Crouch Agrees Terms
Peter Crouch is expected to complete his move to Portsmouth in the next 48-hours having agreed personal terms with the club [source].
This will a second spell at Fratton Park for Crouch having made 39 appearances for them in 2001, scoring 19 goals in the process. A similar return will be expected from Crouch this time around and his new partnership with Jermain Defoe looks, on paper, to be one of the most effective in the Premiership. Indeed Sky Sports carried an interesting stat in this article which points out that Defoe and Crouch have played together as a pairing for England, scoring 7 goals between them over their 3 starts.
Defoe will already be on many fantasy managers shortlists - both he and Crouch are similarly priced and in the Fantasy Premier League they are both valued at 8.0. In the Telegraph Fantasy Football, Crouch looks good value at £5.9 which is £0.2 cheaper than his new team-mate. That puts him in the same bracket at Carew and Ashton who he will be expected to outscore.
It’s a close call between Defoe and Crouch but in my view, while Crouch is likely to trail on goals, I can see him chipping in with more assists and more bonus in the FPL than his strike partner. There’s also a chance that Crouch will get more starts if Redknapp persists with a 4-5-1 away from Fratton Park.
Both strikers are currently outside of my top 10 rankings for forwards due to Portsmouth’s hideous opening fixtures. Harry’s boys take on Chelsea, United and Everton in the first three games.
I love Peter Crouch. Watch him get 20 goals this season, top the bonus points chart and then get bought by Arsenal/Man Utd/Chelsea. Then he’ll fail and get bought by, er, who hasn’t bought him yet? Everton, yea Everton.
Crouch & Defoe for England!
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Crouch’s capability of scoring goals was clearly underestimated by Rafa and he was a bit-part player to cater for the Gerrard/Torres formation.
Personally I think that Crouch and Defoe have the makings of the best front-line partnership in the Premiership and after they get over the opening games of Chelsea and Man Utd they have to merit consideration.
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