Marc Albrighton was the popular choice, every man and his dog had the Englishman in their sides with the promise of a nailed-on option and even some potential attacking returns with a solid 4 assists in less than a thousand minutes last season. Everything was great and most fantasy manager’s benches looked better because of him...until he got injured. In a similar situation to that of Jerome Thomas last year with Crystal Palace, the best dirt cheap midfield option had picked up a knock just before the season started and left fantasy managers scrambling for a suitable replacement. So now with Albrighton no longer an option for our teams many managers are simply settling for a nailed-on player to fill the 4.5 void left in their fifth mid slot. There are really only a handful of options left that fit that description and I will assess them to show you which player should garner that final spot in your XI; Cheick Tioté, Victor Wanyama, Dean Marney or Karim El Ahmadi.

Cheick Tioté
The Newcastle man from the Ivory Coast is almost certainly nailed for the Magpies, Alan Pardew has sung his praises for years and even last year Pardew could be heard saying after a match in late March "He's been terrific this year. He's back to his very best, I would put him in our top three of the year.” Tioté played the third most minutes of any Newcastle player in the premier league last year and is commonly one of the first names on Pardew’s team sheet. The Ivorian’s talents lie as a defensive midfielder though which as we know in FPL terms, does not ordinarily translate to fantasy points. Tioté’s attacking potential is somewhat limited so if you do draft him in keep your expectations in Cheick, he averaged 0.72 Key Passes per 90 minutes last season as well as generating 0.75 chances created per 90 en route to a two assist season. The statistic that stands out the most for Tioté however is his shooting, he averaged 1.43 shots per 90 which was more than any of the other mids he’s being compared with as well as shooting 33% of those shots on target. Those sound like some pretty good stats right? Well the only problem was that he didn’t score any of those shots last season and he has only scored once for Newcastle in his career and that was four years ago in his first season with the club.

Conclusion: Tioté does offers a few positives for prospective managers, he is nailed on and has gotten at least one assist per campaign since arriving at St. James’ Park ahead of the 2010/11 season but the downside is that his chances of adding a goal or two to his name are slim to none and he is a bit of a card magnet having averaged 11.75 cards a season at Newcastle. For those managers who are just searching for a player who will consistently play when fit with the occasional assist out of the blue he’s your man but don’t expect too much by way of points scored in the attacking half.

Victor Wanyama
After playing in just 23 matches last year for an overachieving Southampton side the Kenyan should see even more playing time and be a nailed-on consistent starter for Southampton’s new manager, Ronald Koeman, this upcoming campaign. Victor Wanyama is the definition of a defensive midfielder and is as close to a player playing the Makelele Role as you can see nowadays in the premier league. He is a defensive anchor and was on the pitch for 9 of Southampton’s incredible 15 clean sheets kept last season and while they’ve lost a few key components in their backline, Wanyama playing each match will be a large positive for the saints though around 15 clean sheets will be harder to record for a second straight campaign. The downside however is that Wanyama offers owners extremely little hope of potential attacking returns. Last season Victor created an abysmal 0.38 chances chances per 90 minutes which was the lowest sum by far when compared to the other nailed-on 4.5 priced mids and unsurprisingly he recorded not a single assist. On the shooting side the Kenyan is not much better, he averaged just 0.98 shot per 90 but when coupled with a disappointing 15% shot accuracy rate it meant that Wanyama had more of his shots reach row Z then land on the frame of the goal.

Conclusion: Many managers will flock to Wanyama as an option seeing just the face value, a nailed-on midfielder for a very cheap price in a relatively potent attacking side but as the the stats will tell you, Wanyama offers extremely little in terms of potential attacking points and you will more than likely see a score of 1-3 points on your bench each gameweek should you select him. If you just want the bare minimum out of your 4.5 midfielder (meaning that he’s just nailed-on) because you are worried about possibly benching points then Victor Wanyama is the way to go but he is really the worst option out of the four midfielders in consideration for your side.

Karim El Ahmadi
The Moroccan Central Midfielder looks to feature for Aston Villa regularly this season just as he did the last. Paul Lambert does have another option in Ashley Westwood for that second central midfielder spot alongside Fabian Delph, making El Ahmadi the least nailed of the four but nonetheless he is still a relativley safe pick to start the majority of matches for the villains. El Ahmadi has the best shooting statistics on paper of all your 4.5 options, last season he averaged 1.29 shots per 90 minutes and an outstanding 44% of those shots managed to be on target meaning he can be very active in Villa attacks and he produced two goals for Villa by season’s end. Karim is a decent passer as well, he played 0.75 key passes per 90 and created 0.79 chances per 90 minutes last season and ended up with one assist to his name. El Ahmadi also has the added benefit of occasionally being on some free kicks and corners which can obviously only boost his appeal.

Conclusion: El Ahmadi is one of the better options at 4.5, he offers decent attacking potential for his price and he often will join in the Villa attack, his great shot on target percentage is reassuring to those who are willing to take a plunge on him as you can hope for a few goals here or there. The downside to El Ahmadi is that the majority of his shots are taken from outside the box and with Westwood lurking and Paul Lambert open to rotation, Karim could be susceptible to losing his place in the starting XI which would render him a deadweight on your bench so while the Moroccan is a good selection he does have his fair share of risks tied to him.

Dean Marney
Now we get to whom I feel is the best option at 4.5 million in a fantasy manager’s midfield, Dean Marney is a holding midfielder for Burnley who likely offers the greatest potential return of attacking points for your investment. He will almost certainly be nailed-on as he is a fan favorite and played 38 matches for Burnley last season. Marney does have premier league experience from when he played with Hull in the 2008/09 and 2009/10 seasons. In his first season with Hull, Marney provided a great showing, racking up 5 assists in just over 1000 minutes played and in his second he did performed well once again scoring a goal and getting three assists over the campaign. However, these stats were all from five and six years ago but worry not, this past season while playing in the Championship Marney scored 3 goals and assisted 7 more a very reassuring stat line for prospective owners to see. The Englishman’s numbers from last year are impressive as well and certainly tell the story behind his production last campaign. Marney produced 1.01 Key Passes per 90 minutes as well as creating 1.17 chances per 90 last season which bode well for those hoping he can replicate his seven assist form from a season ago. Marney took 1.22 shots per 90 and a solid 30% of them found their way on target, both good statistics for a holding midfielder.

Conclusion: There really is not a better option than Marney for 4.5, he provides the best amount of potential attacking points to be had at that price and should he start firing the way he is capable of and the way we’ve seen him do in the past he could be excellent value in perhaps catching a few price rises and who knows, he might even come off your bench once and delight you with a goal or an assist showing.

Hope this helps in making your selection and good luck this upcoming season!