Just days after I began a review of popular Fantasy Premier League midfielders with a look at Dimitri Payet, the West Ham United midfielder has been ruled out for three months with an ankle injury.
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As we’re now into the international break, I may still roll out a couple more Over The Radar features in addition to a few other planned posts, including a timely guest post from Ruth_NZ, but for many FPL managers replacing the second highest scoring midfielder will be the main priority.
Normally I would probably start and end the search in the same mid-price bracket as Payet, who started the season at a reasonable 7.5m and is currently priced at 8.3m. However, there are other factors to consider such as the form of the 8.8m-priced Mesut Özil, who has continued to score well since I reviewed him two weeks ago, and the possible return to fitness after the international break of Sergio Agüero. Many FPL managers have spread their spare Agüero money around their team so replacing Payet with a cheap midfield option could be an opportunity release some of it.
As a result, there are a wider range of options to consider than might normally be the case. To help me decide out who to review, I’m asking for your help. If you could answer the following poll question that would be great (I will close the poll after two days). I will probably look at a couple of options from each price bracket over the break, but it would be good to focus on the area where demand is greatest. If one area comes out well ahead I may focus more energy there. Thank you!
FPL Diva 
Personally I have already made my move because I bought Payet at 7.5 and don’t want a price drop. I brought Bolasie in – he was a player I wanted for next GW anyway so it was a simple decision but it gets me closer to the Pelle to Aguero move I will probably make in 2-3 weeks’ time.
As is often the case with me, this decision wasn’t dictated by stats. At least not by recent stats. Some FPL managers talk as if the last 4 GWs are the only measure of a player’s ability and prospects for some reason. 😕
Palace have had a tough fixture run. The last 9 games have included City, WBA and United at home and Chelsea, Spurs, Watford and Liverpool away, that’s 5 of last season’s top 6 teams plus others that are defensively pretty resilient. Pardew has clearly put more emphasis on defensive solidity during that run and to good effect – Palace may have only scored 8 goals in those 9 games but they only conceded 8 goals as well and achieved some excellent results.
In the next 9 games they have SUN NEW eve SOT sto bou SWA CHE avl. It looks way better than the last 9 in terms of attacking prospects and I can see Palace reverting to a more attacking approach and scoring plenty. A Palace attacker looks a good idea for that run of games and that means a midfielder because the striker position has no settled occupant.
Bolasie had 12 PL assists last season, 2nd only to Fabregas. He also led the Palace midfield on shooting stats. His conversion rate wasn’t great but he has reportedly been working on his finishing. And viewed over the last 4 games as a sample he leads Puncheon (probably the best Palace alternative) by a distance too on the important attacking measures. Cabaye could also be considered but he is more expensive and too reliant on penalties for my liking. Bolasie is playing quite far forward, sometimes as a #10, sometimes as a false #9. Last season he often played wide so the move to a more central position should help him on goals.
Put all that together with the fact that his price has fallen to 6.1 now and he looks a very good bet to me. I think it likely that he will justify that value (injuries permitting) over the next 9 games, which is the period I want him for. And I think it quite possible that he may turn in some good, double-digit returns in that time. That’s why I want him in my team. It’s always preferable to be ahead of the goals than behind them, that way you aren’t chasing points that have already been scored.
And in any case, Bolasie’s kind price helps me towards a great forward line of Aguero-Kane-Lukaku, which is where I will be when I bring Aguero back in.
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Crystal Palace’s fixtures certainly mean their midfield merits consideration and I’m sure at least one of the options there will fall under my gaze in the next 10 days or so.
Interestingly though, FFS member Walsh, a Palace fan, didn’t sound very upbeat about them as FPL assets when asked a short while ago.
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12 assists last season. More important to me than the views of a so-called Palace fan from the USA that probably never went to a game in his life.
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Hi Ruth – great to see another post. A word of warning: Puncheon has been nothing short of woeful, so far, this Season, so as a comparison, he is literally useless. Bolasie is without a shadow of a doubt off form. This may change, of course. As I have known Pardew for many years now, since he started at Charlton, in fact, I ought to warn you that he has form – and not the sort that you and I are looking for. So I would treat all Palace assets cautiously, to say the least. Souaré is mine. Oh, and don’t bother asking Southampton fans about Pardew either, as rudeness often offends! 😉
Finally:
CPL : SUN 181 NEW 203 eve 6 SOT -69 sto -18 bou 114 SWA 24 CHE -176 avl 218 mci -345 TOT -117
Speaking for myself, I will get the East End Jewel, aka Manuel Lanzini. 😀
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Thanks Doosra, actually Lanzini was one I considered but Bolasie for GW13 has been in my mind since the start of the season and I love his 6.1 price which I think is exceptional value. I don’t think you’ll see much encouragement for any Palace attacker on stats but I am ignoring them. It’s a conscious decision. 🙂
How to tweak my defence over the next weeks is something that is occupying me more. 😕 Any special recommendations?
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@Ruth. The Bolasie pick on the face of it looks good. Nevertheless, many have overlooked key points whilst considering him as a replacement for Payet.
When you analyse his statistics from 2014/15 and 15/16, it is interesting. Last season he scored 4 goals and 12 assists. This season he has 0 assists.
There is a reason for this. Palace are lacking a decent striker this season. Which impacts Bolasie’s points return. Evident from his 0 assists this season.
Glenn Murray is no longer at the club and it’s telling. Whilst Palace have Bamford, Gayle, Campbell and Wickham. None of them have delivered this season.
Without a decent striker at the club, the Bolasie pick doesn’t seem so appealing, particularly when his points return last season was from assists. Which leads me to ask the question; on what grounding are you transferring in Bolasie? His assists potential? Who’s he assisting to?
Secondly, from his 4 goals last season, 3 of which was a hatrick against Sunderland. That indicates he’s not goal scoring midfielder. I don’t rate his shooting ability and have seen little evidence of improvement, despite Yannick working on this in training.
My pick would be Cabaye or Zaha from the Palace squad. If Puncheon shows good form during Palace’s kind run, I would hop on to him as he’s streaky FPL asset.
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This is a fair point and one that I considered.
Actually Palace do have a great young striker at the club – Bamford (who was Championship player of the season in 2014/15 and has scored regularly at every level). But for some reason Pardew won’t play him – it’s hardly fair to say he hasn’t delivered when he hasn’t started a PL game.
But the compensation factor for Palace’s missing striker is that Bolasie sometimes plays OOP as a false #9. That leads to patchy returns (as we have seen with Sterling) but over a 9-game period it should even out. That’s my thinking anyhow. And at 6.1 it’s not as if I will have a huge slice of budget invested.
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Hello Diva, I just wanted to say I love your blog and is one of the best. It is mighty helpful in making key decision and I appreciate the efforts you have been putting it to make so much informative.
Also, I’m loving Ruth_NZ posts in here and I think he is serious FPL player who has strong reasoning to backup his moves/strategy.
Finally, thank you all.
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Hey, loved the blog and love all this talk about Crystal Palace! Don’t rule our players out because we’re off form; if we can sign a striker in the transfer window I think the whole team will start to perform better together. Also I’d say expect a return to form for Puncheon and Bolasie, who are undoubtedly great quality players…
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