Great Expectations – Christian Eriksen

The Dane was amongst a number of big-money signings made by Andre Villas-Boas last summer as Tottenham looked to recover from the loss of Gareth Bale to Real Madrid. Eriksen had sparkled in the Eredivisie for Dutch outfit Ajax, racking up 19 goals and 39 assists in his final 70 league appearances, and his arrival on these shores persuaded many Fantasy managers to draft him into our five-man midfields.

Under Villas-Boas, Eriksen struggled to adapt to his new surrounds. A lack of form, blighted by both injury and an inconsistency of starts, saw the midfielder muster just a single assist in the first 15 Gameweeks before the Portuguese boss was sent packing after a 5-0 home defeat by Liverpool. With Tim Sherwood at the helm, Eriksen flourished as the north London outfit went on the attack and ultimately ended the season on 132 points – just outside the top 10 midfielders in his first year in the Premier League.

Key Factors

• Further analysis of Eriksen’s FPL stats underline the impact of Sherwood’s tactics. With dead-ball duties helping his Fantasy potential, the Dane delivered seven goals, eight assists and 20 bonus points in his final 18 appearances of the 2013/14 campaign – an average of 6.4 points per game (ppg) over that period dismissed notions that he was too lightweight for the English top flight and underlined Eriksen’s appeal as a Fantasy contender.

• The first few months of the previous campaign have worked to Eriksen’s advantage in terms of pricing. Available for 8.0 – the same as team-mate Erik Lamela, who managed a mere 14 points in 2013/14 – the Dane has remained outside of the premium bracket, despite that convincing end to the campaign. Coming in at the same cost as the likes of Willian and Philippe Coutinho, and just 0.5 pricier than rotation-threatened options such as Andre Schurrle, Jesus Navas and Lazar Markovic, there’s a feeling than Eriksen has been underpriced by FPL. Put the above stats into perspective, the 10.0-priced Eden Hazard averaged 5.8 ppg last season – if Eriksen can replicate those displays over an entire year, then, he could provide us with excellent value.

• As mentioned in our piece on Erik Lamela, the arrival of Mauricio Pochettino is also key here. In his only full season at Southampton, the Argentine transformed the Fantasy fortunes of players such as Adam Lallana and Jay Rodriguez – Lallana’s turnaround, from 93 points in 2012/13 to 179 points last year, was inspired by Pochettino’s high pressing game as the Saints’ main attackers harried and harassed their opponents in the final third. Eriksen should be given license to attack in Spurs’ new 4-2-3-1 formation and seems to have retained corners and set-pieces under the Argentine – cementing his appeal as the man most likely to deliver in many managers’ eyes.

• Delving deeper into last season’s data also bodes well for Eriksen. From Gameweek 17 onwards (ie, the first game under Sherwood), the Spurs playmaker produced 50 key passes – only four midfielders managed more, with Chelsea’s Willian top with 56, whilst Hazard was just two ahead of the Dane on 52. Eriksen was joint-fourth for goals (seven) in midfield over those final 22 Gameweeks – only Yaya Toure, Steven Gerrard and Hazard managed more, though the trio had spot-kick duties to fall back upon. Eriksen averaged 41.5 minutes per attempt under Sherwood – only slightly slower than Hazard’s 39, for example – and with a 17.9% conversion rate in his final 18 appearances, the Dane’s eye for goal is more than apparent.