Fantasy Premier League tips 2016-17: 5 best forwards to look out for this season
The 2016/17 Premier League season is a stone’s throw away from its kick off and that entices football fans around the world to launch their own fantasy teams into action. This season is mired with complexities for fantasy managers to make their choice as the Premier League witnesses the crème de la crème of forwards. However, there are no excuses as the tension boils amongst enthusiasts willing to make a perfect start in order to pitch their claim for superiority in various leagues across the globe.
No worries folks because we have brought to you a list of the five best strikers you can choose from to assemble a team that could set your points soaring off a jetpack. It wasn’t an easy list to compile since this is the list that brings a high probability of scoring points early in the season. Nonetheless, our in-depth analysis should leave you more confident of putting together a team within the tight-fisted budget, before the Premier League starts on 13 August.
In our top five picks, we would like to remind our readers that this is a selection opinion on the initial squad. This is one reason why we have left out conventional forwards, such as Zlatan Ibrahimovic, Olivier Giroud, Callum Wilson, Andy Carroll, Diego Costa or the likes of Troy Deeney and team-mate Odion Ighalo.
While we believe it might be too early and difficult to accommodate Ibrahimovic who is priced at £11.5m but has never played in the Premier League, Giroud is omitted for lack of fitness. Costa had missed much of the pre-season due to a back injury and was left out of the Euro 2016, leaving us without a strong premise to include him in the line-up which could also feature Michy Batshuayi.
Amongst bargain forwards, Wilson had been injured for a long time after a stunning start, and Bournemouth’s add-on Benik Afobe raises further doubts over his returns.
Watford and Sunderland have weak fixtures that should eliminate the inclusion of Jermain Defoe, Deeney and Ighalo.
Keeping this in mind, here are the five best forwards to look out for this season are:
1) Sergio Aguero
Sergio Aguero is a no-brainer for any fantasy manager to start his team selection. If you haven’t chosen him or are unwilling to pay for his hefty price tag of £13m, then you must do so at your own risk. Aguero toured China on Manchester City’s pre-season training, and Pep Guardiola considers Manuel Pellegrini’s choice as the obvious lead in his 4-2-3-1 formation, which seems unlikely to change. Aguero scored the first goal against Arsenal in the latest friendly at Gothenburg, Sweden and the star striker appeared to be in shape and crisp as the past few seasons.
Sergio Aguero is a proven goal scoring machine and will be a contender for the Golden Boot yet again unless injuries hamper his conquest. At the moment, it’ll only be common sense if he is picked in the squad, as more than 50% fantasy managers have already made the bookings.
Another premise which makes him a safe buy despite his price tag, is the projected stable movement in his price. Even if Aguero fails to start his season in a thunderous fashion, favourable fixtures for Manchester City would do little to give you hits in your finances.
First six fixtures: Sunderland (H), Stoke (A), West Ham (H), Manchester United (A), Bournemouth (H), Swansea (A)