This article is part of our Fantasy Premier League Rankings series.
Burnley's Tom Heaton was the highest-scoring goalkeeper in the Premier League's official game last season, finishing with 149 points in part from 10 clean sheets and a league-leading 141 saves. The total was quite similar to his 2014/15 season when he finished with 150 points after 10 clean sheets and 127 saves (goals allowed helped make up the point differential). However, it was hardly a dominant year for the top goalkeeper, as Tottenham's Hugo Lloris had only six fewer fantasy points despite playing nearly two fewer games. Lloris made only 78 saves, but 15 clean sheets (one short of league-leader Thibaut Courtois) and only 24 goals allowed moved him up the charts.
Six goalkeepers finished with at least 134 fantasy points last season: Heaton, Lloris, Courtois (141), David de Gea (136), Petr Cech (134) and Fraser Forster (134). Meanwhile, Artur Boruc (120), Lukasz Fabianski (116), Heurelho Gomes (113), Ben Foster (113) and Simon Mignolet all had at least 110, which means only Mignolet of that group averaged fewer than one fantasy point per gameweek over the course of the season. I don't want to say that all goalkeepers are equal, but they certainly deserve less attention than any other position.
Clean sheets are hard to predict, and they can be ruined easily by a bonehead own goal or a poor penalty decision, but that doesn't mean we don't have a good idea of which teams should get a higher number of shutouts. The key is finding keepers capable of making a decent number of saves in those clean sheets. Rarely is there a goalkeeper who moves the fantasy needle on their own, as it's always better to focus on the team. Is Lloris a better goalkeeper than Michel Vorm? Of course. Is it drastic enough that you wouldn't replace Lloris with Vorm on your fantasy team if there was a long-term injury? No.
With that said, below is how I think the goalkeepers will finish by the end of the season. I am particularly high on Lukasz Fabianski, as Swansea were significantly better defensively after Paul Clement arrived, while Fabiasnki was still making a higher number of saves (he finished third in the category). Additionally, because I think goalkeepers are essentially the same, you could probably look at these as team goalkeeper rankings for the season. For example, if Simon Mignolet suffered a season-ending injury tomorrow (I truly hope he does not), I would easily slot Loris Karius or Danny Ward into his spot.
Anyone who tells you they know who the top goalkeeper will be is lying; but that won't stop us from guessing.
