The Goalkeeper Guide

Wondering who the best goalkeepers are for your fantasy team? Look no further! Here is the official ShePlays Fantasy League Goalkeeper Guide for the 2021/22 WSL season.

Arsenal

The big question leading into this season was would Eidevall continue Montemurro’s dual keeper system or have clear number one? Eidevall answered this when speaking to the Arseblog saying “In general, I am more minded to have a clear first-choice goalkeeper but obviously it is a competition. We are playing a lot of matches so there will be a good opportunity for both of them to play this season.”

From the first two league matches of the season, it seems like Zinsberger is the first-choice keeper earning a round one start against defending champions and rivals Chelsea. Williams will be a solid and experienced backup to Zinsberger this season, with nine starts last season and keeping seven clean sheets.

If Zinsberger is indeed Arsenal’s number one keeper she could be a bargain at £30,000, having the third-highest points per match for keepers who played over ten matches

Aston Villa

Former standout Birmingham City keeper Hannah Hampton followed her coach, Carla Ward, across town to Aston Villa this summer. Hampton started all but one match for Ward last season scoring a team-high 111 points. Despite narrowly avoiding relegation at Birmingham last season, Hampton recorded four clean sheets. The grass is looking greener at Aston Villa for the 20-year-old, with a win against Leicester and a draw against West Ham so far.

Sian Rogers played a key role in Villa’s Championship-winning season in 2019/2020 which earned them promotion into the WSL. Last season with the arrival of Lisa Weiss, Rogers earned one start in a 2-0 loss against heavy-weights Manchester City producing four saves. With Weiss leaving the club this summer, Aston Villa has a great line-up of young, talented keepers.

Birmingham City

Birmingham City has a wide range of goalkeeping options this season. The youthful Emily Ramsey (on loan from Manchester United) had not played any WSL matches before her first two starts this season. A player on the rise, Ramsey earned a call up to the England team for the June 2021 training camp. She’ll likely be backed up by the experienced Irishwoman Marie Hourihan who has spent the last two seasons at Portuguese champions Braga. Before this, she spent eight seasons in the WSL since its inauguration playing in 49 matches, most recently for Brighton in 2018/19.

Brighton and Hove Albion

Megan Walsh shared the goalkeeping responsibilities with Cecilie Fiskerstrand last season at Brighton starting 15 matches. Recording six clean sheets, she helped lead Brighton to an emphatic season end including wins over Chelsea and Manchester United. With Fiskerstrand moving back to LSK Kvinner this summer, Walsh will be the clear number one for Brighton this season. 

Young Fran Stenson has very little first-team action in her career and will be hoping Brighton can provide her with some topflight experience. However, with the safe hands of Megan Walsh, Stenson’s minutes will likely be limited to non-league matches.

Chelsea

The 2020/21 season was nothing short of legendary for Ann-Katrin Berger. She lead the league with 12 clean sheets and she had the highest save percentage at a whopping 79.3%. Her four saves against Manchester City to maintain a 2-2 draw were critical in their title defence. Berger was also Chelsea’s saviour in their run to the champions league final with two penalty saves against Atletico Madrid and a stunning 89th minute save in the semi-final against Bayern Munich.

Chelsea will be hoping to have a packed schedule this season with six to eleven Champions League matches alongside the 22 league matches. This means Emma Hayes will likely share the minutes around her three keepers this season. For example, last season in between the midweek champions league matches Berger was rested and Musovic started. Musovic and Telford will be battling for the minutes when Berger is rested.

Everton

Sandy MacIver is an exciting young player who pushed Tinja-Riikka Korpela out of her starting spot last season. After her impressive season, she got a deserved England call-up and was included in the Team GB Olympic team in Tokyo. After a host of summer signings including defenders Nathalie Bjorn and Leonie Maier, Everton and MacIver will be hoping to push for at least a top-four finish, improving on their seven clean sheets from last season. 

Backing up MacIver is the new Everton signing Courtney Brosnan. With West Ham last season, Brosnan played six matches due to a Mackenzie Arnold injury, recording three clean sheets. 

