After edging out Blackpool in the 2011/12 Championship play-off final, Sam Allardyce turned to a familiar face as West Ham made their way back into the top flight. With former number one Rob Green heading off to Loftus Road, Allardyce raided former club Bolton for the services of Jussi Jaaskelainen in what has proven an inspired piece of business.
Reunited with his former Trotters boss, the Finnish international was one of only five players to manage every minute of the season gone by and his endeavours between the sticks were, at times, the difference between victory and defeat for the Hammers as Allardyce steered the club to a tenth place finish.
The Statistics
Starting the season with three clean sheets in the first four Gameweeks, Jaaskelainen’s cut-price potential was immediately apparent. Coming in at 4.5 in Fantasy Premier League (FPL), he quickly picked up in price as Fantasy managers scrambled on board the bandwagon. The Hammers stopper managed just eight more clean sheets over the following 34 Gameweeks, including a testing spell which saw him keep out his opponents just once between Gameweeks 12 and 24 but it was Jaaskelainen’s propensity to rack up the save points that made him such a valuable Fantasy acquisition.
On as many as 26 occasions the West Ham number one earned at least one save point, as he ended the campaign with an incredible 156 saves – more than any other keeper in the game. Having racked up 144 points, he finished joint-second for goalkeepers along with Asmir Begovic and Petr Cech and was 21 points better off than Joey O’Brien as the most impressive defensive option at Upton Park. Furthermore, Jaaskelainen ended the campaign as the number one player for value in the FPL game, returning 27.7 points per pound, just enough to edge Southampton’s Rickie Lambert (27.5) into second.
While Jaaskelainen’s heroics were rarely rewarded by bonus points (just four all season), his consistency of performance and guaranteed game time were key to his popularity as over 19% of FPL managers ended the season with the Hammers man in their sides, the second more popular stopper in the game.
The Prospects
With both Allardyce and Jaaskelainen signing contract extensions in the last month or so after the club clinched their top-flight security, the Finnish stopper will no doubt continue to offer us a reliable first-choice option between the posts.
A trusted lieutenant of the Hammers boss, Jaaskelainen’s appeal is likely to be dented by a price hike across the Fantasy games next time out, however, with a rise to 5.5 looking the likeliest scenario in FPL. With the likes of Michel Vorm and Tim Krul potentially dropping in cost after underwhelming seasons at Swansea and Newcastle, and John Ruddy perhaps remaining a cut-price option due to his injury-blighted campaign at Norwich, Jaaskelainen faces a real struggle to retain our FPL interest. Jaaskelainen would need to see more reward from the bonus system, whilst, in other Fantasy games, look to earn points for saves – something that has been lacking from the Sky Sports effort this term.
Even if Jaaskelainen offers the same level of clean sheet and save point returns, a jump in price would see his value take a significant drop and with the promoted sides also vying for our attention, the preferred tactic for cheap rotation keeper pairings in the FPL will make it difficult for the Finn to have the same sort of impact upon our Fantasy seasons next time round.
