We’re now just a week away from the official opening of the 2015/16 Premier League campaign, which can only mean one thing – it’s time to fill out your Fantasy Football teams!
Indeed, it’s an annual tradition for football enthusiasts up and down the country; spending hours – if not days – pouring over statistics, data and price indexes to compose the perfect squad, only to lose interest a few weeks of wayward results later and inevitably never look at your expertly-assembled team ever again.
But hey, it’s fun while it lasts and we at Football FanCast aren’t here to judge. In fact, we’re going to make things a little simpler for you this year by outlining the must-have players from some of England’s biggest clubs.
This article, using stats and prices from Fantasy.PremierLeague.com, takes a look at Liverpool, listing the five Reds that would add the the most to your squad.
Some represent fantastic value for money, others are dependable points generators and a few are speculative punts, but all are Liverpool stars your Fantasy Football team needs.
SIMON MIGNOLET
No Premier League goalkeeper received as much stick as Simon Mignolet last season, deemed the ultimate culprit behind a spate of weakly conceded goals and even dropped in favour of equally hap-hazard Aussie Brad Jones for a small period.
But Fantasy Premier League looked upon the Belgium international’s performances far more fondly; his 67 saves and 14 clean sheets from 36 appearances converting into 149 points – which is actually the second-best haul of any ‘keeper after Swansea City’s in-form Lukas Fabianski.
Whether the 27 year-old can repeat the feat during the 2015/16 campaign remains to be seen – overall, the jury’s still out on Mignolet’s consistency and suitability to a club of Liverpool’s stature.
But at 5.0m he’s available for the third-cheapest price of any goalkeeper; 0.5 less than Arsenal’s Petr Cech, Chelsea’s Thibaut Courtois, Man City’s Joe Hart and United’s David De Gea.
Keeping clean sheets will be the biggest factor in Mignolet’s score, worth four points apiece, and many expect the Reds to improve defensively next season after finally addressing their right-back problem with a £10.5million swoop for Nathaniel Clyne.
MARTIN SKRTEL
Martin Skrtel is a valuable Fantasy Football asset for three predominant reasons.
Firstly, at a cost of 5.5, he’s certainly one of the Premier League’s top six’s cheaper centre-halves. To give some comparison, Chelsea duo Gary Cahill and John Terry will set you back 7.0, whilst the likes of Laurent Koscileny, Chris Smalling and Vincent Kompany are priced at 6.0.
Secondly, he’s a guaranteed starter. Over the last two campaigns, the Slovakian international has missed just seven Premier League fixtures and resultantly emerged as Brendan Rodgers’ most dependable option at the heart of the defence, with rotated partners Kolo Toure, Mamadou Sakho and Dejan Lovren all enduring bouts of substandard form. And this looks set to continue next season, with Brendan Rodgers recently issuing Skrtel a new three-year contract.
Thirdly and most importantly, the 30 year-old knows where the goal is. His strike-rate for the Reds is one-in-14, which may not seem mighty, but it wasn’t long ago the thuggish defender bagged seven in a single campaign. If Skrtel can reignite that scoring touch next season, he’ll be an absolute gem in Fantasy Football – with goals from defenders worth six points apiece.
JORDAN HENDERSON
Jordan Henderson was a Fantasy Premier League gold mine last season, attainable for just 6.5 and eventually finishing up as the game’s seventh-highest-scoring midfielder with 162 points in total.
That’s in no small part due to the England international showing vast improvements in terms of output last term, racking up six goals and nine assists in 37 Premier League appearances.
Aged 25 and now donning the Liverpool armband, ‘Hendo’ will be expected to further develop that side of his game in the coming campaign, so an even greater strike and set-up return from the middle of the park certainly isn’t out of the question.
Furthermore, as Reds skipper he’ll be featuring in every minute of the Anfield outfit’s 2015/16 season barring suspension or serious injury, which instantly guarantees two points per match.
His price has gone up to 7.0m but he’s still a cheaper option than Cesc Fabregas (9.0m), Christian Eriksen, Juan Mata and Santi Cazorla (8.5m), and even Swansea City’s Gylfi Sigurdsson (7.5m), he continues to offer fantastic value for money.
JAMES MILNER
James Milner has always been a bit of a poison chalice in Fantasy Football terms. He was certainly a talented player and a provider of consistent output; yet it was impossible to predict when and where the England international would be selected in the Citizens’ starting XI.
Regardless, he still picked up a decent enough 107 points last season – converted from his five goals and seven assists – despite making just 18 starts in the Premier League.
Based on his prior points hauls, Milner’s price of 7.0m isn’t fantastic value for money. But considering how well the 29 year-old performed under such restrictions at the Etihad, he should really rack up the points for Liverpool next season as one of the first names on Brendan Rodgers’ team-sheet.
CHRISTIAN BENTEKE
This last suggestion is a bit of a punt, entirely dependent on how much faith you have in £32.5million signing Christian Benteke.
On the one hand, his 8.5m price-tag isn’t exactly a bargain. It’s cheaper than the likes of Sergio Aguro, Harry Kane, Wayne Rooney, Diego Costa and Daniel Sturridge, yet more expensive than Everton’s Romelu Lukaku, West Brom’s Saido Berahino, Southampton’s Graziano Pelle and Stoke City’s Mame Biram Diouf, who all finished above the former Aston Villa star in terms of total points last season.
But if you’re a firm believer that the Belgium international will take the Premier League’s scoring charts by storm during his debut Anfield campaign – by no means improbable, considering he recorded three consecutive seasons of double figures for the Villans despite feeding off just one or two chances per match – that 8.5m could prove to be an incredibly shrewd investment come next May.
No doubt, it’s a bit of a gamble, but an educated one that could make all the difference to your Fantasy Football side. Furthermore, as Liverpool’s marquee summer signing, Benteke will at the very least get plenty of game-time.