Identifying the best value budget forwards in Fantasy Premier League is no easy feat. I don’t think anybody would have predicted Teemu Pukki to get off to the start he did last season for Norwich. That’s the problem with budget options in fantasy football, they are hard to predict, and once thing to bear in mind is that they won’t be scoring goals week in week out. What you have to look at is what value they provide for their price. Another thing to note too is jumping from one budget striker to the next based on how many points they scored last week is never optimal. That’s why it’s important to research thoroughly before the season begins and look at which strikers are good value at their price and how they fit into your team structure. In this article we will look at the best budget Fantasy Premier League forwards from the £4.5m to £6.5m range.

The best £4.5m forwards in FPL

Only a fantasy football manager would ever delve into the stats of a team’s third-choice striker to find the best budget forward options for their fantasy team. Strap yourselves in for some excitement.

With the £4.5m bench fodder options we can see there aren’t really many options at all. There are currently only four strikers in that range in the Fantasy Premier League game – Connor Wickham, Rhian Brewster, Indiana Vassilev, and Keinan Davis. Realistically the only viable option from this bunch is Liverpool’s Brewster. He won’t see many minutes at all this season with the Reds but if he gets loaned out to another Premier League team then he more than likely will become an option. There are murmurs of Sheffield United and Newcastle United being interested in him so one to keep an eye on for now. At only 20 years of age, he clearly has potential as he showed in the Championship last season bagging 11 goals in only 21 starts.

The next ‘best’ option is Keinan Davis who saw a bit of playing time at the end of last season starting four games in Villa’s last 11 games. He also came on as a substitute in the games in which he was benched.

Best Budget FPL Forwards Gameweek 1

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With Wesley (£6.0m) and Mbwana Samatta (£6.0m) at the club, he is likely to be another bit-part player at best. Vassilev did not manage to get a single minute last term and neither did Conor Wickham who was out on loan at Sheffield Wednesday.

So there you have it – the best (and only) budget forwards in FPL priced at £4.5m!

Patrick Bamford (£5.5m) – Leeds United

Patrick Bamford helped Leeds United win the Championship and gain promotion last season with 16 goals and four assists. He was a prominent figure in their campaign starting 43 of the 45 games. He seems to have found his feet at Leeds after two short stints in the premier league from 2015 to 2017, both of which were short-lived where he only managed one goal. He has only played a total of 688 minutes in the Premier League. He comes in at a price of £5.5m which is probably fair. He is one of the cheapest starting forwards in the Fantasy Premier League currently and seems to be a volume striker. Averaging 2.8 shots per game last season, 128 Shots in the Box, and 56 Shots on Target he is presently the best attacking Leeds asset. He did have a really low conversion rate last year though of only 13% and he missed a mammoth 33 big chances! It will be interesting to see how he fares in the Premier League with his third attempt but it doesn’t look like Marcelo Bielsa has full faith in him after he signed Valencia’s Rodrigo (£6.0m). He still however remains the best option in the £5.5m price range in my opinion.

Che Adams (£6.0m) – Southampton

Che Adams had a really slow start to life at Southampton. He found himself out of favour after starting the first six games and only managing one assist. After a series of benching, subs appearances, and occasional starts he finally scored his first goal in Gameweek 33 against Manchester City, of all teams. For some reason, he seems to have been rejuvenated after the Covid break and from Gameweek 30 to 38 he managed to score 39 points, scoring 4 goals and one assist. From Gameweek one to 30 he had only managed 40 points, scoring three assists. Furthermore, he also managed to get more Shots in the Box (17 vs 12), Shots on Target (8 vs 2) and xG (2.77 vs 2.40) from Gameweek 30-38 than Gameweek 1-30!

Che Adams: Gameweek 30-38 vs Gameweek 1-30 via Comparison Tool:

Best budget forwards FPL 2020/2021 season Gameweek 1

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If he Che starts off how he finished last season he could be this year’s Danny Ings. At £6.0m picking him over Ings could be a shrewd move if you invest the £2.5m wisely. He looks to be one of the best options in the £6.0m bracket along with Alexsandar Mitrovic (£6.0m). Southampton start the season with some really nice fixtures too. In the first four games, they play Crystal Palace (a) Spurs (H), Burnley (a) and West Brom (H).

Southampton Fixtures

Best budget forwards FPL 2020/2021 season Gameweek 1

Alxsandar Mitrovic (£6.0m) – Fulham

The eccentric Serbian is well known among fantasy football managers. He actually has a decent record in the Premier League. He scored 9 goals and four assists in the 2015-16 season with Newcastle United and then in 2018-19 with Fulham he notched 11 goals and four assists. He is a proven scorer in the Premier League and in fantasy football but I guess his temperament was the only thing stopping Premier League clubs investing in him when he was relegated with Fulham in 2018-19. He was the top scorer in the Championship last season too with 26 goals and two assists scoring over 40% of Fulham’s goals. He is their talisman and is also on penalties. Astonishingly he played the full 90 minutes in every single one of his 40 starts last term. The six games he missed, four were for suspension and two missed due to an ankle injury. I think it’s fair to say he is pretty nailed. The one thing which may put potential buyers off is his habit of picking up yellow cards. He received eight last season in the Championship and seven the year before that in the Premier League. At £6.0m he is currently in my team and looks a lock. His fixtures aren’t too bad for the first 10 games and should be good for some attacking returns.

