Fantasy Premier League Tips - Goalkeepers

Neil Monnery
11 August 2016

David de Gea looks set to be the most picked fantasy goalkeeper going into the 2016/17 season

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Fantasy Premier League is back and Neil Monnery is here to give his advice to give you the help you need to get bragging rights among your friends and rivals. Today he's talking about goalkeepers...

I have Steve Mandanda (£4.5m) as my backup goalkeeper and I think he's a good number two to have. The French international should be the starter for Crystal Palace this season and as anyone whose played Football Manager will tell you, he's been highly rated for quite a while.

The cream of the crop
You aren't going to win or lose your fantasy league based on what goalie you pick. The men between the sticks rarely score highly and only 11 made it to triple figures last time around. The difference between the top keeper (Cech) and the 10th best (Mingolet) was only 44 points. So this position isn't one to start tearing your hair out over.
At the top of the bunch this year we have a gaggle of five at £5.5m. It won't surprise that that it is Cech, Courtois, Hart, De Gea and Lloris. The five Number Ones from five of the six favourites to win the title according to the Betfair Exchange. The only team whose keeper isn't represented is Liverpool and we aren't 100% sure who'll be their man in goal with Loris Karius having signed to challenge incumbent Simon Mignolet.
You can happily buy any of the top five and expect them to be amongst the top ten in the game. Thibaut Courtois was a disappointment last term due to injury, suspension and just having apoor year. I'm banking on a return to his 2014/15 form though under Antonio Conte and expect the Chelsea defence to solid enough so don't let his 69 points last year put you off.

The middle value

For the goalkeepers I've set the price for value in the middle of the market at £5m and there are only two players to feel strongly about in a positive fashion, Jack Butland and Kasper Schmeichel. Both had excellent years last time out and whilst I do expect a slight drop from Leicester (I really do think they'll miss Kante) I could easily see Schmeichel being in the top ten goalkeepers again this year. Stoke are always defensively sound and Butland did secure 14 bonus points and made 102 saves, so what points he lost with fewer clean sheets, he made up the difference elsewhere.

There will be some love for Fraser Forster at this price I'm sure but Southampton are a quandary at this point with a new manager at the helm. They have done very well with their last two hires for the top job but how will Claude Puel set his teams up? I think you can go elsewhere for goalkeepers at the moment - Forster is a risk.

Lastly whilst I don't think Simon Mignolet is the long-term first choice at Anfield, the new keeper is out for a good six to eight weeks so last years number one will surely get the nod for the first few games. If you want to save half a million on a goalkeeper in the short-term then buying the Belgian isn't a bad ploy.

The high risk/high reward picks

I have Steve Mandanda (£4.5m) as my backup goalkeeper and I think he's a good number two to have. The French international should be the starter for Crystal Palace this season and as anyone who's played Football Manager will tell you, he's been highly rated for quite a while. I wouldn't recommend him being your week in, week out guy but as you need to pick two keepers, you are surely going to pick someone at £4.5m to be your second choice.

Other solid plays here are Víctor Valdés and Ben Foster. The new Middlesbrough goalkeeper is surely going to assume the number one job and whilst I'm not exactly bigging up their defence here, he could be in line to make a lot of saves and remember, for every three saves a keeper makes in a match, they gain a point. Foster might be a safer play at West Brom.

Rounding-up

I would go for one of the big five in the expectation that they'll all perform well throughout the season. Personally speaking I don't see a huge difference between the five of them so I'd base my pick on whether I have three other options from that team (remembering the three player per team limit) then pick a different keeper. I think De Gea and Courtois are the top two on my board, originally I had Courtois in because I had three other Manchester United players in but having removed Anthony Martial from my line-up, it gives me the option of De Gea and I think I'm going to go with it.

If you are desperate to save half a million then at £5m the best short-term play is Mignolet whereas long-term it is Butland or Schmeichel. I haven't mentioned Heurelho Gomes or Adrian yet at this price but I just don't have that much trust in either. If you believe last year weren't outliers then go for it but they aren't for me.

It goes without saying that spending top money on players who'll likely be backups is not a great plan unless the number one gets injured, so the likes of David Ospina, Asmir Begovic, Willy Caballero and Sergio Romero are all available at £5m are all clear do-not-plays at this point.

Good luck with the season ahead. My colleagues at betting.betfair.com and I will be back throughout the season with tips and updates from the world of the Fantasy Premier League.

You can read my fantasy Premier League attackers tips, my fantasy Premier League midfielder tips and my fantasy Premier League defender tips behind the links.

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