FPL 2017/18 REVIEW: Team of the Season
The 2017/18 Fantasy Premier League season was largely dominated by the record-setting impact made by Liverpool's Mohamed Salah, but it was also a season which saw Man City players jostle for our attention, and one which most likely cemented David de Gea as the best Goalkeeper in the world right now. We go through our Team of the Season picks from this past season, highlighting our 15 favourite picks from across the season. All aboard.
Fantasy Premier League: 2017/18 Team of the Season
We're not going to waste anytime and get straight into our picks. Below you'll find our official Team of the Season picks, which features the usual 3-4-3 formation that is heavily popular in the FPL. Then below our selection you'll find individual graphics for each of our picks which provides their end of season statistics.
Some notes on our Team of the Season picks:
- Pascal Gross is the only player selected from a bottom-half club
- 6 of the starting 11 play for Top 6 sides
- 2 players feature from Leicester, Liverpool, Spurs, and Man City in the starting lineup
- All 3 starting defensive players are central defenders.
- 3 of the 4 midfield picks are wingers.
- 4 of the starting 11 are English, the most of any nation
Goalkeepers (2)
Nick Pope had a phenomenal breakthrough year in the Premier League after filling in for an injured Tom Heaton admirably. Pope secured a spot in England's World Cup squad to Russia at the expense of former number one, Joe Hart, who struggled for minutes at West Ham this season.
Pope beats David de Gea as our number one in the sticks due to his cheap price, bonus points potential, save points accumulation, and general reliability throughout the season, even when Heaton had returned from injury near the end of the season.
De Gea won the Golden Glove award with 18 clean sheets and solidified his position in our Team of the Season with relative ease and would have been the top pick had Pope not stolen the show this season.
Defenders (5)
Picking our top 5 defensive players this season was harder than you'd imagine. Defenders often go in and out of form at a whim, and there was little consistency this season, which is why you shouldn't be surprised to see 3 reliable central defenders in Vertonghen, Otamendi, and Azpilicueta, all earning recognition in our Team of the Season.
Otamendi stood out as a favourite of ours throughout the campaign, offering a sizeable goal-threat that made mini-league rivals fear.
Full-backs in the ilk of Davies, Walker, van Aanholt, Valencia, Monreal, Moses, Alonso, and Cresswell, all miss out due to a general unreliability combined with patchy form throughout the season.
On the bench we've fused real life with FPL, giving recognition to a pair of breakthrough defenders who happened to be cheap differentials at the back this season. Andrew Robertson was a revelation at Liverpool in the left-back slot and grew into some healthy attacking returns to end the season.
Tarkowski was the natural replacement for Michael Keane at Burnley and was a constant thought for consideration in the FPL due to Burnley's fine form over the course of the season.
Midfielders (5)
Mohamed Salah's 303 point return is enough to see the Egyptian become our Play of the Year without a shadow of a doubt, and there is also a worthy inclusion of Raheem Sterling who managed double-digits in goals and assists.
Brighton's first season in the Premier League proved a massive success, with Pascal Gross at the heart of their attacking spirit this season. Gross was the best performing cheap Midfielder and also rightfully deserves his spot, as does a hot and cold Riyad Mahrez who was brilliant for much of the season.
On the bench we opted for Heung-Min Son for a good reason. This season provided FPL players with very few set-piece returns (penalties and direct free-kicks were a dying art in 17/18), with irregular returns from attacking midfielders due to the typical injury/rotation combo. 2017/18 was a year for 'lucky' players who didn't do their homework and just went with a cheap option in midfield, hence Son's inclusion in our Team of the Season.
Bar a small upturn in Eriksen's form near the end of the season, it was Son was who a Spurs staple in many a midfield slot due to his general upper mid-range affordability, which allowed for premium assets elsewhere across the pitch. Son's inclusion is a nod to the general and shared frustration by millions as they watched their transfer plans shatter in their of our eyes.
Forwards (3)
The 2017/18 season did not favour Forward's, at all. The inclusion of Vardy, Firmino, and Kane, in our Team of the Season are the exceptions to the rule this season in an otherwise disappointing year for attacking options.
Had Sergio Aguero not suffered injury and rotation throughout the season, there's a chance the Argentine would have made this list at the expense of Vardy or Firmino.
Even Harry Kane, who scored 29 goals for FPL players (we've not included the 30th due to it not being awarded to Fantasy players), struggled with blank after blank before hitting braces and hat-tricks irregularly throughout the season.
Vardy and Firmino proved patchy, though they both sustained form for long periods of the season to rightfully earn their places.
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All aboard.
