Vote: 2017-18 Premier League Fantasy MVP

Phew! We made it through yet another EPL/FPL season. Congratulations are most definitely in order!

There will be a lot of coverage on these NMA pages about the season, the upcoming World Cup and all the transfer rumors. Therefore I will keep a laser sharp focus on the purpose of this column, which is for the NMA community to vote on the 2017-18 Premier League Fantasy MVP.

I’ll begin by listing Honorable Mentions before naming my trio of finalist candidates.

To borrow a phrase from The Greatest of All Time Tom Brady, let’s goooooooo!

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HONORABLE MENTIONS

We were blessed with a range of great performances this season. For the record, I would like to recognize the following performers and thank them for providing so much excitement (and so many fantasy points) over the past 9 months.

We begin the Honorable Mentions circuit by thanking Burnley’s Icelandic Gudmunsson, Nick Pope and James Tarkowski. What a trio of points-earning studs! Each was among the best bargains regardless of platform.

Our journey continues with a stop at Crystal Palace where we show our appreciation to Wilfried Zaha and James Tomkins. Well done gentlemen, and pick you next year!

Our next stop is Chelsea, a disappointing squad in real life that nevertheless had some wonderful fantasy performers. Thank you Eden Hazard, Victor Moses, Marcos Alonso and Cesar Azpilicueta.

Next we visit and pay our respects to the likes of Pascal Groß, Xherdan Shaqiri and Riyad Mahrez.

Finally, our last stop is with Big Four teams, and we gladly recognize Harry Kane, Christian Eriksen, Jan Vertonghen, Roberto Firmino, Kyle Walker, Leroy Sane, Sergio Aguero and Raheem Sterling.

Thank you, thank you, thank you. It was a blast to rely on each and every one of these boys throughout the grueling fantasy campaign.

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MVP FINALISTS

David De Gea

Simply said, Manchester United’s keeper was a difference maker. More aptly stated, the Spainish international was a behemoth, a colossus and a monster. He is, without a shadow of a doubt, the best goalkeeper in the EPL and a top three keeper in the world (he might even be the best).

Let’s apply a bit of math to determine a formula that reveals just how great this man was: FPL points + Togga points + Fantrax points = X (we’ll call X the “Fantasy MVP Score”)

For De Gea, his score is determined as follows based on the above formula: (172 - led all Man Utd players!) + (331) + (346) = 849

Yes, you will see higher scores from players in our Honorable Mentions list, but given the rarity among keepers, De Gea’s performance was a huge difference maker. He led all keepers in FPL scoring with 172 (ahead of Ederson’s 158 and Pope’s 152), and in Togga with 331 which was comfortably ahead of second-place Pope’s 287. Dominant!

Kevin De Bruyne

Manchester City had a historically great season, and the Belgian maestro was at the heart of it all. He is now an undisputed top 3-5 player in the world, and will rise to top 3 once the likes of Cristiano Ronaldo begin to show their age.

It wasn’t easy picking KDB over Raheem Sterling, but I think this was the right call.

KDB’s Fantasy MVP Score is (209) + (622) + 430 = 1,261

Sterlings’ is (229) + 492.5) + (349) = 1,070.5

Mohamed Salah

Oh. My. Gosh.

What. A. Player.

What. A. Season.

I. Have. No. Words.

Mo Salah’s Fantasy MVP Score is (no, you’re not reading this wrong) (nope, not a typo)... (yep, I’m sure I typed this right)... (Yes, I double and triple checked my math)... (Yup, this is a score that only Messi or maybe Ronaldo could ever approach): (303 — 1st in FPL) + (672 — 1st in Togga) + (548 — 1st in Fantrax) = MVP, MVP, MVP! (sorry) = 1,523. Ridiculous.

In conclusion, my vote for 2017-18 Premier League Fantasy MVP goes to Mo “Messi” “Pele” “ZZ” “Maradona” “Ronaldo” Salah. Easy.

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In case you’re wondering, here are the Fantasy MVP Scores for some Honorable Mention studs: Kane (1262.5); Aguero (949); Mahrez (1069); Hazard (1020); Azplicueta (856).

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So now you know where I stand, but the most important voice is yours!

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After you’ve voted, make sure to tell us why in the comments section below! Does your list of Honorable Mentions and/or Final Three look different than mine? Do you hate my DDG pick and would have preferred Sterling or Kane? Let’s have a discussion!