Our Fantasy EPL 22/23 Draft Kit promises to be the most comprehensive set of pre-season Draft Premier League articles ever produced! A key component of our Draft Kit will be the Team Preview articles which analyze key assets to sit alongside our all-important Draft Rankings. This article delves into the Best Fantrax Fantasy EPL Players from Nottingham Forest, as we take a deep dive into the prospects of their three best assets! Click here for details on how you can access our 22/23 Draft Kit.
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Nottingham Forest Best Fantasy Players
As noted above, these are the Best Notts Forest Players for the Fantrax Fantasy EPL platform. We analyze Forest's top three prospects ahead of the new season, with a recommended draft pick for each player.
Jesse Lingard
Position: Midfielder
21/22 Points: 50.5
21/22 Points Per Start: 6.7 (3 starts)
22/23 Projected Points Per Start: 8.9 (32 starts)
Recommended Draft Pick: 70-80 (12 Team League: Round 7)
Overview: On Thursday, Forest made possibly their biggest statement ever in signing Jesse Lingard from free agency. He's being paid ~120k per week—which could go up to 200k/week after bonuses—which destroys the promoted side's wage structure. But it's a calculated gamble by Forest who get a proven Premier League asset in their biggest position of need, and without having to pay a transfer fee. With all their signings this summer, they have built half of their starting XI all over again, and the last remaining spot to upgrade as of Wednesday was a 10 to play behind strikers Awoniyi and Johnson in their standard 3-5-2. Lingard barely played last season for Man United, but the year prior he performed admirably (as a winger and a 10) for West Ham, scoring 9 goals and assisting 4 in 16 appearances (all starts). Forest will hope that he can keep those goal contribution numbers up as they look to avoid relegation.
Stylistically, Lingard is a shot-heavy attacking mid who does well creating his and other's quality shots and who also works hard on the defensive side (98th percentile in shots on target, 99th in pressures, and 96th in tackles in the last year). For West Ham, Lingard put up 13.1 fantasy points per 90 and 6.5 ghost points per 90. West Ham were—and likely are—a much better side than Forest, so Lingard is likely to see less of the ball and his team will score significantly fewer goals, but at the same time the offense will have to run through him. Whether or not he takes some sets (instead of Brennan Johnson) will also change his value heavily, given that his previous ghost point floor was pretty poor. Just how productive he is, in general, will of course come down to how competitive Forest are in the Prem and thus how much Lingard's high reliance on goals, assists and clean sheets (GACS) can maintain his points per start. As of 7/21, Forest are still 2nd most likely (after Bournemouth) to be relegated according to the oddsmakers. They may start off slow as the newly built team gels, but they do have a fair bit of firepower compared to the other promoted sides. Still, Lingard will likely be their best attacker and a useful fantasy asset. In general, he may go too early in drafts as managers remember his West Ham exploits fondly and do not adjust their expectations to playing for a promoted side. But if your fellow managers do happen to forget about him, I’d feel good about drafting him around the 7th round or later and hope you land a good fantasy player on a not-so-good team.
Neco Williams
Position: Defender
21/22 Points: 166* (in the Championship)
21/22 Points Per 90*: 12.5* (14 starts)
22/23 Projected Points Per Start: 8.2 (34 starts)
Recommended Draft Pick: 110-120 (12 Team League: Round 9-10)
Overview: Neco finally gets his shot at a starting gig in the Premier league after serving as the youth understudy to Trent at Liverpool, and performing admirably in the Championship for fellow promoted side Fulham last season. Williams fills the Djed Spence-sized hole (now that he's departed for Spurs) in Forest’s lineup at RWB and will likely start the vast majority of games there. Last season in the Championship, Neco scored 12.5 fpts per 90 and 9.8 ghost points per 90, aided by 2 goals, 2 assists, and 4 clean sheets in 14 appearances (all starts).
Williams is a very attacking wing back who's a great progressive carrier and passer (95th percentile in progressive passes, 87th in key passes, 97th in progressive runs compared to other Championship fullbacks) but also works hard defensively (83rd percentile in duels, 96th in interceptions). Forest will likely concede about 1.5 goals per game this coming season, but Neco's stat sheet-filling, ghost point-accruing ways should enable him to be a useful fantasy defender. If he performs as well as the projections suggest, he could offer mid-round value for a late round price. He's very likely the best promoted defender this season.
Brennan Johnson
Position: Forward
21/22 Points: 490* (in the Championship)
21/22 Points Per 90*: 11.3 (44 starts)
22/23 Projected Points Per Start: 7.7 (34 starts)
Recommended Draft Pick: 110-120 (12 Team League: Round 9-10)
Overview: The 21-year-old had a breakout season last year and was one of the biggest catalysts for his club's promotion. In fact, if they hadn't gone up, he very likely would have been bought by a Prem club heading into this season. But Forest rewarded their star man for his role in securing their top flight status with a new, multi-year contract. Last season, he scored 16 goals and had 9 assists across 50 appearances (44 starts). He put up 6.6 ghost points per 90 to go with his 11.3 points per 90. His goal scoring rate will surely go down in a tougher league, but there may be a saving grace for Brennan and his fantasy viability: set pieces.
Johnson was buried at 5th or so on the set piece depth chart last season but, fortunately for him, the guys in front of him have moved on (Garner, Zinckernagel) or are likely not in the starting XI (Lolley, Colback), leaving him potentially first in the pecking order. This has already played out in preseason games, where BJ took all corners and free kicks in the last friendly. As previously mentioned Lingard does pose a threat, but they're both righties and Johnson likely has the edge for now. He should also be their primary penalty taker. Given he's a forward and the perceived talisman of Forest, Johnson will likely be slightly over-drafted relative to his expected value, but considering he's a forward who may have a monopoly of set pieces, he's a low risk, decent upside move to make in the later rounds.
Honorable Mention(s):
This Forest side has tons of new signings after losing many of their valuable starters after their loans expired at the end of the 21/22 season. Because they're a promoted side, and almost all of their assets aren't well known (minus the 3 above), the rest could all be considered sleepers and, as such, we'll talk about them in the sleepers article.
More Best Fantasy Players: Arsenal | Aston Villa | Bournemouth | Brentford | Brighton | Chelsea | Crystal Palace | Everton | Fulham | Leeds | Leicester | Liverpool | Man City | Man United | Newcastle | Southampton | Tottenham | West Ham | Wolves
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