Fantasy Premier League

FPL Positions: Alisson raises the bar

By The Scout 14 May 2019
Alisson

The Scout says Golden Glove winner makes strong case for big investment in goal

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With 2018/19 Fantasy Premier League now over, The Scout reviews each position to highlight players to consider for 2019/20.

Goalkeeper

The success of Alisson (£6.0m) last season will force FPL managers to reconsider their spends in goal.

Liverpool's No 1 was among the most expensive goalkeepers at the start of the campaign, costing £5.5m.

Yet he justified his price with 176 points, finishing as the top-scoring custodian in FPL.

Last season was similar to 2017/18, when a premium goalkeeper also led the way, with David De Gea (£5.5m) starting at £5.5m and going on to produce 172 points.

New direction

This has been a recent trend, after previous seasons when cut-price goalkeepers tended to excel.

In 2016/17, Tom Heaton (£4.5m) bettered all of his rivals with 149 points.

Starting at a cost of £4.5m and rising to £5.1m, he returned 29.2 points per million (ppm).

However, De Gea equalled that ratio in 2017/18 and Alisson surpassed it last term with 29.8 ppm.

That highlights the outstanding value on offer and could convince FPL managers to invest more of their budget in goal in 2019/20.

Well protected

Unlike successful goalkeepers in previous seasons, Alisson rarely relied on save points.

Instead, Liverpool's resilience was his driving force.

The Brazilian earned the Golden Glove award with 21 clean sheets.

But he made only 77 saves, which ranked 17th among rivals. By comparison, De Gea's 116 saves in 2017/18 was the sixth-highest tally.

More investment

These past two seasons have changed how managers assess their goalkeepers.

Alisson may have collected fewer overall points than his defensive team-mates Andrew Robertson (£7.0m), Trent Alexander-Arnold (£7.0m) and Virgil van Dijk (£6.5m) but his success shows FPL managers should think twice before cutting costs in goal in 2019/20.

See: The Scout's 2018/19 FPL Lessons on positions

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