Fantasy Premier League

FPL Lessons: Kane still the go-to Fantasy forward

By The Scout 24 May 2018

Spurs striker's stats improved for the fourth successive season but The Scout says managers must assess him over the summer

With the 2017/18 Fantasy Premier League ended, The Scout reviews each position to highlight the players managers should consider for 2018/19.

Forwards

Harry Kane remains the go-to forward for managers.

Despite finishing behind Liverpool winger Mohamed Salah in the race for the Golden Boot, the Tottenham Hotspur striker improved his goal output for the fourth successive season.

He scored 30 goals in 35 starts.

Impressively, only two of those goals came from the penalty spot, compared with five in each of his previous two seasons.

⚽⚽⚽⚽⚽⚽⚽⚽⚽⚽⚽⚽⚽⚽⚽
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Enjoy @HKane's 3️⃣0️⃣ @premierleague goals this season in 6️⃣0️⃣seconds!#COYS pic.twitter.com/FeE9AldIFe
— Tottenham Hotspur (@SpursOfficial) May 19, 2018

Kane improvement

Kane’s total of 217 FPL points was at least 34 points more than any other forward.

Kane’s potential was not affected by Spurs’ temporary move to Wembley Stadium, where they played their home matches.

Indeed, compared with his 2016/17 season, the statistics show a significant improvement.

Kane produced more shots, 184, and shots on target, 76, this term. In the previous campaign he recorded 110 and 58.

Ignore sales

But he was still the most-sold player in FPL, transferred out by over 5.1million managers.

The sales peaked following his injury in Gameweek 30 at AFC Bournemouth.

Kane was sold by more than 1.3million over Gameweeks 31 and 32.

However, over the season, his form remained consistent.

When starting and completing more than 80 minutes, he never went more than three matches without scoring a goal.

Happy homecoming or sluggish start?

With Spurs planning to return to White Hart Lane next season, Kane’s Fantasy potential could keep rising.

However, England’s progress in the FIFA World Cup over the summer could be a factor in his early season prospects.

If Gareth Southgate’s team make the latter stages of the tournament, Kane could be rested over part of Spurs’ pre-season.

Also, with no goals in August in his career, some managers will be wary of selecting Kane from Gameweek 1.

But his record in September, which produced two-goal hauls in three of four Gameweeks in the season just gone, underlines the risks involved with overlooking FPL’s top striker.