Goalkeepers
The Man In Net
Goalkeeper is a funny position in fantasy football they can be steady point earners or steady point sinks, but they only really score points from keeping a clean sheet although they do accumulate a point for every 3 shots saved. Last season's top keeper may surprise you, it was Lukas Fabianski the Swansea stopper was on fire in acquiring 151 points last season and still this season he is not in the top price bracket of 'keepers. So lets get to the nitty gritty!
Using one of the big 4 keepers is pretty much a safe bet to amass points with a goalkeeper, however one crucial thing to remember is that it takes up a valuable club spot that can be used by an outfield player. Joe hart was the top scoring keeper out of the top 4 clubs, however if you decide to opt for a top 4 keeper I would maybe not opt for the Citizens number 1, it looks like City are doing some serious transfer business this summer especially with Dzeko rumoured to be on his way out and Demerchelis aging another year and Mangala less than impressive I would maybe give him a miss this year.
Dave De Gea looks a solid bet to me and if United sign another CB he is probably the pick of the lot what with United strengthening the CM with 2 great signings in Schnei and Schwein, I expect that to help with there ability to snuff out attacks before they become a problem for the defence to deal with, however I now expect them to concede less shots so the bonus points gained for saves will probably be less and this is also another thing to consider with picking Courtois.
So this leaves Petr Cech, a legendary keeper, a superb acquisition for Arsenal as goalie has been something of a problem for them down the years. I will be honest for me they are still a DM short of being title challengers and it will be a true acid test to see if Coquelin can do it again this season and also over the full duration of the season, but FF wise Cech could be the pick of the keepers from the top 4 clubs. There will be no more Szczesny moments of madness and he will also be an asset in organising the defence. Also I do not expect them to be as porous defensively as City but unless they sign a top class DM they will still concede shots so you should get a fair crack at them juicy bonus points!
The 3 Goalies in the pictures (Mignolet, Fabianski and Adrian) made up 3 of the top 5 keepers last season, it is also worth noting that despite Liverpool having a porous defense last year Mignolet was also in contention for the golden glove award. It is also worth considering that these guys are also 0.5m cheaper than any of the top 4 goalies, which can be useful for money spent elsewhere. Fabianski and Adrian both played in teams that were defensively solid last year and I would probably expect that to be the case again this year but when the teams kick off again on the 8th. Both of them have unenviable opening games in Arsenal and Chelsea away but they have to play the big clubs sometime and getting them out the way early can be a blessing and they may catch them cold. Both are solid picks and good alternatives to a top 4 keeper as for Mignolet well the guy is a ******* enigma world class shot stopper one week absolute gash the next so my advice on him would be use him at your own risk.
The Back up keeper
This guy can be important as if your keeper gets injured or suspended you will not want to waste a transfer on replacing him, (well I personally wouldn't but to each their own). But I would recommend only spending the minimum on your backup as you will rarely use him, so what will £4m-£4.5m get you these days? Well first of all you want a starter for the simple fact you want point scoring potential and there is some solid picks at £4.5m in Brad Guzan, Tim Krul and Kasper Schmiechel. All 3 are solid shot stoppers andplay for clubs that will concede lots of shots and will also potentially keep clean sheets against the lesser teams. They will keep the points ticking over in the situation that your first choice keeper is out and also they're cheap!
Final Thoughts
Keepers keep the score ticking over, and can make the small difference between finishing top 10 and say top 3 in your mini league, there is also an alternative strategy you could pick 2 5m rated keepers and rotate them depending who has the easier fixtures. Goalie is a difficult one sometimes because they do not have that much point scoring potential so most people play it safe with a top 4 keeper myself included. Hope I have given you food for thought and not rambled too much, have a good day and thank you for reading also we are up to about 20 in the league now so its looking good!
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