While goals, assists and clean sheets contribute towards most players' Fantasy Premier League output, the ability to earn bonus points should not be overlooked when assessing targets.
Typically, pinpointing players who are unrivalled as their respective team’s source of attacking returns is a key strategy to assessing potential.
Bonus points are earned by scoring high in the Bonus Point System (BPS). This determines the best-performing players in any given Premier League fixture.
After 11 Gameweeks, Everton’s Romelu Lukaku (£9.8m) and Manchester City’s Sergio Aguero (£13.1m) are the top earners, with 13 additional points apiece.
But City's Kevin De Bruyne (£10.7m) is pushing Aguero hard with 12 bonus points, having eight assists and a score of 249 in the BPS to Aguero's 243.
Lukaku's BPS haul of 248, on the other hand, is 62 more than any other Everton player.
In just 11 Gameweeks, his tally of 13 bonus points is more than half of last term's 25.
With five goals and three assists, Lukaku's contribution to the Everton attack is crucial. When on the pitch, he has been involved in 71.4% of their goals.
Jermain Defoe (£7.3m) is another prime example. Six goals and an assist means the forward has been involved in 77.8% of Sunderland’s nine goals.
Defoe has found the net in five of 11 starts, like Lukaku, collecting bonus points every time he has scores.
A tally of 12 additional points is just three short of the previous campaign's 15. By comparison, the rest of the entire Sunderland squad have combined for a bonus total of eight.
Diego Costa (£10.5m) has received just 10 bonus points despite producing a goal or assist in nine of the opening 11 Gameweeks.
Like Aguero, he has healthy competition from his Chelsea team-mates.
Cesar Azpilicueta (£6.1m) and Eden Hazard (£10.1m) are the top-ranked defender and midfielder respectively in the BPS.
Azpilicueta's seven additional points is two more than the entire Chelsea defence combined. The Spaniard has been awarded bonus points in five of the six occasions his side have chalked up a clean sheet.
Hazard has collected 12 bonus points after serving up seven goals and three assists, surpassing his 11 from 2015/16.
Hull City’s Robert Snodgrass (£5.5m), West Bromwich Albion’s Nacer Chadli (£6.5m) and Southampton's Charlie Austin (£6.7m) are pivotal to their team’s output, and all three are set for favourable upcoming fixtures.
Snodgrass has accumulated nine bonus points, at least three times the tally of any team-mate. He boasts a 50% goal involvement, with four goals and an assist.
Chadli has earned eight additional points in seven appearances. With four goals and a pair of assists, he has played a part in 75% of West Brom's goals when on the field.
After starting just one of the opening five Gameweeks, Austin has been in the starting XI in each of the subsequent six fixtures.
The 14.7%-owned forward has received bonus points on all three occasions he has started and scored. Like Chadli, Austin has contributed to three-quarters of his team's goals when he has been on the pitch.
