In Fantasy Premier League, picking your goalkeepers is probably the least exciting part of the game.
It’s a formality, something you have to do rather than really want to do, and I would imagine a significant number of FPL managers would rather do away with it.
Generally speaking, net minders don’t offer a huge amount to the game, they are the never top point scorers and hauls too often feels like pure chance.
Ideally, you select one goalkeeper at the start and he’s your set-and-forget pick for the rest of the season. To help you do that, we’ve picked out seven who we think are the most viable options in this position and ranked them accordingly.
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7. Emi Martinez – £5m
Last season was a little bit of a down year for Emi Martinez; he only kept eight clean sheets and earned 115 FPL points, his lowest tally since joining Aston Villa in 2020.
That’s partly due to the Argentine missing some games through injury, but it’s also the story of Unai Emery’s defence, which gave up high quality chances to the opposition despite allowing the fourth-fewest shots (458) of any team.
The signing of Amadou Onana should help the team shield a lot of those opportunities, especially on the transition. The extra workload that comes with Champions League football is a worry, but I expect Martinez to post healthier numbers last season.
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6. Alphonse Areola – £4.5m
I’m not wild about picking Alphonse Areola from the off. West Ham‘s opening few fixtures aren’t great, and they’ve got a new manager and a load of new signings. I think it might take a little while for it all to come together at the London Stadium.
That said, the Frenchman is a really good goalkeeper and he’s available at a great price. A lot of FPL managers seem to be doubling up on him and Lukasz Fabianski (£4m) as their goalkeeping pair, which is a decent strategy.
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5. David Raya – £5.5m
There’s a very simple reason why David Raya is currently the number one owned goalkeeper in FPL: the Golden Glove winner is arguably best in the league on the best defence in the league.
If you don’t want to overthink things, then the Spaniard is the perfect choice for you. He’s a straightforward route into Arsenal‘s defence who isn’t at risk of rotation.
The reason I have Raya fifth on this list is his price; I will almost always advise managers to avoid the more expensive keepers and go cheap. However, he is cheaper than Ben White (£6.5m), William Saliba and Gabriel (both £6m), and less likely to be dropped in any given game. In that sense he might actually be saving room in your budget.
Pair him with a £4m goalie and you’re good to go.
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4. Nick Pope – £5m
Barring another devastating injury crisis, there is surely no way Newcastle United can be as bad in defence again as they were last season. Many of their key players are fit again, including star goalkeeper Nick Pope.
The England international has long been a fantasy favourite due to his impressive shot stopping, regularly finishing among the top point scorers in his position season after season.
I think Pope has been egregiously overlooked in pre-season, with less than six percent of FPL managers picking him thus far.
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3. Jordan Pickford – £5m
Jordan Pickford has so much going for him when it comes to FPL this season. Not only is he a great shot stopper, but he’s also on a Sean Dyche team. His goalies tend to do very well in fantasy terms.
Everton conceded the ninth-most shots (541) in the Premier League last season, but they they conceded the eighth-fewest expected goals (59.34 xGC). That is ideal for fantasy, as it gives Pickford the opportunity to rack up save points from lots of relatively low-quality shots.
After a tough start to 2023/24, the England number one finished the campaign with the second-most clean sheets (13) and most FPL points (153) of any keeper.
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2. Mark Flekken – £4.5m
Superficially, Mark Flekken does not make for a great option in FPL, but scratch beneath the surface and you’ll find a better-than-expected pick.
The underlyings suggest that the Brentford goalkeeper underperformed last term, conceding 63 goals from 56.16 xGC, while he only managed to keep seven clean sheets throughout the year.
Despite this, Flekken racked up 119 points, the most of any of this season’s budget keepers. When you drill down into his final 15 appearances of 2023/24, he accumulated 21 bonus points while averaging 3.5 points per match. The only goalie to better that rate over the same period is number one on this list.
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The finish ????Bryan Mbeumo vs Bournemouth. Sublime. pic.twitter.com/tdq3Nec0uV
— Brentford FC (@BrentfordFC) May 11, 2024
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1. Dean Henderson – £4.5m
Despite starting fewer Premier League matches than Sam Johnstone (£4.5m) last season, Dean Henderson looks set to be the number one for Crystal Palace in 2024/25.
The Eagles are primed for a really good campaign under manager Oliver Glasner, who has revitalised the team since replacing Roy Hodgson. A full pre-season with the German should do them the world of good.
If Marc Guehi stays at the club, then their defence should do well and give Henderson plenty of opportunities for clean sheets. The one drawback from picking the 27-year-old is that it will prevent you from tripling up on Palace outfielders if they turn out to be as good as I think they’ll be.
However, I think his price and great early fixtures make him an asset worth owning right out the gate.
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