The season so far: Forwards

International breaks are always a good time to reflect back and see what we can learn about who are the best FPL picks.

In this article we will be looking at the Forwards.

All data provided by the Fantasy Football Scout Members Area.

Goals Scored

Jamie Vardy is top for goals scored for forwards over the opening 11 Gameweeks so far this season with 7. West Ham’s Michail Antonio is just one behind with 6 and there are six players tied on 4 goals each.

Vardy is also top for goals amongst forwards over the last six Gameweeks with 4, however he has failed to score in the last 3 Gameweeks. Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang is second with 3 and he has also missed two penalties in that period. Now injured Roberto Firmino and budget enablers Hwang Hee-Chan and Josh King have also managed 3 goals in the last 6 Gameweeks.

Goal Attempts

Antonio is top for goal attempts this season amongst forwards with 36. He is also top for goal attempts in the last 6 Gameweeks where 18 of his 36 goal attempts have come.

Tottenham’s Harry Kane is second for Goal attempts with 17 in the last six Gameweeks, this suggest he is starting to find more opportunities for attacking returns as in the opening five Gameweeks of the season he only managed 4 attempts on goal. Of Kane’s 21 attempts 10 of them have been on target.

Abameyang has registered 25 shots so far this season 12 on target, with 16 of those goal attempts coming in the last 6 Gameweeks. Leeds’ Rodrigo has also registered 16 goal attempts so far, having managed 20 over the season in total, partial due to increased game time in the absence of Patrick Bamford through injury,

FPL’s most expensive forward Cristiano Ronaldo has registered 15 goal attempts in the last 6 Gameweeks. He has registered 28 over the course of the season, although of course he didn’t rejoin Manchester United until Gameweek 4 when he played his first match against Newcastle. Ronaldo has had 11 shots on target.

Ivan Toney has been a popular target for FPL managers in recent weeks as a result of his attractive looking fixtures, in the last six Gameweeks he has managed 15 attempts on goal. In total since the season started he has registered 27 attempts. Of these just 9 have been on target.

Chances Created

Antonio has been the most creative of the forward players so far this season having created 21 chances for his West Ham teammates. Of his 21 chances created, 14 have been created in the last 6 Gameweeks. Although over Gameweeks 10 and 11 he managed just 1 chance created.

Wolves’ Raul Jimenez is close behind with 20 chances created in the opening 11 Gameweeks. He has created 5 chances in the last six Gameweeks, although none in the last two Gameweeks.

Shots in the box

Antonio has had the most shots in the box over the last 6 Gameweeks with 16, followed by Aubameyang, Vardy and Gabriel Jesus who have registered 13 each.

In the last two Gameweeks Toney and Jesus are top for shots in the box with 5 each.

Penalty area touches

There has been a shift in the forwards who have been having the most shots in the box recently.

Over the course of the season as a whole Antonio has managed the most shots in the box with 67, followed by Jimenez with 60 and Jesus with 55. However in the last two Gameweeks it is Everton’s Richarlison who is top alongside Jimenez with 15 each.

Interesting over the last two Gameweeks a number of the cheaper FPL forward options have had some of the highest number of penalty area touches:

• Adam Armstrong – 11
• Che Adams – 10
• Josh King – 9
• Rodrigo – 9
• Ollie Watkins – 8
• Teemu Pukki – 7

Top Points Scoring

The points totals for the forwards in the game so far in many ways highlights the value that is available in the midfield position this season so far. Antonio is the top points scoring forward in the game currently with 61 points.

He is closely followed by Vardy with 60. There is then a 10 point game to the next highest point scoring forward Jesus who has 50, with Allan Saint-Maximin and Jiminez next with 45 and 43 points respectively.

ICT Index

Influence

The Influence section of the ICT index evaluates the degree to which a player has made an impact on a single match or throughout the season. It takes into account events and actions that could directly or indirectly effect the outcome of the fixture. These things include actions like goals and assists, but also significant defensive actions for defenders.

Antonio is top of the influence charts for forwards with 312, in second is Vardy with 277 and Saint-Maximin is third with 229.8.

Creativity

Creativity assesses player performance in terms of producing goalscoring opportunities so it can be used to show the players who are most likely to supply assists. It monitors the frequency of passing and crossing, as well as at the players average position and the quality of the final balls they supply.

As with influence Antonio is also top for creativity with 276.1, he is followed by Jiminez with 256.0 and Jesus with 252.4.

Threat

The threat statistics gauge the players who are most likely to score goals. Attempts on goal are key factors but it also includes information such as the players location on the pitch meaning it considers the players who are most likely to be in. a position to score goals.

Antonio produces a clean sweep of the ICT index forwards as he is also top for threat with 276.1. Arsenal’s Aubameyang is second with 113.9, significantly less than Antonio. Ronaldo is third with 112.2.

Ownership

Antonio remains the highest owned midfielder in the game with 47.6% of FPL managers invested in the Hammers front man, however his lack of returns in recent weeks has seen him sold by a large number of FPL managers.

Ronaldo is the second highest owned forward in the game with 31.7% of managers owning the United premium pick. Following on from Ronaldo, Vardy is the next most heavily invested in forward, owned by 30.1% of managers.

Cost

Ronaldo is the most expensive forward in the game costing £12.4m, however he has taken a number of price drops in recent weeks. Tottenham’s Harry Kane is starting to grow in popularity again as a result of the fixtures and the new manager impact and therefore he has taken a price rise and now costs £12.2m.

Romelu Lukaku’s injury saw him sold by a lot of FPL managers and is now valued at his original value when entering the game £11.5m.