Fantasy Premier League Week 1 Stats

EPL Fantasy Weekly Write Up – Dada Olamide

Now that the debacle of the first opening week is behind us (Chelsea cough cough!), let us focus on what unites us. Fantasy soccer, while I have retired from playing the game due to reasons I will share at a later date. My love for data analytics can be applied to EPL fantasy and I am also in a better position to analyze data without bias.  Defenders play a salient role in points accumulation in the EPL, I strongly believe that their role are often overlooked both on the field and in fantasy, this can easily be attributed to their lack of flair and let’s be honest no kid grows up wanting to be a defender.

Fantasy games are won on low margins, the ability to think outside of the box, having an astute foresight to see what others are missing and I believe this where high scoring defenders come into play. Attacking defenders who can score goals and keep clean sheets are like delicious cake that helps you lose weight (too good to be true) but in the fantasy world they do exist.  Before I dive into what the data is telling us and suggestions on defenders to keep an eye on, let us a do weekly recap

   Weekly Re-cap

• City leads the pack in total points accumulated ( Burnley as a surprise)

Figure 1: Average points scored per team

• FWD average points (Surprise Surprise !!!)

Figure 2: Average points by position

• We are seeing some usual suspects

Figure 3:Top 6 points, colored by position

• Players Points vs Cost: are expensive players worth it?

• Top 5 bargain players i.e. points/cost ( origi is one to watch)

Topic of the week

Attacking Defender: Who stands out

Metric 1 : Goal Attempts

• Winner: Emerson / Chelsea / $5.5

• Metric 2: Shot on Target
  • Winner: Emerson / Chelsea / $5.5

• Touches in the Penalty Box
  • Winners: Bednarek (4.5) / Chilwell (5.5) / Maguire (5.5) / Pereira (6)

            Summary: Ironically Emerson from Chelsea was the stand out goal threat defender from this weekend, he doubled the goal attempt, had three times more shot on goal and, he was in the second tier of touches in the penalty box. While it is very early stage, even as a Chelsea defender id recommend staying away from Chelsea defenders until they show signs of defensive rigidity. That been said, Emerson looks very attractive, I will recommend watching him for two more games, if this stats holds and Chelsea is able to a CS here and there, then he is a must have.