In our Fantasy Premier League newsletter you will find lots of our essential articles in the lead up to the deadline. We also share Exclusive pieces around Raya Ait Nouri replacements and the best Fulham attacker to sign.

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Antonee Robinson

Priced exactly the same as Rayan Ait Nouri, Antonee Robinson (£4.8m) seems to be target number one for most FPL managers. The Fulham full-back has some fantastic fixtures ahead, clashing with the likes of Southampton, Bournemouth, Ipswich, West Ham and Leicester.

The American has clean sheet potential based on the fixtures mentioned above, but he also offers attacking threat. Although ranking outside the top five defenders for total crosses, chances and big chances created, no defender in the league has registered more assists.

Levi Colwill

There are plenty of cheaper options available to switch to from Rayan Ait Nouri, and Levi Colwill (£4.6m) is a standout. Although short of clean sheets, like many sides this season, Chelsea have the fixtures to bring defensive form.

The Blues come up against Everton, Fulham, Ipswich, Crystal Palace, Bournemouth and Wolves in their next games, offering plenty of opportunities for Colwill. Although short of attacking threat, the Englishman is Chelsea’ most reliable defender in terms of minutes.

Lewis Hall

For the same price as Levi Colwill, you could also look to Lewis Hall (£4.6m). Newcastle have been as ropey as Chelsea defensively. But, as mentioned, fixtures can bring form, so with Ipswich next, Aston Villa, Manchester United and Tottenham after, but then Wolves, Bournemouth, Southampton and Fulham following, Hall could have long-term potential.

Unlike Colwill, Hall offers multiple routes to points, and his latest match is a good example of that. In fact, during his Gameweek 16 clash with Leicester, Hall registered two assists. Added to his clean sheet that day, Lewis ended the game with a huge 15 points.

Nikola Milenković

Nottingham Forest have taken the league by storm, in a sense that nobody within the football community expected them to be fourth in the Premier League. But, they are where they are, and one of the reasons for that is their defensive data. In fact, as well as ranking amongst the top five teams for total clean sheets and total goals conceded, they also rank joint best for total big chances conceded.

Meetings with Brentford, Tottenham, Everton and Wolves in their next four matches could mean clean sheet potential for someone like Nikola Milenković (£4.6m). As well as picking up five clean sheets already the Serbian centre-back has produced two goals and an assist this season. Milenković is a constant threat from set pieces and the fact that only one other defender in the game has produced a better expected goals than him thus far reflects that.

Upgrades

For those with money in the bank to make a big upgrade from Rayan Ait Nouri, then there are several excellent options for the run ahead.

The biggest upgrade managers could possibly make is the switch over to Trent Alexander-Arnold (£7m). No side in the league have kept more clean sheets than Liverpool, so along with great fixtures ahead, and taking into account that the full-back edges every other in his position for non-penalty expected goal involvement thus far, it could be a move many are looking to make.

Considerably cheaper and offering as much if not more clean sheet potential are the Arsenal centre-backs. Both Gabriel (£6.1m) and William Saliba (£6.2m) have both proven to be major goal threats from set plays, with the former displaying it more recently.

Iwobi, ESR, Jimenez: Who is the best Fulham attacker in FPL?

Fulham have put together an impressive season so far, sitting eighth in the Premier League table and currently fighting for European football after the opening 16 Gameweeks.

Having emerged from two tricky-looking tests against Arsenal and Liverpool with back-to-back draws, the Cottagers now face managerless Southampton at home as well as seven other teams currently in the bottom half of the table between now and Gameweek 27.

That means interest in their key Fantasy Premier League (FPL) assets will no doubt spike in the coming weeks.

Antonee Robinson (£4.8m) is a stand-out pick as the leading FPL defender for assists at the time of writing, but further forward there are multiple options including the likes of Raul Jimenez (£5.5m), Alex Iwobi (£5.7m) and Emile Smith Rowe (£5.5m).

But, with plenty of players performing across the league and lots to consider over the busy festive period, which of the above are most worthy of investment?

