Fantasy Premier League

FPL positions: Rely on Kane against lower-ranked sides

By The Scout 7 Jun 2021

The Scout on why Spurs striker was the most productive player when facing bottom-half teams

With 2020/21 Fantasy Premier League now over, The Scout reviews each position to highlight lessons from the season and players to consider next term.

Forwards

Harry Kane dominated the forward category in 2020/21, scoring 23 goals and supplying 14 assists in his 35 appearances.

The Tottenham Hotspur forward recorded his career-high haul of 242 points, second only to the 244 of Manchester United midfielder Bruno Fernandes.

Indeed, that total was 48 points ahead of the second top-scoring striker, Patrick Bamford for Leeds United.

All of Kane's 2020/21 goals

Kane’s displays against opponents lower down in the Premier League table were key to his success.

Most returns against bottom 10 teams

Player	Position	Returns	Goals	Assists
Kane	FWD	22	14	8
Fernandes	MID	17	9	8
Bamford	FWD	16	13	3
Salah	MID	14	9	5
Rashford	MID	14	8	6
Son	MID	14	8	6
Vardy	FWD	14	6	8

He produced 22 of his 37 returns for the campaign against bottom-half teams, with both his 14 goals and eight assists in such matches being more than any other forward.

Kane blanked in only four of his 18 appearances against those sides, averaging 7.8 points per match (ppm).

By contrast, he failed to produce hauls in 10 of his 17 meetings with top-half opponents, averaging 5.9 ppm.

Kane against bottom 10 and top 10 teams

	Versus bottom 10 teams		Versus top 10 teams
	Total	FWD rank	Total	FWD rank
Shots	81	1	56	=1
Shots in box	52	1	32	=5
Big chances	22	=1	8	12
Shots on target	32	1	19	3
Chances created	30	1	19	3

The underlying numbers highlight his contrasting threat against both sets of opponents.

When facing sides in the bottom half of the table, Kane was ranked first for every category in the analysis, with his 81 shots being at least 30 more than any other forward.

Yet the Spurs talisman finished first in just one of the same categories against teams in the top half of the league, his 56 shots being joint-top with Bamford.

Meanwhile, his eight big chances against top-10 teams was only the 12th-best total among forwards.

While that shows Kane somewhat struggled when facing tougher opponents, he has emerged as the most reliable player in Fantasy when up against weaker defences.