FPL Hacks #3 | Set piece takers

19th July 2022
Preparations for the 2022/23 Fantasy Premier League season are intensifying and set piece takers are attracting more attention than ever before.

Wolves’ FPL expert Holly Shand this week takes a look at those individuals known for bringing in points for their end product over a dead ball.

Speaking exclusively to wolves.co.uk, Shand highlights five regular set pieces takers game players should be considering with less than three weeks to go until the big kick-off.

DF | Kieran Trippier (£5.0m) | Newcastle United

It’s not often that we get defenders who dominate set-pieces, but Kieran Trippier is a very good example of this, in what is set to be an important first full season for the Magpies under their new owners. Trippier is on free-kicks and corners: he scored two goals in just 429 minutes of Premier League action last season, which demonstrates his ability to be within the attacking returns for this Newcastle United side.

We saw the Newcastle defence improve over the second half of last season as they strengthened with the likes of Matt Targett (£5.0m) and Dan Burn (£4.5m). There’s even more new faces on Tyneside for the start of the new campaign, with Nick Pope (£5.0m) and Sven Botman (£4.5m) coming into the back-line: expect to see a further improvement on the eight clean sheets they kept last time around.

Newcastle United have a nice run of opening fixtures, facing two promoted teams in their first eight games - consider Trippier as part of a defensive rotation with West Ham, to avoid fixtures against Manchester City and Liverpool in Gameweek 3 and Gameweek 5. His last five goals in the Premier League have all been direct free-kicks.

MF | Kevin De Bruyne (£12.0m) | Manchester City

While most of the early pre-season traction has been for Manchester City’s Erling Haaland (£11.5m), I actually rate teammate Kevin De Bruyne as the better fantasy option to start the season with, since he is proven in the Premier League. We’ve also seen a big increase in his goal scoring output: he was Manchester City’s top goalscorer in the Premier League last season with 15 goals and is a mainstay in Pep Guardiola’s starting line-up.

His dead-ball delivery is second to none and in the last three seasons where he’s played over 2,500 minutes, he’s accumulated 23, 18 and 21 assists respectively. Having Erling Haaland as a target man in the box is only going to increase his assist potential from both set-piece and open-play situations.

Picking up a Man City attacker for the start of the season has to be a priority: they have one of the best runs of opening six fixtures, including home games against two promoted teams: Bournemouth and Nottingham Forest. De Bruyne could be a genuine captain contender in those fixtures.

MF | Bruno Fernandes (£10.0m) | Manchester United

Manchester United assets have seen significant price drops for this campaign, including their playmaker Bruno Fernandes. However, they are destined for improvements under new manager Erik ten Hag which could benefit their entire attack, especially if the rumours that Cristiano Ronaldo is looking for a move away from Old Trafford are true.

The absence of Ronaldo would open up the entire run of set-pieces for Bruno Fernandes: penalties, free-kicks and corners. He has the pedigree too: scoring 13 of his 16 Premier League penalties. In two and a half seasons at Manchester United he has accumulated 36 goals and 29 assists: those numbers can be improved upon if ten Hag can get the squad playing at their absolute best.

If we see Fernandes taking up a key-role in pre-season and an absence of Ronaldo, then he could be an outside differential for our Gameweek 1 teams. At the moment he’s a differential too, in just 3.5% of fantasy squads. Manchester United face Brighton, Brentford and Southampton as part of their opening four fixtures.

MF | James Maddison (£8.0m) | Leicester City

James Maddison is going under the radar this pre-season, but as Leicester’s primary set-piece taker, he should be a serious consideration for our Gameweek 1 squads. Leicester finished the 2021/22 season strong, with 13 goals in their final four fixtures. Maddison had a hand in over half of them, notching four goals and three assists.

With no European midweeks to contend with this campaign, the Foxes should improve their Premier League performances from last season. Despite the struggles of juggling Europa league involvement in 2021/22, Maddison managed to have his best ever fantasy season, accumulating double digits for both goals and assists.

In fact, only four players were involved in more Premier League goals than Maddison last campaign and they all came in more expensive than him this season. He was among the best value midfielders in the game last season and even though he has increased in price for the coming season, he could still present fantastic value if he emulates his 21/22 figures.

MF | James Ward-Prowse (£6.5m) | Southampton

James Ward-Prowse is currently the best free-kick taker in the Premier League, if not Europe, and although he’s not the most attractive fantasy asset in a Southampton side that often lacks goals, he’s certainly shown consistency over recent seasons. He’s a good set-and-forget option for our fantasy midfields.

His free-kicks are famous, but Ward-Prowse is also on penalties and takes corners too. He has scored 11 of 14 spot-kicks in the Premier League, including all of his last five. He is the talisman of this Southampton side and generally ends each season as their best fantasy asset in terms of points scored.

In each of his last three seasons he’s been a mainstay of the Southampton starting lineup and has been their captain for the last two seasons. He’s finished each of his last two seasons with 15 attacking returns and is the best value midfielder in the game this season based on his current price and his points scored last season.

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