Threat: FPL’s hidden metric shows Wolves have teeth and Hammers pack a punch

Fantasy Premier League’s Threat ratings can tell you a lot about a player’s performance and whether they might prove to be a valuable asset in the future.

Threat, as defined by the Premier League, is “a value that examines a player’s threat on goal” – and we may only be one gameweek into the new season, but there are already some useful insights hidden in this handy metric.

Wolves still in the hunt

Results may not have gone every team’s way in the first days of the new season, but a glance over their Threat metrics shows things can expect to improve if they keep playing the same way.

For example, last season’s champions Manchester City may have lost away at Tottenham, but they allowed Spurs a Threat score of less than 150 and produced a score of over 200 themselves – suggesting they were statistically more potent in attack than their opponents.

This comes as no surprise for Pep Guardiola’s free-flowing side, but perhaps eyebrows will be raised at the performance of Wolves.

Wolves lost 1-0 away at Leicester, but their Threat score of 219 was the fourth-highest amongst all Premier League sides on the opening weekend.

Almost half of that score was provided by pacy winger Adama Traore (£6.0 million) whose score of 87 was the second joint-highest of any player in gameweek one – suggesting the Spaniard is getting in the right positions to bag goals this season.

Amongst Wolves’ other assets is £4.5 million defender Max Kilman, who provided their second-highest Threat score of 53 despite his budget price tag.

Just a misfire from the Gunners?

There was no sugar-coating Arsenal’s defeat to Brentford for Gunners fans, but for fantasy managers, there may be a silver lining to the 2-0 defeat.

The London club still provided a Threat score of 173 in the match, despite star forwards Pierre Emerick Aubameyang (£9.9 million) and Alexandre Lacazette (£8.5 million) both out of the line-up with illness.

The most attractive prospect in fantasy terms amongst the Arsenal side appears to be left-back Kieran Tierney – who had the second-highest Threat score (41) of any Arsenal player, just behind Nicolas Pepe (£7.4 million).

The Scot also had a club-high Creativity score – which measures the likelihood of a player providing an assist – of 87, suggesting he could be a diverse source of FPL points.

It’s Hammer time

With a thumping 4-2 victory away at Newcastle, West Ham provided the highest Threat score of any team in gameweek one – even despite Manchester United’s 5-1 win over Leeds.

The Hammers look to be an exciting prospect this season for fantasy managers, with forward Michail Antonio (£7.6 million) and midfielder Said Benrahma (£6 milllion) already bagging 13 and 12 points respectively.

However, it’s midfielder Tomas Soucek who really catches the eye with this metric – with his whopping 93 the highest of any player in gameweek one.

At just £6 million and with an ownership of 11 per cent, the Czech Republic international looks like he could follow up last year’s heroic 147-point total as a key differential in the opening weeks.

Dennis the menace

Finally to Watford, where Emmanuel Dennis looks like he could be the surprise package of the season.

The £5million forward started for the Hornets and produced the second-highest Threat score (87) of any player in gameweek one – bagging 12 points to boot.

At such a low price tag the Nigerian may be the perfect man to free up funds, but it looks like he’s a menace in the box too, which will be music to FPL manager’s ears.