We’ve put together this comparison for the aforementioned attacking trio from Fulham in an attempt to answer that very question.

We’re using not just Opta data from our Members Area but also some Statsbomb graphics, too. This is part of our ongoing partnership with both industry-leading data providers.

GOAL THREAT

Across the entire season so far, it’s Jimenez who stands out as the chief Fulham goal threat. 

The Mexican striker has fired in 34 attempts, with nine big chances, and scored five goals including one penalty.

Meanwhile, the below StatsBomb map shows where his shots have come from.

To compare, here are the full-season shot maps for Iwobi and Smith Rowe. Those two are of course FPL midfielders while Jimenez is a forward, yet you’ll notice both former Arsenal players have still managed the majority of their attempts from advanced areas in the penalty box.

However, if we look at the last six Gameweeks, it’s clear that the most in-form player, and biggest goal threat of the three, is Iwobi.

In the last six Gameweeks, the Nigeria international is Fulham’s leading player for shots (12), shots in the box (nine), and shots on target (seven), and is joint with Jimenez for big chances (two). 

He trumps the other two for penalty box touches (26) as well, though Jimenez is slightly ahead in terms of his minutes per shot.

Over that spell, Iwobi’s three goals – compared to one each for his teammates – have also taken him level with Jimenez as the team’s top scorer, with five over the season.

CREATIVITY

Iwobi also leads the way for chances created (nine) and big chances created (two) in the last six Gameweeks. He has two assists in that time, which is the same as Smith Rowe and Jimenez have managed all season, and three in total.

Here are some more StatsBomb graphics showing the trio’s respective data for key passes – a stat which Iwobi leads – over the first 16 Gameweeks, as well as the resulting shots and their outcomes.

While Smith Rowe may have been the superior pick over the opening weeks of the season, this data shows Iwobi has overtaken his teammate in terms of creativity as well.

FINAL THOUGHTS

As for expected goal involvement (xGI), Iwobi (2.09) is top again in the last six Gameweeks.

In comparison, Jimenez has racked up 1.71 xGI while Smith Rowe has just 0.37, having failed to register a single shot since Gameweek 11.

Based on recent attacking and creative threat, then, Iwobi would appear to be the best FPL pick of Fulham’s three most popular attackers. 

He has followed through on his underlying numbers too, racking up 36 FPL points in the last six Gameweeks compared to 20 for Jimenez and 18 for Smith Rowe. 

And a final bonus in his favour is that Iwobi carries very little of the game-time risk that Jimenez and Smith Rowe do.

For example, Rodrigo Muniz (£5.5m) – who scored off the bench against Liverpool in Gameweek 16 – will likely be an ever-present threat to the expected minutes of Jimenez, particularly with the imminent festive fixture congestion.

And even Smith-Rowe’s starting spot is far from certain, as evidenced by his benching at Anfield last weekend.

That marked the second time the ex-Gunner has been benched for an away tie against difficult opponents, with him having also been a casualty when his manager opted for a more defensive line-up against Manchester City in Gameweek 7. 

If that pattern is followed moving forward, it could mean Smith Rowe makes way again for the Gameweek 18 trip to Chelsea, the league’s top scorers, while the Englishman has also been hauled off twice before the hour-mark in his last five matches and could be again over a busy next few weeks – after all, he’s not used to this much game time and doesn’t have the best injury record.

If you’re looking for a reliable sub-£6.0m midfielder and fancy Fulham to do well in their upcoming run, Iwobi presents as solid a selection as any.

Hall of Famer and FPL expert @dmpwright reveals his team for Gameweek 17:

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We dive into player ownership ahead of the new round, find out who the top 10 most popular picks are for Gameweek 17:

Are you planning on using the Wildcard chip this week? Take a look at this draft here:

The new round of FPL Challenge is here, so we take a look at some tips and a team reveal from @FPLReaction:

Be sure to check out all of our latest articles over at Fantasy Football Community.