Does the Bonus Points System (BPS) over-reward players who have already picked up attacking or defensive returns in Fantasy Premier League (FPL)?

It’s a debate that has raged on these pages and elsewhere for years, with some FPL managers arguing for a system that remunerates other on-field contributions.

There are bonuses for tackles, shots and passes in Sky’s own Fantasy game, while UCL Fantasy dishes out points for ball recoveries.

What some FPL bosses may not realise is that things like dribbles, clearances and chances created do actually matter on the current Bonus Points System – but you’ll rarely get far without a goal, assist and/or clean sheet to go with those other contributions (unless you’re Lewis Hall).

As the above graphic illustrates, a forward scoring one goal will often immediately be in the bonus points mix even if they do little else on the field.

Meanwhile, a defensive midfielder may produce a man-of-the-match display filled with recoveries, blocks and interceptions but still come nowhere near their goalscoring team-mate on the Bonus Points System.

With that in mind, and channelling the Fast Show’s Denzil Dexter with his pointless experiments, we thought we’d have a look at who would have profited from bonus points in 2022/23 if we removed scoring actions like goals, assists and clean sheets from the equation and focused only on the baseline (BBPS) figures.

For the uninitiated, baseline bonus points are made up of the following positive actions (deductions are also made for things like offsides, foul concessions, errors, shots off target etc):

• Time played
• Pass completion
• Key passes
• Big chances created
• Net tackles
• Saves
• Dribbles
• Recoveries
• Clearances, blocks and interceptions (CBIs)

A huge thanks to TopMarx for doing the arithmetic behind this article.

And here are the ‘alternative’ bonus points results…

ALTERNATIVE BONUS POINTS SYSTEM: GOALKEEPERS

The big winners of this alternative bonus points system are the goalkeepers.

Save-making machines David Raya and Bernd Leno would have ended up scoring more bonus points than any other player in the game, with Raya’s total lifting him comfortably above the double-century for overall points.

Raya would have scooped maximum bonus points on a whopping 18 occasions, and Leno in 16 games.

It’s not just saves that help propel goalkeepers up the baseline bonus point standings but also recoveries (eg things like claiming crosses) and passes. Leno, Emi Martinez and Alisson in particular fared strongly here, ranking in the top five goalkeepers for each.

Even the much-maligned Ederson would have gained nine extra bonus points.

ALTERNATIVE BONUS POINTS SYSTEM: DEFENDERS

The top two defenders for actual bonus points in 2022/23, Kieran Trippier and Trent Alexander-Arnold, are still first and second in the above table.

But they’re more handsomely rewarded for their creativity, gaining an extra 13 and 17 bonus points respectively.

What’s striking next is that a cluster of centre-halves – and converted right-back Ben White – follow in these two set-piece-taking defenders’ footsteps.

Pass completion was key to the likes of Thiago Silva, Ezri Konsa, William Saliba and Sven Botman featuring so prominently but an all-round game can be beneficial: Max Kilman and Marc Guehi, for instance, were the only names to feature among the top 16 defenders for pass completion, recoveries, and clearances, blocks and interceptions (CBIs).

ALTERNATIVE BONUS POINTS SYSTEM: MIDFIELDERS

It’s all very Sky Fantasy in the above table, with deeper-lying midfielders making up the top five.

Mohamed Salah, by contrast, would have scored zero bonus points in this hypothetical system.

Midfield anchors tend to see a lot of the ball, with play typically being funnelled through the engine room: James Ward-Prowse, Declan Rice, Rodri, Pierre-Emile Hojbjerg and Pascal Gross were all among the top six midfielders for pass completion bonus in 2022/23. It doesn’t matter that these passes were mostly backwards or sideways; the more the merrier, actually, when it comes to getting those accurate distribution numbers up.

In this alternative bonus system, there are players amply rewarded for off-the-ball contributions. Rice and Rodri were first and second among FPL midfielders for recoveries, with the West Ham man fourth for CBIs.

Good old chance creation boosted the scores of Gross and Ward-Prowse, meanwhile.

There’s quite a nice feel to the above table, a better reflection of how influential certain midfielders have been in Premier League matches compared to the tunnel vision of rewarding just attacking returns.

ALTERNATIVE BONUS POINTS SYSTEM: FORWARDS

Oh dear.

As if to prove how the current Bonus Points System is the forwards’ friend, strip away their goals and occasional assists and there’s little left.

Even the ‘forward’ scoring the most bonus points in this alternative system, Bryan Mbeumo, has spent the bulk of his season playing on the right wing of Brentford’s attack and should be reclassified as a midfielder in 2023/24.

Erling Haaland wouldn’t have gained a single bonus point, reducing his overall total by 40 points.

Harry Kane would also have lost 45 of his 48 bonus points.

ADJUSTED OVERALL POINTS

Four different positions in the top five would suggest this is a more balanced bonus system than the one currently in operation in FPL.

Instead of 106 points separating Haaland and Raya, there are only 22.

Trippier also cut the gap between himself and the City striker by over 50.

The week-to-week captaincy call being more of a debate would have been welcome, while goalkeepers like Raya, Leno and Alisson may even have entered the armband conversation.

The downside is that, Kane and Haaland aside, this alternative system would have killed forwards, with Ivan Toney dropping back to 148 overall points. The two high-scoring strikers have had to have phenomenal seasons to only just edge past Salah, Trippier and Raya, so what happens when we have an annus horribilis for strikers like the one we witnessed in 2021/22?

Would you like to see the Bonus Points System tweaked, and what do you make of the ‘alternative’ method above?

Let us know in the comments section.