Having laid the blame for Blackburn’s poor recent form firmly at the door of his more experienced players, Sam Allardyce has rung the changes of late at Ewood Park, and his ruthlessness has resulted in a definite upturn in performance.

One of the main beneficiaries has been Martin Olsson. A left back by trade, the young Swede replaced Morten Gamst Pederson on the left side of midfield last weekend and made an instant impression. Blackburn, without a win in nine games, recorded a steady 2-0 home win over Fulham, a result which saw them move up to twelfth in the league table…

Blackburn’s spirited second leg Carling Cup semi final performance at Villa Park last week, whilst not being enough to hold off a rampant Aston Villa, saw another stellar display by Olsson in which he bagged a goal in his side’s 6-4 loss.

Olsson is listed across the games as a defender, and in the Fantasy Premier League game comes in at an absolute bargain price of £3.8m. According to the youngster, his manager has been thoroughly impressed by his contribution to the cause, reassuringly saying in a recent interview:

“He told me that it would be hard to leave me out of the team considering the form I am in.”

With regards to out of position defenders at Ewood Park, there is also the case of Brett Emerton, who, though listed on FPL as a £4.9m defender, is played on the opposite midfield flank to Olsson, rampaging down the right wing.

Blackburn have a kind run of fixtures over the next five gameweeks, with all their games being against bottom half opposition: (WIG, whm, stk, HUL, BOL), and any managers looking for a cut-price FPL investment could do worse than consider Martin Olsson.

The only immediate caveat comes in the form of the suspension to Chris Samba for the Wigan game this gameweek. His absence could well see Olsson employed at left-back but that may well be a temporary measure.