Sheffield United top picks for FPL

The Premier League season is edging closer and closer along with the Official Fantasy game. Because of this we direct our focus towards the Sheffield United top picks in FPL. Analysing their defensive and offensive stats from last season to pick out their best fantasy players.

Looking at the Sheffield United top picks in FPL can be extremely helpful to managers. ‘The Blades’ had a very impressive campaign in the Championship last season finishing second and securing automatic promotion. But before looking at their players, lets take a look at their early fixtures.

Fixture ticker

Sheffield United rank 17th on the ticker for the first six matches. They face games against Crystal Palace, Nottingham Forest, Manchester City, Everton, Tottenham and Newcastle. ‘The Blades’ early fixtures suggest it could be a wise idea to avoid investment early on.

The Sheffield United defence

Sheffield United sustained some great defensive stats last season – ranking:

Joint second best for goals conceded (39).
Third best for clean sheets (19).

Sheffield United defensive assets

Below we will compare the Burnley defensive players in terms of minutes played and attacking threat.

Here you can see which defensive options played the most minutes last season:

John Egan (3955)
Wes Foderingham (3512)
George Baldock (2876)
Anel Ahmedhodzic (2860)
Jack Robinson (2131)
Max Lowe (2006)
Chris Basham (1736)
Jayden Bogle (1386)

We can see from the above that centre-back John Egan (£4.5m) played more minutes than any other defensive player last season. He is followed by goalkeeper Wes Foderingham (£4.5m) with 3512 minutes.

Sitting with the third most minutes played is right wing back George Baldock (£4m) who played 2876 minutes. Centre-backs Anel Ahmedhodzic (£4.5m) and Jack Robinson (£4.5m) rank fourth and fifth for minutes played.

Now lets take a look at how each defender fairs in terms of non-penalty goal expected goal involvement:

Anel Ahmedhodzic (7.00)
John Egan (6.9)
George Baldock (4.4)
Jayden Bogle (3.7)
Jack Robinson (3.5)
Max Lowe (3.5)
Chris Basham (2.3)

We can see that Anel Ahmedhodzic edges the rest with a NPXGI of 7.00 whilst fellow centre-back John Egan is not far behind with 6.9.

George Baldock sits third for NPXGI with 4.4 and Jayden Bogle played less minutes than any other defender and still managed an NPXGI of 3.7.

Taking into account minutes played, NPXGI and price combined George Baldock could be the standout defensive option – not only did he maintain good minutes and solid NPXGI but he also comes in at £0.5m cheaper than the other options.

The next best defensive option could well be Anel Ahmedhodzic who produced the best NPGXI amongst all of the other options – his previous season injuries meant his minutes were hugely affected.

Another player monitor is Jayden Bogle who although played less minutes than every other defensive option above, he still managed to accumulate one of the best NPXGI.

The Sheffield United attack

Sheffield United sustained some great offensive data – they ranked:

Joint third best for goals scored (73).
The best for big chances total (105).
The best for shots on target per game (5.0).

Sheffield United attacking assets

Below we compare the minutes and goal threat of the Sheffield United strikers and midfielders from last season.

Firstly lets take a look at the minutes played:

Iliman Ndiaye (3698)
Oliver Norwood (3530)
Sander Berge (3103)
Oliver McBurnie (2221)
James Mcatee (1898)
Thomas Doyle (1853)

We can see that striker Iliman Ndiaye (£5.5m) leads the way for minutes with 3698 minutes. Midfielder Oliver Norwood (£5m) who ranks second with 3530 minutes played last season.

Another player to hit above 3000 minutes played was midfielder Sander Berge (£5m). Also in the list is James Mcatee (£4.5m) who has returned to mother club Manchester City along with Thomas Doyle (£4.5m) – both are linked to moves back to Sheffield United for the new season.

Below we compare the non-penalty expected goal involvement of all attackers last season:

Iliman Ndiaye (19.6)
Oliver McBurnie (14.2)
James Mcatee (10.6)
Sander Berge (10.4)
Oliver Norwood (9.8)
Thomas Doyle (6.9)

Once again, Iliman Ndiaye leads the way accumulating an impressive 19.6 NPXGI last campaign. Striker Oliver McBurnie (£5.5m) sits in second with a NPXGI of 14.2.

Former on-loan Manchester City man James Mcatee racked up 10.6 NPXGI whilst Sander Berge followed with 10.4.

Ndiaye would have been the standout option but he has recently moved to Marseille. The second best option is Oliver McBurnie who although played far less minutes than other attacking options still collected 14.2 NPXGI.

Another player to watch is James Mcatee – if he re-joins Sheffield United for the new season he could be a great option at £4.5m – a price and position category that is very limited in that bracket.

Pre-season notes

So far Sheffield United have played five matches – they won two, drawn one and lost two.
In the matches they have played they have kept one clean sheet and scored five goals.
Amongst the goals scored was Ndiaye and Baldock.