Not so long ago, Demba Ba boasted the best goals-per-game ratio of any established player in Premier League history. A mainstay in even the most eccentric Fantasy squads, Ba seemed an undroppable force until the January 2012 arrival of compatriot Papiss Demba Cisse. Transplanted from his customary central role to accommodate the newcomer in Newcastle’s new look 4-3-3, Ba’s form and confidence deserted him as Cisse stole the show in the second half of the season. Cutting a peripheral and dejected figure, and with his agent pointedly hinting at a summer exit, it wasn’t clear what the new campaign would bring for Fantasy football’s fallen hero.  

Whilst his eerily prompt epiphany at the start of this campaign might countenance the suspicion that the two Senegalese strikers are running a goalscoring timeshare scam, Alan Pardew’s reintroduction of Ba’s favoured 4-4-2 system affords a plausible enough alibi to keep the fraud squad at bay for the time being. With Cisse off-colour and increasingly out in the cold, Demba Ba has emerged once again as the talisman on Tyneside.

Involved in seven of Newcastle’s nine league goals, Ba has earned maximum bonus points in an astonishing four of his eight games and currently sits level with Robin Van Persie both in terms of Premier League goals and Fantasy Premier League (FPL) points, not too shabby for a player who costs over 5.0 less. Perhaps more impressive still: he has achieved these feats over a decidedly iffy run of fixtures, and with clear blue water now on the horizon, the sailing is looking plainer by the minute for Newcastle’s flagship performer.

A run featuring three home games in the next five (WBA liv WHM SWA sot) should furnish ample occasion for Pardew’s vanguard to rack up the points. Whilst parsimonious at home, West Brom remain destitute of an away clean sheet thus far; West Ham and Swansea are likewise struggling to maintain last season’s strong defensive records on the road, and given Nigel Adkins’ recent commitment to persevere with the Field Marshal Haig approach to a Premier League campaign, the Saints back line could be forgiven for shooting themselves in the foot rather than face Demba Ba come Gameweek 13.

Having ceded primacy to Cisse in the latter half of last season, Ba’s initial valuation was understandably, and happily, the more restrained of the two. Starting at 9.0 in the Sky Sports game and 7.5 in FPL he is already up to 8.3 in the latter game and rising, whilst Cisse is heading just as quickly in the other direction from an offer price of 9.5. Although a switch back to 4-3-3 could yield yet another reversal of fortunes for the Demba duo, Ba is unmistakably in the ascendancy as Newcastle’s fixtures ease.