Team of the Season – Robin Van Persie

It seems fitting that Robin Van Persie should bring our team of the season review to a close. Having debunked his injury prone tag with an ever-present campaign, the Arsenal skipper emerged as a peerless Fantasy asset.

So often the saviour in Gameweeks of mediocrity, Van Persie made the Fantasy Premier League (FPL) armband his own and, more often than not, justified the faith shown in him.

Just as Van Persie almost single-handedly decided our fortunes, his influence on Arsenal’s season was just as prominent. At times, it was hard to reject the argument that the Gunners were a one-man team.

Now Arsene Wenger faces a fight to retain the services of his most precious commodity, a player who has grown into a world-class talent and the Premier League’s most ruthlessly efficient performer.

The Statistics

Van Persie made such an inauspicious start to the campaign. We saw just a single goal in his first five league outings, and that was buried in the humiliating 8-2 defeat at Old Trafford. By Gameweek 7, Van Persie’s 12.0 price tag seemed excessive and a steady decline in ownership had seen his value drop to 11.9. From that point on, however, Van Persie’s season was to turn and his ownership would explode accordingly.

The shift in fortunes begun with a brace in the 3-0 Emirates win over Bolton – those two goals brought Van Persie the first of an incredible 13 sets of maximum FPL bonus point hauls. A disconcerting blank in a 2-1 defeat at White Hart Lane was to follow, but the Dutchman was to return a flood of goals in five consecutive matches. A total of nine strikes in those five starts finally saw Van Persie justify his heavy-hitter billing and overshadow the efforts of Wayne Rooney and Sergio Aguero, who had started the season so strongly.

The hat-trick at Stamford Bridge in Gameweek 10 was particularly significant: this confirmed Van Persie as a fixture-proof talent and produced a big swing between the haves and have-nots within mini-leagues. At that point, it became obvious he was edging close to essential Fantasy status.

As the nights drew in, Van Persie’s returns began to simmer a little, although the goals kept coming in singles, with six strikes in 10 starts from November to February. A hat-trick in the 7-1 demolition of Blackburn harvested another spurt of seven goals in five starts, before the Arsenal skipper hit a dry spell which returned just one goal in seven, a spot-kick in the 3-0 win at Wolves.

By the time Van Persie returned to scoring ways with three goals over the last three games, the Dutchman had sealed the Premier League golden boot with a tally of 30 goals, contributing 13 assists and a staggering 45 FPL bonus points.

Such tallies meant that Van Persie topped the FPL overall rankings by 39 points but, perhaps his most significant statistic, was that he had successfully completed 38 appearances – the first time that the Dutchman had remained injury free and ever-present since his arrival in North London.

While Fantasy managers lived in fear of rest and rotation, it never really materialised. A lack of options up front for Arsene Wenger, and Van Persie’s brace scored from the bench in 25 minutes against Stoke, ensured that the skipper remained cemented in the Arsenal lineup, despite his manager’s repeated intent to hand him a rest.

When Van Persie was given an uninterrupted stage to perform, he produced. The previous seasons of frustration were banished by a campaign of excellence in which, at times, Van Persie threatened to break Fantasy football.

The Prospects

Uncertainty continues to surround Van Persie’s future at the Emirates. While recent reports re-iterate that the Dutchman is looking for silverware rather than pieces of silver, even Arsenal’s efforts to shatter their wage structure may fall on deaf ears.

Despite inevitable overtures from Man City, Arsene Wenger appears optimistic on his chances of retaining Van Persie….

“I am confident you will see Robin van Persie in the Premier League and I am very confident you will see him in red and white.”

Fantasy managers will need to wait for the dust to clear on the upcoming Euro 2012 campaign before we’re likely to receive our next set of clues for club, manager or player. There can be no doubt that, if he remains on the Premier League player list, many a Fantasy lineup will be built around Van Persie’s talents.

A price rise looks likely but that may not be a factor: even with a 13.0 valuation, few Fantasy managers will overlook the Dutchman with any degree of comfort. Last season proved that, when kept injury free, his rate of returns is unmatched, his overall involvement and ability to score and create goals, unrivaled by any other striker.

With the FPL captain decision eased so considerably by Van Persie profits in 25 of 38 Gameweeks last season, it seems likely that he’ll present “plan A” for most Fantasy managers next term, regardless of price tag. Wenger’s push for new talent could the be factor that begins to undermine such confidence, however.

Already the arrival of Lukas Podolski is a possible cause of disruption. It’s unclear how Wenger will utilise the German’s talents with Van Persie but, with other strikers listed as possible targets, including Montpellier centre-forward Olivier Giroud, it’s clear the Arsenal manager is looking to boost his options and remove the goalscoring burden from the captain. That could have an impact, both on returns and starts, which would be a concern should we also be forced to contend with a significant price hike.