FPL tips: The men to help you scoop spot prizes

Penalties have played a bigger part than ever in Fantasy Premier League this season, but how can you best take advantage?

Partly due to new handball rules and the continued influence of VAR, there have been 21 spot-kicks in 38 games including four instances of multiple awards for one team.

Dig into the penalty data and dominate your mini-league with these key men.

The season so far

Six players have taken multiple penalties this season, led by Leicester’s Jamie Vardy and Chelsea’s Jorginho with four apiece.

Manchester United midfielder Bruno Fernandes, Liverpool star Mohamed Salah and Brighton and Newcastle strikers Neal Maupay and Callum Wilson have two each to their name, with 15 of those 16 spot-kicks successful.

Jorginho’s miss against Liverpool is the only exception but the £5million Italy international remains the value option. Maupay and Wilson are available at £6.5m.

Harry Kane, Danny Ings, Aleksandar Mitrovic and Mateusz Klich are the established takers for their respective clubs and have scored one apiece, with Klich priced at £5.5m.

Manchester City’s Kevin De Bruyne scored against Wolves but could face competition when Sergio Aguero – who has scored 26 out of 31 in his Premier League career – returns from injury, while Luka Milivojevic has long taken precedence for Crystal Palace over Wilfried Zaha, who netted against Manchester United.

Youri Tielemans scored Leicester’s third penalty against Manchester City with Vardy off the pitch and Richarlison has netted for Everton, with John Lundstram failing for Sheffield United.

Long-term trends

Among the six teams yet to be awarded a Premier League penalty this season, West Ham boast the only current player to have scored more in the competition than Aguero – Mark Noble, with 27 out of 31 since 2007.

Vardy, Milivojevic and Kane are the other available players with more than 20 penalty goals in their Premier League careers, with the £6m Palace midfielder boasting the best success rate with 21 out of 23. To add to his appeal, only the two Manchester clubs have more than Palace’s 32 penalties over the last five seasons while Palace have scored the most with 26.

Leicester are the other club above 30 and while the list favours the traditional “big six”, Southampton rank highly – though Saints have scored only 13 out of 20 in that time frame.

Ashley Barnes is Burnley’s first-choice taker when fit and has converted all five of his attempts while Raul Jimenez has six from six for Wolves. Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang has seven from nine and Alexandre Lacazette two from two for Arsenal.

No current West Brom player has taken a Premier League penalty for the club, though Charlie Austin scored four in last season’s Championship campaign. Aston Villa’s Jack Grealish, Anwar El Ghazi and Wesley have one attempt each, with only El Ghazi successful but only Grealish having played this season.

Spot-kick stoppers

There is more than one way to benefit from penalties, with goalkeepers awarded a hefty five points for saving one – Emiliano Martinez and Alisson Becker have done so this season.

The risk is high but some keepers stand out from the pack, with the Hammers’ ever-popular Lukasz Fabianski saving six of 30 Premier League penalties faced.

Hugo Lloris boasts five saves out of 31 – while his Tottenham back-up Joe Hart leads all current top-flight keepers with seven saves from 26.

Another reserve, Liverpool’s Adrian, was pressed into service last week with dramatic consequences in a 7-2 loss to Villa, but the Spaniard does boast an impressive record of five saves out of 19 from the spot.

Kasper Schmeichel (five out of 29) is another to impress but Manchester United’s David De Gea has saved only two out of 30 Premier League penalties.