Everton(A),West Ham(H),Newcastle(A),Arsenal(H)

They both combined to really well at the end of the season to get 19 goals and 10 assists in total. They work really well as a duo but there is very little to seperate between them in terms of FPL. So,that is up to you to take call and bring either of them.

Chris Wood and Ashley Barnes(both 6.5) :

Fixtures : Southampton(H),Arsenal(A),Wolves(A),Liverpool(H),Brighton(A)

The fixtures during the initial few weeks are not very promising for Sean Dyche’s men. It will be good to go for either of the strikers(preferrably Barnes) after GW 5 where they have a easy run of fixtures.

Southampton and Everton are exciting clubs who want to punch above their weight this season. But in terms of FPL forwards, they have not yet finalised their main striker. And with new signings to follow we will have to wait and watch. The newly promoted teams forwards and the new signings will be covered in a seperate blog.

Detailed analysis on new promoted teams , new signings , penalty takers for respective teams and much more to follow in the upcoming blogs. Stay tuned!