Fulham Fixtures

Best striekrs FPL 2020/2021 season Gameweek 1

Rodrigo (£6.0m) – Leeds United

Marcelo Bielsa’s new record signing Rodrigo seems to have the Leeds United fans excited. The 29-year-old Brazilian born striker has a decent scoring and assists record for Valencia. He has scored a total of 59 goals and 41 assists for Valencia in 220 games. His best season in the league came in the 2017-18 season where he scored 16 goals and seven assists. Since then he has failed to score double figures in goals but notched 8 goals and four assists in 2018-19 and four goals and 9 assists last season (although he spent 10 games out through injury and one through suspension). That is still some impressive attacking figures though and he seems to be as much a provider as he is a scorer. At £6.0m I think he is great value and if he nails down a starting spot then could potentially be the best value budget forward in FPL. It’s hard to say however whether he comes straight in or whether Bielsa will bed him in. For that reason, I think he is one to watch for now and keep a keen eye on. I think it will be a good idea to keep an eye on Leeds United's friendlies and their press conferences for any hints or clues.

Chris Wood (£6.5m) – Burnley

The Kiwi striker has been one of the most consistent budget forwards over the years. He scored 10 goals and one assist in his first season, 10 goals and three assists in his second and last term had his best with 14 goals and one assist (146 points). He seems to be getting better every year and what’s more impressive is getting these types of numbers playing for Burnley, who only scored 43 goals last season which means he scored 32% of their goals. Out of the £6.5m forwards he scored the most points last season and I don’t see any reason why he won’t have another good campaign. He does however blank in gameweek one which makes picking him from the off tricky. I would wait until gameweek three to consider him when they play Southampton at home. He has really good fixtures up until gameweek nine. With him being on penalties too he is definitely one of the best budget forward options but not one to go with him from gameweek one.

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Burnley Fixtures

FPL 2020/2021 season Gameweek 1 - Forwards bargains

Neal Maupay (£6.5m) – Brighton

Neal Maupay had a good debut season for Brighton. He scored 10 goals and scored three assists, scoring 131 points. Brighton are another team that don’t score many goals so his tally of 10 goals was even more impressive than it seems. They ranked 15^th for goals scored with only 39. The Frenchman’s stats were actually more impressive than his output as looking at them he should have scored more goals. If we compare his attacking numbers with Chris Wood who was the highest-scoring £6.5m a lot of his metrics are far superior. He had 92 shots to Wood’s 61, 36 Shots on Target to 29, and 69 Shots in the Box to 55, and his xA assist was 4.77 compared to the Kiwi’s 3.37.

Best budget forwards FPL 2020/2021 season Gameweek 1

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In fact, the only metric where the Burnley striker seems to come out much better is Big Chances. Wood had a total of 30 big chances to Maupay’s 15. This shows us the Brighton forward is far more clinical than the Burnley forward and if Brighton can strengthen their attack this season and provide better quality service then he could have a great season. We can see his stats for last season are impressive and his overall career record of 74 goals and 23 assists in 239 games shows that he is no flash in the pan. Unfortunately, his fixtures aren’t the best to start off with Chelsea (H), Newcastle (a), and Manchester United (H) in the first three games, so he is another one us fantasy football managers will have to monitor.

Brighton Fixtures

Gameweek 1 Best budget Fantasy Premier League Forwards

Michail Antonio (£6.5m) – West Ham United

The West Ham forward had a phenomenal end to the season. He was another player who has been reclassified by FPL from a midfielder to a forward. Post restart he seemed like a man possessed scoring an impressive eight goals and one assist. Only Raheem Sterling bettered his tally with nine goals and four assists. His stats during this period were also off the scale. He had 16 Shots on Target (1^st), 28 Shots in the Box (2^nd), 12 Big Chances (1^st), and 6.84 xG (1^st).

Attacking stats from GW30-38 for 2019-20

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He seems well worth his price but it’s worth bearing in mind that this was his best season to date in the Premier League. He finished on 10 goals and four assists and broke into double figures for goals for the first time. We could take this in two ways – either he has just hit a purple patch or that he has turned a corner and is now at his peak. I guess we will find out. Personally I will not be starting with him simply due to his tough opening fixtures. They do start with a good fixture, home to Newcastle United but after that, they play Arsenal (a), Wolves, (H), Leicester City (a), Spurs (a), Manchester City (H), and then Liverpool (a). You could not have picked a harder set of fixtures and I am sure David Moyes will be cursing the fixture picking machine!

West Ham Fixtures

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In conclusion, I rank these budget FPL Midfielders in order from best to worst.

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The Best Fantasy Premier League Budget Forwards 2020/21 | Gameweek 1

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