FPL tips: Does this season mark the death of the fantasy football striker?

Have FPL forwards ever been as unimportant as they are heading into gameweek 27 of the season?

With the 2021-22 campaign around two thirds over, no forwards currently make up the top 20 for FPL points.

Instead, 10 midfielders, seven defenders and even three goalkeepers edge out the top-scoring forward – Watford’s Emmanuel Dennis (107 points).

Compare this to the 2020-21 season, which saw three forwards break into the top six for FPL points (Harry Kane, Patrick Bamford and Jamie Vardy) by the season’s close.

This season however has been dominated by attacking defenders in teams which also accrue a number of clean sheets, as well as midfielders replacing forwards as the focus of the attack.

The top two teams in the country set the tone – neither Manchester City nor Liverpool rely on a striker currently.

In Manchester, the front three is as likely to feature Raheem Sterling, Bernardo Silva, Riyad Mahrez or Phil Foden as it is forward, Gabriel Jesus – all four have more goals than the Brazilian.

In Liverpool meanwhile, Diogo Jota has broken into one of the best front threes in world football and in doing so benched Roberto Firmino, who is categorised as a forward by the FPL.

With Mohamed Salah and Sadio Mane either side of him, the best forward line in the country is comprised entirely of players the FPL categorises as midfielders.

It has arguably been a more revolutionary time for defenders in the Premier League however – the seven who make up the top 20 points scorers this term average two goals, five FPL assists and 12 clean sheets between them.

With six points for a goal and four points for a clean sheet, their all-round ability in a fast-paced league has made defenders much more than an afterthought.

Price plays a part too – the most expensive defender in the game is Trent Alexander-Arnold, who has the second highest number of points (162) this season after Salah (209).

Alexander-Arnold comes in at £8.5m, while most good defenders will be priced somewhere around the £6m mark – City’s Joao Cancelo is priced at £7.1m.

Meanwhile forwards are hamstrung by what appears more and more to be an archaic pricing system.

The three most expensive forwards are Cristiano Ronaldo (£12.4m), Harry Kane (£12.2m) and Romelu Lukaku (£11.5m) – all three currently place outside the top 30 for FPL points scorers.

Instead, three of the four most popular forwards ahead of GW27 cost less than £8m and play for teams outside the traditional top six: Michail Antonio (£7.7m), Dennis (£6.1m) and Allan Saint-Maximin (£6.9m).

None are setting the league alight, but between them they average roughly seven goals, six FPL assists and 100 points – with three forward spots to be filled, they represent far better value than their premium colleagues.

Those funds can instead be spent on premium defenders and midfielders, whose prices are rising as managers pivot to the same systems that will decide where the Premier League title ends up.