The Fantasy Football Scout end-of-season awards are up and running, with the poll for best goalkeeper open for voting in this article and on the sidebar.
We’ll be assessing the key candidates in each position in four separate articles, starting with this piece on the men between the sticks.
Overall score, points per match and value in Fantasy Premier League (FPL) were all factors we considered when compiling this shortlist – the rest we’ll leave up to you.
2021/22 CANDIDATES
AARON RAMSDALE
- Points: 135
- Points per match: 4.0
- Start cost: £4.5m
- End cost: £5.1m
Despite a late run of blanks, Aaron Ramsdale is one of the favourites for the best goalkeeper nomination.
A total of 12 clean sheets in 34 starts was only bettered by those representing the top four, while just Alisson could beat him for bonus (14) across the season.
The former Sheffield United man did it all from a starting price of just £4.5m, too, hitting the ground running with three clean sheets in four appearances from Gameweek 4 onwards.
Ramsdale’s last shut-out arrived in Gameweek 29, as the Gunners struggled to cope defensively following injuries to Kieran Tierney and, in particular, Thomas Partey.
That meant the season ended on a slightly sour note but he still finished with a very respectable 4.0 points per match and will be remembered fondly by FPL managers for his performances in 2021/22.
ALISSON
- Points: 176
- Points per match: 4.9
- Start cost: £6.0m
- End cost: £6.1m
Premium goalkeepers have been unfashionable for a while now, with budget shot-stoppers like Ramsdale and Emiliano Martinez in 2020/21 popping up to offer superior value.
However, Alisson still deserves a place in our poll, having finished as FPL’s highest-scoring ‘keeper with 176 points, at least 18 more than any of his rivals.
The Brazilian shared the 2021/22 Premier League Golden Glove award with Ederson, after keeping a whopping 20 clean sheets in 35 appearances for Liverpool. He also finished top for bonus (15) among goalkeepers – something you don’t usually associate with the big guns – while 4.9 points per match was another league-leading figure among those who are a first choice.
Alisson’s popularity certainly took a hit due to the performances of Trent Alexander-Arnold, Andrew Robertson and Joel Matip, but he absolutely deserves to be in the conversation for ‘keeper of the year.
JOSE SA
- Points: 146
- Points per match: 3.9
- Start cost: £5.0m
- End cost: £5.2m
Across the season, only Manchester City, Liverpool, Chelsea and Tottenham Hotspur conceded fewer goals than Wolverhampton Wanderers, yet their expected goals conceded (xGC) tally was much worse, ranking 15th among all Premier League sides.
A huge reason for that overachievement was the performances of Jose Sa.
Only three other goalkeepers made more saves (122) than the Portuguese in 2021/22, while his +7.80 expected goals (xG) prevented figure is simply outstanding. For context, the best of the rest was Kepa Arrizabalaga and Ederson with +1.30 and +1.10 respectively.
Only Alisson and Hugo Lloris provided better value across the season based on points per million, and who can forget his massive 14-point haul against Southampton in Gameweek 6, when he kept a clean sheet, racked up six saves, maximum bonus, and even found time to assist Raul Jimenez’s winner at St Mary’s.
HUGO LLORIS
- Points: 158
- Points per match: 4.2
- Start cost: £5.5m
- End cost: £5.5m
Another ‘keeper whose popularity was impacted by the appeal of the defenders in front of him was Hugo Lloris.
However, the Frenchman returned a clean sheet in 12 of his 27 appearances under Antonio Conte, conceding just 24 goals in that time.
Across the season, his three double-digit hauls was joint-top among goalkeepers, while only Alisson could beat him overall for FPL points and value.
The strength of Spurs’ improving defence did have its downsides though: Lloris recorded save points in just four of his final 14 appearances for the Lilywhites.
VICENTE GUAITA
- Points: 119
- Points per match: 4.0
- Start cost: £4.5m
- End cost: £4.6m
FPL managers’ opinion of Vicente Guaita may have been soured by rotation in the second half of the season, but when simply looking at points per match, he deserves to make the shortlist.
In fact, among first-choice shop-stoppers, only Alisson, Ederson and Hugo Lloris could improve on his tally of 4.0, whilst he also fared very well for clean sheets with 11 in 30 starts.
Elsewhere, Guaita produced a very decent 11 bonus points and finished the season strongly, too, recording his biggest haul of the season – 10 points – against Manchester United in Gameweek 38.
NOT QUITE MAKING THE CUT
Ederson co-shared the Golden Glove with Alisson but a lack of save points (just seven in 37 appearances; that’s fewer than Sa managed in the first 11 Gameweeks) and bonus points (four) meant that he finished some way off the Liverpool goalkeeper in the overall standings. While Alisson topped FPL’s best-value goalkeeper list (based on points per million), Ederson was down in 10th.
Robert Sanchez ended with the same number of clean sheets as Sa, a creditable 11, but he wasn’t a prolific save machine either. In fact, a total of 14 first-choice Premier League goalkeepers had a better points-per-match average than the Brighton custodian (3.4).
David Raya was a close-run thing, as he had as good a points-per-match average as Ramsdale (4.0). However, he missed almost half of the season; whilst that hasn’t stopped us from nominating Team of the Season candidates in the past (Papiss Cisse being an example), goalkeepers tend to be mostly a set-and-forget purchase for FPL managers and we felt that a mere 24 starts counted against him as a consequence.
Some memorable Double Gameweek hauls helped gloss over the fact that Nick Pope had his worst-ever FPL year from a lofty starting price of £5.5m, while in only one of David de Gea‘s previous 10 seasons has he kept fewer clean sheets than he did in 2021/22 (eight).
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