New Signings – Fantasy Premier League 2016/17. Crystal Palace

New Signings – Fantasy Premier League 2016/17. Crystal Palace

We still aren’t quite sure what exactly it was that Pardew and his team had for Christmas dinner, but whatever it was, it disagreed with them massively. Prior to the festivities they’d won 9 games out of 17. Post turkey and sherry they didn’t win another until April. Yes, April! And they won 2 in total after Christmas, out of 21. Quite how they didn’t get relegated probably says more about those that did. But matter not, Pardew excused it all with a run to the FA Cup Final. A quick jig after a brief 2 minute lead said the final was pretty much the highlight of their season then.

Clearly they need to invest, even if it’s just to tread water, and they have so far made a few shrewd moves on the face of it. Well three, to be exact. Townsend, Tomkins and Mandanda. They’ve binned ten players in the process, most on frees or just released but did somehow manage to convince Rafa to fork out £10m for Dwight Gayle. Although in fairness that’s probably his level and he may well thrive there.

We must confess we have held this particular article back. And back. And back. We were waiting for Benteke to arrive but it looks like that one will drag on a bit. It’s worth noting that when / if he eventually does arrive that it will impact on their current starters. Feels obvious to say but one of them will miss out and it could very well be a Zaha or a Puncheon type but it very much depends on how they would then intend to line-up. You’d have to think that the likes of Townsend and Bolasie would still be safe though. Given how long we’ve waited though it’d be sods law that he completes his move an hour after publishing. But hey, you all know who he is and what he does by now so no biggie.

For Palace’s pre-season games, line-ups and general musings here is their link on the Pre-season hub we have created Crystal Palace Pre-season info

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Andros Townsend £6.5m
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Andros had a brief but ultimately successful spell at Newcastle at the end of last season, albeit one that involved being relegated! Granted, that’s not usually a measure of success, but for him personally it was a good spell. He managed 4 goals and 2 assists in just 13 games for the Magpies having been previously ostracised at Spurs despite his early career form there and forcing his way into the England squad as a result. So good in fact that he made Woy’s initial Euro squad this summer but didn’t make the final cut. Much to his relief we imagine, as it turned out. A few good performances at his new club to mirror his impressive Newcastle form and he will surely be back in the reckoning for Sam’s first squad.

For those unaware of him, he’s an attacking winger who can play either side, he’s very direct and quick, likes a shot on sight and will take on some free-kick duties too, probably sharing the direct ones with Cabaye. He could and should be an exciting cut-price fantasy prospect this season. With the early Palace schedule looking kind we would highly recommend taking a look at him or indeed his team-mate Bolasie who is £0.5m cheaper. Either could thrive.

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James Tomkins £5.0m
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The next two signings are both defensive ones and that fact may be significant given that Palace face West Brom and Stoke at home and Sunderland away as well as newly promoted Middlesbrough in 5 of their first 6 games. Palace only conceded 5 less at home than eventual champions Leicester last season and had comparable records to other top six sides like Southampton and Man City, no less. On that basis we’d expect many will be grabbing one of their less expensive options to begin with.

Tomkins comes in at £5.0m so isn’t quite as cheap as Souare at £4.5m but his PPM (points per minute) last season is superior as he only managed 8 less points having played 12 games fewer, if you pro-rata minutes played into 90’s. In all honesty though there’s not a lot we can see that would set him aside as a must have pick over anyone of his colleagues or indeed anyone else. He got exactly zero goals and zero assists last season. And just 3 bonus points. Yeah sure enough he got 8 clean sheets but that was for a different team so it doesn’t really hold water in the ‘arguments for’ camp. Souare got 7, just for the record.

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Steve Mandanda £4.5m
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After being so ‘positive’ about their first defensive recruit we will begin the next with a big warning about the second! Mandanda comes in as a very experienced top flight keeper having been first choice for Marseille for the best part of nine seasons and we fully expect that he will eventually become the Eagles number one choice between the sticks. That’s where the warning comes into play though. Not being avid Palace fans or followers ourselves we asked a trusted source, who is indeed both of the above, about the keeper situation over there and his response was that he expects Mandanda to be first choice but that GW1 may come too soon as he only began training with them on Tuesday this week. If you were thinking of including a Palace keeper then that sounds like a situation which needs monitoring closely in the coming week. Our take on this is that unless he’s arrived 3 stone overweight then a week and a half should be more than enough time to get a keeper ready to go and if he is indeed their intended No1 then we don’t see the need in holding him back but let’s see what the Lord says on the situation this week.

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Fixture Tracker – the first 6 games

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Thanks for reading New Signings – Fantasy Premier League 2016/17. Crystal Palace. This article was written by inittowinit

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