Fantasy Premier League: Five Goalkeepers to Consider for Your Gameweek 1 Team 22/23
3) Edouard Mendy (5.0m, Chelsea)
Opening 6 fixtures: eve, TOT, lee, LEI, sou, WHU
A starting goalkeeper at Chelsea, the third-best defense last season in terms of xGA, being priced at 5.0m seems like something that should be generating a lot more interest. While there’s a fair amount of reason that Mendy is an excellent pick at that price, in a vacuum, there are some other factors at play that have him lower down on my list as a pick.
- 2.06 saves/90
- 73.7 save percentage
- 41.2 clean sheet percentage, placing him fourth best of all goalkeepers in the league
- 3.8 points per game in FPL last season.
The factors against picking Mendy are that he does relatively poorly for bonus points compared to the rest of the Chelsea team, meaning he loses out on bonus points when the defense keeps a clean sheet.
Attacking fullbacks like Reece James and Ben Chilwell at 6.0m each, are high-upside picks covering the clean sheets with the added benefit of attacking involvement and bonus potential. I’m not against picking Mendy, at that price, to double up on the Chelsea defense if needed but if picking just 1, I’d prefer to go with a fullback.