With goals the main currency in the Fantasy Premier League, finding players who shoot the most can go a long way to achieving success – but what about the shot hogs who have yet to score?
Identifying the players who are firing in shots without success might uncover players with ambition ahead of ability, but it can also unveil potential bargains who are about to start hitting the back of the net.
Combined with an analysis of the Threat scores players are registering on the FPL’s own metric, which measures the quality of chances a player has had, you could spot an underperforming diamond in the rough.
West Ham midfielder Tomas Soucek could be one of those – the midfielder has registered 12 shots this season, the most of any player without a goal.
At just £4.9m, Soucek is one of the cheaper midfielders on the market, making him a potentially ideal fifth-choice player, while his Threat scores of 46 and 60 in gameweeks one and three respectively suggest he is unfortunate not to have scored yet.
The Hammers do have Tottenham, Manchester City and Liverpool to come in their next three games, but with the form book out the window for the time being, who’s to say a difficult fixture should stand in the way of a good FPL points haul?
Two forwards round out the top three for players with no goals but a number of shots this season – Chelsea’s Timo Werner and Southampton’s Che Adams.
Werner has yet to score despite 360 minutes of PL action, having registered 11 shots in that time.
The German will be given time to settle in the division, but his Threat scores suggest he is at least getting in goalscoring positions, averaging more than 40 Threat per game. Perhaps that’s why 22% of managers are sticking by Werner for now.
Adams meanwhile is playing in the shadow of one of the most in-form strikers in the league – Danny Ings – but has shown intent to rival his teammate with eight unrewarded shots.
The £5.8m man registered a Threat score of 72 against Tottenham in the Saints’ 5-2 defeat to Jose Mourinho’s team, and so definitely has potential to start netting goals, but for now he may have to play second fiddle to Ings in that department.
Those three players top the charts for shots this season without a goal, but which active players have taken the most shots without a goal full stop?
In at number three is Wolves’ Ruben Neves, who has seven shots without a goal this season, but 52 since his last goal in the division (v Aston Villa, November 2019).
At just £5.4m Neves has six goals and five assists in Wolves’ last two seasons, and surely won’t go the entire 2020/21 season without a goal – with his next three league games against Leeds, Newcastle and Crystal Palace, perhaps one of those shots is about to fly in.
Top of the tree however is Burnley’s Phil Bardsley, who has managed a whopping 94 shots since his last league goal, which he scored in December 2013 in a 4-3 defeat against Chelsea.
Despite such a streak, we think it’s safe to say there are more promising players to choose from if goals are your concern – watch Bardsley notch a hat-trick against West Brom next week now…
