Fantasy Premier League Tips: 15 Best Point-Scoring Midfielders For 2017/18
The men you need in the engine room...
Every Fantasy Football team needs an engine. Though most team-pickers will immediately go for the striker they think will top the golden boot chart, it's arguably the men who assist them that are even more important. After all, get four players likely to assist every game on top of goalscorers and you have an unbeatable formula.
The key metrics for midfielders are easy enough to pin-point: it's all about goals and assists. Find the players who are classed as the playmakers in their teams - the creative engines at the heart of the action - and you're more likely to see better returns on that front. Likewise, identifying those players who are deployed in more traditional forward roles, despite being listed as midfielders should also make for more points.
And if you're looking for evidence of who the best of those options are, you need look no further than their stats from last year. In establishing who will be in among the top points for the coming season, you need only consider who created the most chances, who shot the most, and who is likely to take advanced set-pieces (or corners, if their team score a lot of headers). It's not a precise art, but it's very possible to map out the most likely best options.
Some you'll want to spend a massive chunk of your budget on, because they're guaranteed points scorers, but others are the kinds of affordable gems who will balance the galacticos and won't break the bank. You won't find Alexis Sanchez in there, no matter how great he is, because his future is perilously uncertain, to say the least.