Don't forget about the dead balls

How important are dead balls to FPL?

A record 3.8 million players signed up for FPL as the season kicked off, a Game Week 1 record (now over 4 million players). As football fans, we surely want our team to dominant possession tika taka style and score a bakers dozen, as we've seen from the first 2 fixtures of the season, goals will flow but it'll be at both ends of the pitch. We want to look at the dead balls here, the penalties, free kicks and corners, why? Well, look at Pulis. West Brom are the only team I'd prefer to have a defender than a striker for, we only need to look at yesterdays game. A Brunt (5.5m) corner, a Hegazi (4.5m) header, 8 and 15 points respectively. Keep your eye on who's taking corners and who (specifically towering centre backs) is getting on the end of the those crosses.

Penalties

Sometimes a goal scorer isn't a goal scorer. Milner isn't known for his goal scoring attributes, but he scored 7 goals for Liverpool in the League last season, all from the penalty spot, now listed as a defender, his goals are worth 6 points rather than 5. 

Selected players who netted more than 3 pens last season were, Sigurdsson: 3 - 8.5m TSB: 7.7%, Deeney: 3 - 6.5m TSB: 1.0%, Aguero: 4 - 11.5m TSB: 11.2%, Defoe: 5 - 8.0m TSB: 5.6%, Kane: 5 - 12.5m TSB: 37.9%, Milner: 7 - 6.5m TSB: 7.4%

*TSB – teams selected by.

Looking at the newly promoted sides, in the Championship last season Ritchie scored 5 pens for Newcastle and for Brighton, Hemed (6) and Murray (4) buried a few. Huddersfield scored fewer penalties but Lowe and Mooy were both on target.

Clean Sheets

Clean sheets are hard to predict in the Prem (13 goals in the first 2 games of this season, phew!) so which goalkeepers are your best choice? You want those that make saves to get bonus points but it's also worth noting who can save a penalty (keepers get +5 points for a penalty save).

Last season, Forster topped the chart with three saves, but 16 keepers saved at least one penalty last season, among them: Heaton, Mignolet, Fabianski. I recall the season before last, Huerelo Gomes saving two penalties in one game, plus a clean sheet so 16 points before BPS, having him that one game would have meant the difference between finishing 2nd and finishing 1st in my league. 

Let us also not forget about free kicks, that Coutinho goal against Palace, the De Bruyne under the wall kick against Bournemouth or that Sigurdsson goal at Old Trafford. It is difficult to know which player/s from each team to side with, but one thing we know is there are a handful of fouls leading to a number of set pieces. Below is a list of possible dead ball takers.

Club	Penalty Takers	Direct Free-kicks	Corners / Non-Directs
Arsenal	Alexis / Lacazette / Giroud / Özil / Welbeck	Alexis / Cazorla / Özil / Walcott	Özil / Cazorla / Xhaka / Alexis / Chamberlain / Walcott
Bournemouth	Wilson / Defoe / King / Stanislas / Afobe / Arter	Arter / Fraser	Stanislas / Daniels / Fraser / Arter / Pugh / Gradel
Brighton	Murray / Hemed	Knockaert / Stephens / Gross (the b) / Skalak / March	Knockaert / Stephens / Gross / Skalak / March / Dunk / Bruno / Kayal / Murphy
Burnley	Vokes / Barnes / Walters	Brady / Arfield / Hendrick	Brady / Arfield / Defour / Gudmondsson
Chelsea	Hazard / Fabregas / Willian / Costa	Alonso / Luiz / Willian / Fabregas	Willian / Fabregas / Pedro / Hazard
Crystal Palace	Milivojevic / Benteke / Cabaye / Wickham	Milivojevic / Puncheon / Cabaye / van Aanholt	Puncheon / Cabaye / van Aanholt
Everton	Baines / Rooney / Barkley / Mirallas	Barkley / Rooney / Mirallas / Baines	Mirallas / Rooney, Baines / Barkley
Huddersfield	Löwe / Mooy	Mooy / Ince /Wells / Löwe	Löwe, Mooy / Ince / Hefele
Leicester City	Mahrez / Slimani / Vardy / Ulloa	Mahrez / Fuchs / Drinkwater / Albrighton / Gray	Albrighton / Fuchs / Mahrez / Drinkwater / James / Gray
Liverpool	Firmino / Milner / Henderson / Sturridge / Coutinho	Henderson / Milner / Coutinho / Sturridge	Milner / Henderson / Coutinho / Firmino
Man City	Aguero / Jesus / Toure / De Bruyne	De Bruyne / Silva / Toure	De Bruyne / Silva / Sterling
Man Utd	Lukaku / Pogba / Mata / Martial	Mata / Lindelöf / Lukaku	Blind / Mata / Herrera / Young
Newcastle	Ritchie / Gayle / Mitrovic	Ritchie / Shelvey / Gayle / Atsu	Ritchie / Shelvey
Southampton	Austin / Gabbiadini / Tadic / Bertrand / Ward-Prowse / Davis	Tadic, Ward- Prowse / Redmond / Van Dijk	Ward-Prowse / Tadic / Davis / Bertrand
Stoke City	Adam / Bojan / Shaqiri	Adam / Shaqiri / Arnautovic	Allen / Shaqiri / Adam / Affelay
Swansea City	Sigurdsson / Abraham	Sigurdsson / Carroll	Sigurdsson / Carroll / Routledge
Tottenham Hotspur	Kane / Janssen / Alli / Lamela	Eriksen / Lamela / Kane	Eriksen / Lamela / Son
Watford	Deeney / Gray	Holebas	Watson / Capoue / Holebas
West Brom	Chadli / Morrison	Brunt / Rondon / Morrison	Phillips / Brunt / McClean / Morrison
West Ham	Noble / Lanzini / Carroll / Arnautovic	Noble / Arnautovic / Lanzini / Snodgrass / Cresswell	Lanzini / Noble / Arnautovic / Snodgrass / Cresswell

Who was your secret weapon last season? Sigurdsson was mine. Got my eye on Xhaka following his 2 assists.