Aston Villa are once again teaming up with the No.1 independent fantasy football site in 2021/22.
Fantasy Football Scout will be providing regular reports packed with hints and tips to help you, hopefully, move into the top tier of fantasy football management.
If you need some advice ahead of GW1, sit back and take their advice on board…
It has been a summer of change at Villa Park, which has not only strengthened the Aston Villa squad but also bolstered our Fantasy Premier League (FPL) teams.
Emi Martínez (£5.5m) continues to be a popular pick having finished the 2020/21 season as the top-scoring goalkeeper in the game, with 186 FPL points. The Argentine returned 15 clean sheets, only four fewer than Golden Glove-winner Ederson (£6.0m), and 143 saves. As a result, Martínez has been handed an unsurprising price rise and will now cost FPL managers £5.5m.
Amongst all Goalkeepers in the £5.5m and under category, Martínez managed the most clean sheets, the third most saves (although the two above him were from now relegated West Bromwich Albion and Fulham), the second-best Baseline Bonus Points (BBPS) total and the most minutes last term.
All of the above suggests that Martínez is worth every penny in FPL in 2021/22.
New signing Danny Ings’ (£8.0m) popularity in FPL has skyrocketed since his transfer to Villa this summer. In fact, amongst all Villa players, only Martínez has a higher FPL ownership at the time of writing. Ings managed 12 Premier League goals and four assists at Southampton last season, while only five other clubs could better Villa’s seven-minutes per chance.
With the addition of creative midfielders Emi Buendía (£6.5m) and Leon Bailey (£6.5m), Villa’s minutes per chance ratio could improve further, especially with Ings and 2020/21 FPL favourite Ollie Watkins (£7.5m) spearheading the attack.
Buendía managed 15 goals and 16 assists in last season’s Championship, an impressive return which saw him crowned EFL Championship Player of the Year. He also made 36 key passes and created 122 chances, both leading-leading totals.
It’s also worth noting that the last time Buendía played in the Premier League, he was the third most creative player with 83 chances created. With two renowned goal scorers ahead of him in Ings and Watkins, Buendía looks like a must-have for FPL managers during the 2021/22 season.
