Emerging Midfielder’s – A few options to consider – FPL Fantasy Football Premier League

With the season pushing on and European games coming back in to the fray, the worry of rotation is a growing concern. This will undoubtedly be on the back of many a manager’s mind who have players involved in such competitions. This can be easily highlighted with Arsenal’s potential run of fixtures. Should they progress in their respective cup competitions, their fixtures would be as follows– Liverpool, Bayern Munich, Sunderland, Stoke, FA Cup QF, Swansea, Bayern Munich, Tottenham Hotspur, Chelsea, Manchester City, UCL QF 1L, Everton, UCL QF 2L. Scary! (Be sure to check out our fixture tracker here)
Consequently, now may be the time to start looking at options who will not be struck by such unfortunate fixtures and can solely concentrate on the Premier League. A lot of fantasy teams seem to be becoming increasingly similar, with advice concentrating on the top performers and overlooking other options. This article will look to reveal a number of midfielders who have, for one reason or another, managed to elude the eye of us fantasy managers. To do this we will use statistics from the last 5 game-weeks.

Yaya Toure and Eden Hazard have without a doubt been the two main midfielders that many feel are “must-haves”, evident by their points tallies of 148 and 164 respectively, and only being outscored by Luis Suarez (204). However, although Yaya has managed to score 2 goals and attain an assist in the last 5 game-weeks he is far from being ‘busy’ about the pitch, or certainly not in an attacking sense. The same cannot be said for Hazard, with 3 goals to his name and unlucky not to have an assist also after creating a high number of chances. I feel that by comparing a number of cheaper midfielders to these two it could open the eyes of many fantasy managers, given that individual perception of performance is rife in FPL, and sometimes statistics such as these can help highlight the current form of a player. I would air caution to not solely look at statistics, rather combine them with your own interpretation from match highlights to come to a conclusion.

The creative midfielder

Steven Davis (£4.7m) of Southampton could easily be overlooked, yet only 3 players (Navas, Willian, and Sissoko) have created more chances than him in the previous 5 game-weeks. Consequently, the Southampton midfielder has provided one assist in this period. However, he has only taken 6 shots in total at goal and has the worst shot accuracy of the 5. Saying that, it is still relatively high for a midfielder with only 2 shots from within the box and it’s also worth noting that his shot accuracy of 33% is equal to that of Yaya Toure in the same period. Despite this he has still managed to chip in with a goal during this period and worth bearing in mind that Southampton have decent fixtures and do actually play in GW29!

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The long distance shooter

The negativity surrounding the name Charlie Adam (£5.8m) is high in fantasy football circles, but for what reason? Adam has had 15 shots on goal within the previous 5 game-weeks, bettering that of Eden Hazard (14). Worth noting is that only 2 have come from within the area, but with a shot accuracy of 40% they are far from miscalculated punts in the general direction of the goal. He has managed to grab 2 goals in that period (both screamers by the way!) and also managed to create a fair few chances for Stoke. With 11 chances created, only Davis of the 5 has created more chances. The quality of these could be questionable, but he has managed to pick up 2 assists and if this form continues we could have a real bargain on our hands.

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The penalty box speedster

Liverpool have been rather impressive of late! Despite playing quite well, Raheem Sterling (£5.6m) seems to have been overshadowed by the likes of Suarez, Sturridge, and Gerrard. Whilst playing a comparable amount of minutes to the aforementioned 3, only Gerrard (66%) has a better shot accuracy than Sterling (64%). This could be down to the fact that 10 of his 11 shots have come from within the area, giving him shooting opportunities from prime positions. 2 goals is impressive from the winger but he could have had more considering he has had 4 ‘big chances’ in this period and this could suggest that he needs to work on his finishing…or maybe, big returns are just around the corner?

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The ‘happy medium’

Jason Puncheon (£5.0m) has been around for a few years, but he has rarely been on our FPL radars. A good shot accuracy has been demonstrated by the above players and this is no different for Puncheon (apart from THAT penalty!) with an accuracy of 44%. For this reason, it is unsurprising that he has 2 goals to his name in the previous 5. He has created 7 chances for his teammates in the same time frame, however no assists could demonstrate the quality of these being poor or maybe it says something about his teammates (errr Chamakh!!). Having considered these factors, it is important to note that Puncheon often takes corners for Palace, and although he missed said penalty, he may still be on spot kick duty should Chamakh not be on the field.

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The newcomer

Thomas Ince (£5.5m) played 94 minutes in his first appearance for Crystal Palace and turned in a stellar performance, gathering a goal and an assist; he could be a regular from here forth. Taking both of his shots from inside the box, with 100% accuracy and converting 1 of those is a great start, whilst he also created 2 chances. He could be worth a look in the coming weeks as either a new option, or a replacement for the previously mentioned Puncheon. For a comparison of Ince’s previous achievements, he has managed 33 goals in 113 appearances with Blackpool in the Championship over 3 seasons.

The interpretation of these statistics are not without their limitations, however, we hope that they have shed some light on some of the cheaper midfield options available to you. There appears to be an acceleration in the growth of similar teams and the reliance on the big names, opting for one of these performing low cost players could provide you with that all important differential and at the same time make-or-break your season, just ensure you use this article in conjunction with personal observation before jumping in to the transfer market!

Thanks for reading Emerging Midfielder’s – A few options to consider, this article was written by Flingy