Premier League 2016-17 awards: 5 best forwards
Who have been the five best forwards in the Premier League during 2016-17?
In many ways, forwards are the easiest players on the pitch to assess. You can count up the goals and see who has the most.
There are always other factors to consider, though. At the most basic level, some will have scored some of their goals via penalties. Each striker will have had a different amount of time on the pitch. Depending on which team they play for, each forward will also have been set up with different quality of goal scoring opportunities.
I thought it would be interesting to go beyond all of that, by looking at the quality of opponent scored against. After all, a goal scored against Chelsea should be worth more in an assessment like this than one against Sunderland, right?
Using data from the Transfermarkt website, I was able to determine the league placing of a player’s opponents on the day of the match. This is then flipped to give a points rating, so a goal against the league leaders is worth 20 points, down to one point for scoring against the rock bottom club. Each goal scored on the road was given a bonus half point, as away teams score fewer goals in total.
Add the scores up, and divide them by the amount of time each player has had on the pitch, and you get a “goal points per 90 minutes played” score to rank the players on. I have gone with the top five scorers of non-penalty goals (through April 17), so let’s take a look at the five best forwards in the Premier League.
5. Alexis Sanchez, Arsenal
Goal points per 90 minutes played: 4.71
It’s been a strange campaign for the Chilean striker. Despite alleged bust-ups with Arsene Wenger, and a string of rumors linking him with a move away from the club in the summer, Alexis Sanchez has scored the joint-second most non-penalty goals in the Premier League this season. If his heart isn’t in it any more, as some people suspect, imagine what he might actually be capable of.
He’s scored 13 of his 17 non-penalty goals on the road this season, making him the top recipient of the away bonus points in this countdown. Has playing away from the pressure of the Emirates Stadium, where 60,000 home fans demand routine victories, allowed him to play with greater freedom?
Sanchez has tended to score against the league’s lesser lights, though, picking up five of his goals when playing against teams in the relegation zone. He has also only scored once against one of Arsenal’s immediate rivals, when he got the opener in the Gunners’ 3-0 win over Chelsea back in September.
He deserves credit for being in the top five at all considering he doesn’t always play as an out-and-out forward, and on a simple goals per 90 basis he’d actually be third in this list. A lack of goals in the big clashes has held him back here, though.