This is an end-of-season follow-up to something that proved surprisingly popular when I ran it as an experiment earlier in the season. I really enjoy playing fantasy football, even though I’m pretty terrible at it (this is also the case with actual football, but I digress). What I really want is the opportunity to fail at an EFL version – I remember a few seasons ago there was an official Championship one, but I’m not aware of anything that currently exists.

Out of curiosity, I’ve applied the official Premier League scoring system (which can be found here under Rules > Scoring) to each of the three EFL divisions to see what the best possible squad would be. Just like the official game, I’ve picked the best-scoring combination of two goalkeepers, five defenders, five midfielders and three forwards (hopefully without putting anyone into the wrong category), although if this were a real game you probably wouldn’t be able to afford to put all of them in the same team.

The only element of the scoring which I haven’t been able to apply is the bonus points, as these include stuff like tackles and passes for which there isn’t data available (at least to me). Also I think the FPL rules are a bit more generous around assists, but overall I think it gives a reasonably accurate impression of what would happen if they rolled it out across the EFL.

For each division I’ve laid out the top players on a pitch, in a style reminiscent of the official Premier League version.

Top-scoring squad

 

Five players broke the 200-point barrier, including two of Wigan‘s four representatives and two of Blackburn‘s three., including the top-scoring player of all: set-piece specialist Charlie Mulgrew. Jack Marriott of Peterborough is the fifth, and is the best-scoring striker by far.

Despite a difficult start to Plymouth‘s season – and a poor finish to Walsall‘s – both have a player in a midfield otherwise stocked exclusively with players from the top two. Jason Demetriou of Southend is likewise the only defender in the team not to secure automatic promotion, while Shrimpers custodian Mark Oxley‘s impressive knack of saving penalties sees him

In goal and up front things are a bit more diverse, with Brett Pitman of Portsmouth and Wimbledon‘s Lyle Taylor the other forwards making the cut, while Ben Amos’ strong season for Charlton sees him edge the battle for best goalkeeper.

Get the data

If you want to see how your club’s players stack up in more detail (or just want to check my calculations), I’ve provided the full data for all three EFL divisions here.