In the build up to the 2022/2023 season, I thought it would be useful to look at some of the best player picks. These are players that I’d expect to be up there as the highest scoring players come the end of the season. Budget won’t allow us to accommodate all of these within one team but these are my predictions about who I think will come out on top for each position.
Goalkeepers
This is the easiest section for me. Two goalkeepers stand out as being the best picks for next season and I can’t separate which one I’d go for:
Alisson – top scoring goalkeeper last season and I’d expect another good season ahead.
Ederson – a constant in Man City’s defence and I’d expect him to be on par with Alisson next season.
In terms of premium choice keepers, I wouldn’t look beyond these two. However, if you wanted to save some budget, I’d expect Mendy to be slightly cheaper and not far behind in terms of points. However, with a lot of changes to their backline, I’d have a slight doubt about how they might perform defensively. I’d have very little doubts that Alisson and Ederson will be up there with the top scoring goalkeepers though.
Defenders
Picking the highest scoring defenders for next season should also be fairly straightforward to a certain extent. Two instantly jump out, but it’s not surprising given their performances over the past couple of seasons:
Cancelo – appears to be a star man magnet and almost always scores over a 7 rating. He gets assists and the occasional goal and also played a lot of minutes for City last season. I’d expect another big season ahead.
Alexander-Arnold – last season’s highest scoring defender, he picked up 19 assists, 8 star man awards and 25 clean sheets. He’s a certain starter for Liverpool and I can’t see any reason why he wouldn’t be up there again as a huge point scorer next season.
Beyond Cancelo and Alexander-Arnold, I’d expect some of the below players to not be far behind in terms of points come the end of the season:
James – if he can avoid injury I’d expect a big season ahead for James. He played a lot fewer minutes than Cancelo and Alexander-Arnold but still reached over 200 points last time around.
Chilwell – he only picked up 70 points last season but this was mainly due to an unfortunate serious injury. Across only 13 games he still managed 3 goals which is remarkable for a defender.
Robertson – served me well after a slow start last season, almost certain to be within the top 5 point scoring defenders again.
Van Dijk – should pick up another big points total next season. Gets a lot of game time in a team that keep a lot of clean sheets.
Midfielders
A best pick in terms of midfielders is the most difficult area. No one massively stands out as the player who will score the most points next season. However, I’d imagine it will be one of these:
De Bruyne – an injury free campaign should see him top this list but he will come at a high price point.
Sterling – increased game time at Chelsea could result in a big season for Sterling. He did well last time around with minimal game time.
Mahrez – always seems to pick up over 200 points regardless of game time. May even play more often next season with the departure of Sterling and Jesus.
Foden – another one who may benefit from Sterling and Jesus moving on, a lot of game time for Foden would surely result 200+ points.
Saka – I don’t see Saka being one of the very highest scoring midfielders next season, however, in terms of value, he may represent a good number of points given how much he will cost.
Forwards
When it comes to the best picks for forwards next season, the same names jump out based on previous scoring records. However, there is one addition to the Premier League who may run them close to being the highest scoring player in the game. I’d predict one of these three will be the highest scoring striker:
Salah – is likely to be the first name on my team sheet, has scored well over 200 points year after year and I’d expect nothing less next season.
Kane – should get close to 300 points again, with Spurs being in the Champions League this should give him even more potential to pick up a good number of points.
Haaland – untested in the Premier League but coming in with a brilliant record. I wouldn’t expect anything less than him to hit the ground running. Could potentially finish as the highest scoring player over the season.
If they all remain injury free, I’d be fairly confident that these three will be the top scorers. However, we won’t be able to get them all in without weakening the rest of our team. If we were looking for other options, I’d expect the forwards below to get close to the 200 point mark:
Son – consistently reaches 200 points or over. Expect another good season considering Spurs are in the Champions League.
Ronaldo – if he remains in the Premier League he’s a player I could never write off. He probably won’t be the first name on my team sheet but one thing for certain is that he will score goals.
Two final riskier picks would include:
Jesus – very patchy form at Man City but given more consistent game time at Arsenal he could have a good season.
Jota – scored very well last season, if he can get a good amount of game time I can see him doing well again. Big question marks against whether he will get enough game time though.
I’ve got to admit, playing around with a few drafts and I’m struggling to put together a well-rounded decent side which contains all of Trent, Cancelo, Haaland, Kane and Salah. Something has gonna have to give I think but I have no clue who to axe just yet….
I think KDB feels a little overpriced for me this season. If he was on pens then his price is fine, the consensus is however is that Haaland will be on them.
I agree on both points – KDB looks overpriced compared to other midfielders. I’m really struggling to put a well balanced team together as well. Got a feeling it’s going to be a lottery this season again.
Feels like a real challenge this season. I think making use of the ten team allowance is more important this season than any other.
I’m trying not to pick any players below £2.5m so I can at least move onto players of similar quality when I need to. I want to try and avoid getting stuck with a sub £2m player if I can help it. Lanzini is perhaps the only £2m I’d consider if he looks assured of starts.
Once you’ve got two of the big three strikers in with Trent and Cancelo though it’s not easy from there on after.
I’ve found it really difficult. I put in Haaland, Salah and Trent, then Saka, Sterling and Jesus. It was virtually impossible to find a player from a top 6 club who scored a decent number of points last season after that though.