On The Radar – Emmanuel Adebayor

With double gamers at a premium, Adebayor stood out early in the week as a worthy consideration for those willing to double up on City forward or those searching for a differential to Tevez to close a gap.  He’s gone on the backburner in the past 24+ hours with doubts about his fitness due to a thigh injury, but with the unofficial news putting a positive spin on things, he remains a viable punt. That’s certainly the case when you consider that City’s finale looks to be a wide-open, attacking affair with an away trip to visit a West Ham squad that has secured its position outside the relegation zone…

As you likely recall, Adebayor started the season in magnificent form, scoring goals in each of the first four games.  I return to those first four goals because it may feel like Adebayor started hot and then fizzled. However, that’s really not the case. On closer inspection, Adebayor’s scoring dry spells have only come when he has missed games entirely (he has served two multi-game suspensions and also took a compassionate leave following the attack on the Togo team bus during the Africa Cup of Nations).  But when he has played, Adebayor has consistently scored.

Breaking down some of the numbers:

- Adebayor is averaging 5.5 fantasy points per game on the season.  The location of games has not significantly mattered – he is averaging 5.8 points per home game and 5.2 points per away game.

- Adebayor has played in the eight games against the other teams in the top eight.  Even against the top competition, he has scored consistently, recording a goal or assist in four of those eight games, including an assist in the 1-1 draw earlier in the season with Aston Villa.  There has been a slight drop off from his overall totals, but he has still managed 32 points, for a 4.0 average, in these games.

- Looking at the season as a whole, Adebayor has at least a goal or an assist in 14 of the 23 games he has played.  And, during those 23 games, there is only one occasion when he played three games in a row without grabbing a goal or assist.  He’s currently at two games without scoring.

While the numbers generally read positively, a few words of caution.  First, Adebayor did not start last week and played only 39 minutes.  This is probably not cause for concern and was merely an effort to deflect attention away from Adebayor’s return to Arsenal, but it still stands out as the only time this season that he has come off the bench.

Second, a City goalfest this week is far from certain as two strong opponents come to Eastlands.  After 14 goals during gameweeks 32, 33, and 34 against weaker competition, City has gone scoreless in the past two weeks against Manchester United and Arsenal.

Adebayor took a price bump earlier this week to 9.6, but for those still looking to discard Torres or even the still uncertain Rooney, you’ll have cash to spare.