Leicester City

Newly promoted Leicester City have three keepers in their squad this season with a variety of WSL experience. Kirstie Levell is the most experienced and started every match for Everton in the 2018/19 season with three clean sheets. After transferring to Leicester in 2020, she was a key member of their championship title and promotion into the WSL starting all 20 matches, half of which were clean sheets. Her previous WSL experience will be a great asset to Leicester this season. 

Leicester also has the services of Sophie Harris, a former PFA Fan’s player of the month for February 2019 when she was playing for Brighton. Joining Leicester this year Harris is yet to make her debut for the Foxes. Demi Lambourne has been with Leicester the longest of the trio joining the club in 2018 from Reading’s Academy. Lambourne was injured for most of the 2020/21 season but made 27 appearances for Leicester the previous two seasons. 

Manchester City

Regular Manchester City and England shot-stopper Ellie Roebuck has missed the start of the season with a calf strain. Roebuck was the best keeper in the ShePlays Fantasy League last season scoring 160 points. Karen Bardsley would have been her likely backup returning from a loan spell in the NWSL, however, an unknown injury has kept her out of action since pre-Olympics. 

French-woman Karima Benameur Taieb started the season strong against Everton recording with a clean sheet and three saves. A journeywoman of the Division 1 Feminine, prior to signing with City in 2019 she played for six different clubs across 14 seasons including three seasons at PSG. Depending on the longevity of Roebuck’s injury she could be a bargain asset to any fantasy team. 17-year-old Khiara Keating has been on the bench for the first two matches of the season.

Manchester United

Mary Earps played every minute for Manchester United last season recording ten clean sheets. Recently signing a contract extension until 2023, Earps will be key to United’s goals of qualifying for the Champions League. Earps’ backup this season will be Sophie Baggaley. One of Bristol City’s stand out players the last two seasons, it’s no surprise she got picked up by a WSL team Bristol were relegated last season. Baggaley will be a solid backup to Earps this season, she led the league in saves last season (95). 

Reading

Grace Molony has been at Reading since 2009 and has established herself as their first-choice keeper the last few seasons. Reading like to play possession-based football which often starts from Moloney and she led the league in touches (GK) last season. Her experience will be crucial for Reading’s success this season after losing the welsh duo of Jess Fishlock and Angharad James to the NWSL and the iconic Fara Williams to retirement over the summer.

Moloney’s backup this season is 18-year-old Rhiannon Stewart. The product of the Reading Academy got an unexpected start last weekend against Arsenal after Moloney was a late scratch in the warm-up. Her taste of WSL action was a diving save against Vivianne Miedema 17 seconds in. What a way to start! The extent of Moloney’s injury is unknown at this stage so Stewart may be the recipient of more starts in the future.

Tottenham Hotspur

Tottenham have had a great start to the season with two wins. However, selecting a Spurs goalkeeper may be a bit of a risk at this stage with no clear starter identified ( Tinja-Riikka Korpela started round one and Becky Spencer started round two). 

Spencer is the incumbent starter from last season starting 16 matches, with two clean sheets. She presented a good case last weekend with a 2-1 win over Manchester City with five saves. 

On the other hand, Korpela is a bit of a clean sheet machine recording a clean sheet every 2.5 games the last two seasons. The Finn has also earned 91 caps for her country.

West Ham United

West Ham’s Kiwi coach Olli Harder has elected for an all antipodean line up with Mackenzie Arnold and Anna Leat. Since joining the Irons last season Arnold has performed well for the club with a superstar performance against Manchester City when she saved two penalties. Arnold lead the ShePlays Fantasy League last season in goalkeeper points (61). She will be hoping to have a few more clean sheets this season and was unlucky an extra-time goal from Aston Villa last weekend took away the first clean sheet of the season.

Every New Zealand football fan will know Arnold’s back-up Anna Leat. Her epic performance in the 2018 U17 World Cup Quarter Finals penalty shoot-out, saving two penalties and then scoring the winning penalty gloves on has granted her legendary status. A performance that won NZ sporting moment of the year at the 2018 Halberg Awards. An outstanding young Kiwi talent she seems to be the heir apparent to Erin Nayler and I would not be surprised if she has the Football Ferns number one jersey come the 2023 World Cup at home.