Versus – Steven Pienaar & Marouane Fellaini

The recent rise of Marouane Fellaini has presented the latest forceful bandwagon for Fantasy managers. Huge acquisition levels in the Fantasy Premier League (FPL) game this week has seen the Belgian’s price rise from 6.9 to 7.2, and this from an initial valuation of 6.5 at the start of the campaign.

Felliani’s merits are hard to ignore – three goals and an assist in his opening five fixtures are numbers compounded by a new role playing in support of Everton’s central striker. The 6 foot four inch unit has taken to it with ease, using his size to rattle defences and his unerring ability to chest trap a long flighted pass to provide a platform for waves of Everton attacks. He’s often been described as “unplayable”.

And yet, David Moyes’ men are awash with form players and talent right now. Not least in midfield where Steven Pienaar’s dazzling quick feet and sharp mind are weaving patterns that have had defences on the back foot. He’s also enjoyed a superb start to the campaign with a goal and three assists to his name. In any other team, Pienaar, with his mid-price value of 6.7 in the FPL, would be a shoo-in. Fellaini’s rise has dented the appeal of the South African playmaker – with their see-sawing form looking to have finally settled the way of the Belgian, it’s been Fellaini that has attracted all the recent transfer attention.

Are we dismissing Pienaar too lightly? Perhaps his form actually warrants doubling up on Everton’s midfield assets given the fixtures that lie ahead? We look to answer these and other questions in this latest article for our members, in which we rummage around in the statistics so far, to analyse the best approach to Everton’s current embarrassment of riches.