Swansea and Stoke Reviewed

Next up for the review and preview process are Swansea and Stoke, who finished 8th and 9th in the Premier League (PL) with 56 and 54 points respectively. Both are managed by highly regarded managers.

Stoke’s Mark Hughes has built on a top-level playing career to gain experience managing Wales (successfully) and Manchester City (not quite so successfully), among others. He has drawn considerable praise for the way he has overseen Stoke’s evolution from the Tony Pulis era side to a more fluid style of play over the last two seasons, and without spending a large amount on transfer fees.

Gary Monk has been commended by a number of pundits for his work at Swansea over the last 18 months. Patrick Vieira said recently:

I really believe he will be one of the best managers in the next few years because he knows what he wants, he knows how he wants the team to play and his man-management is really good.

Similar in terms of goals scored (Swansea 46, Stoke 48) and goals conceded (Swansea 49, Stoke 45), this pair of teams are interesting for Fantasy Premier League (FPL) managers for a number of reasons. Firstly, they have a number of good players with proven FPL pedigree that are unlikely to carry premium price tags – Gylfi Sigurdsson, Lukasz Fabianski and Ashley Williams of Swansea and Asmir Begovic, Jonathan Walters, Ryan Shawcross and Charlie Adam of Stoke being examples. Secondly, both groups of players appear to have good team spirit – an environment that tends to allow individuals to perform at their best. And thirdly, they are likely to be a home/away rotation pair (as they were last season), potentially very useful for our defensive planning. So there should be plenty of potential here to look for the types of player that are always needed in a 15-man FPL squad.

THE DEFENDERS

Stoke defenders were frustrating in the first half of the season. They achieved nine clean sheets over the campaign but only two before Christmas. However, the apparent improvement in the second half of the season could make their defenders good options if they can maintain that form next season.

Goalkeeper Asmir Begovic didn’t have his most rewarding season but has a fairly good record over recent years and is unlikely to be priced higher than this season’s 5.0 and 4.5 could even be possible. With Jack Butland as an able deputy, he could be a good option for FPL managers looking for a keeper and backup from the same team. Ryan Shawcross didn’t have his best season either and was probably over-priced at an initial 5.5. He is the linchpin of the Stoke defence, capable of the odd goal from set pieces and could also be one to consider if he comes in at 5.0 this time.

However, it will probably be the lower priced defenders that FPL managers will find most interesting, and Phil Bardsley, Geoff Cameron, Erik Pieters and Philipp Wollscheid could all come in at 4.5, with Marc Muniesa and Marc Wilson (who are probably less certain starters) possibly at 4.0. Of these, Cameron (who has just signed a new three-year contract) and Eric Pieters (Hughes’ first signing for Stoke) might be the best options. But it will really be a matter of looking at Stoke in pre-season to get an idea of Hughes’ first choice backline for the coming campaign.

Swansea are a team capable of good defensive resilience, as their excellent 13 clean sheets show. The late season 1-0 at the Emirates, while it owed a lot to a great goalkeeping display by their keeper Fabianski, was also a fine example of good organisation and the ability to execute a game plan. However, Swansea actually conceded more goals than Stoke despite having more clean sheets; when things went wrong they tended to go wrong in a bigger way, as the nine goals conceded in two games against Chelsea demonstrated.

Fabianski was the highest scoring keeper in FPL with 151 points – better than all the premium goalkeepers. He was also one of the five best players in the game for value with a return of 28.5 FPL points per 1.0. Unfortunately, he will almost certainly be priced higher this season after that kind of performance – 5.5 would seem to be the most likely mark. Many will find that too expensive for a Swansea goalkeeper.

Ashley Williams is very similar to Shawcross in some ways – the defensive linchpin and captain and a proven FPL asset. Unfortunately he could also be due for a price hike to 5.5 after a good season, at which level he may not be such good value. His central defensive partnership with Argentinian Federico Fernandez, who may be available next season for a more budget-friendly 5.0,  impressed Fabianski, who said:

I think they are right up there with the best defensive pairings in the Premier League, it has been a pleasure to play with them this season.

As with Stoke, however, it will probably be the lower priced defenders that many FPL managers will look to. Neil Taylor had a good season and has just signed a new four-year contract with the Swans. Could 4.5 be possible? Maybe, though 5.0 seems more likely. Perhaps the best chance for a starting 4.5 defender will be Kyle Naughton, who nailed down the right-back spot after arriving in January before succumbing to injury. But as he played so little over the season as a whole, 4.5 could well be possible and he’d look like a good short list option if so.

THE MIDFIELDERS

Swansea and Stoke have good midfielders in the low/medium price bracket, which many FPL managers need to utilise for the awkward fourth spot in a four-man midfield. They tend to deliver good value in terms of points per 1.0 (value), in fact three of them fell inside the top ten midfielders in 2014/15 by that measure – Ki Sung-yueng (25.3 points/1.0) was third, Walters (24.5 points/£1.0) was sixth and Sigurdsson (23.7 points/1.0) was ninth.

Sigurdsson was obviously a stand-out option last season. He was heavily owned from Gameweek 1 when he began with a kind price of 6.0 after his move from Spurs; many FPL managers will have recalled how well he had done in a previous spell at Swansea. And he maintained a good level of returns all season; his 4.8 points per game (PPG) when playing 60 minutes or more was comparable to much more expensive midfielders like Santi Cazorla, Christian Eriksen, Juan Mata and Mesut Ozil. He will surely start this season priced accordingly, though – 7.5m at a guess. At that level he is no longer in fourth midfielder territory really. But his good career goalscoring record and importance to Swansea will still gain him plenty of support.

I will break the other midfielders down into central/defensive midfielders and attacking midfielders. Ki Sung-Yeung, Jonjo Shelvey, and Jack Cork mainly occupied the central midfield positions for Swansea (4-3-3) whilst Steven N’Zonzi and Charlie Adam cemented those positions as the season wore on at Stoke (4-2-3-1). Of these, Adam led his counterparts by a huge margin both for creativity and shooting. A proven FPL asset (remember his Blackpool days?), he could be available at 5.5 or so next season and be an excellent option if he holds down his place long term. Ki demonstrated an ability to time his arrival in the box, scoring eight goals during the campaign, but he seems due for a price hike to around 6.0 and may not offer great value at that level. Jack Cork will also probably find his way into a number of FPL squads as a starting midfielder who seems unlikely to be priced above 4.5.

Of the attacking midfielders, Jefferson Montero, Wayne Routledge and Nathan Dyer were vying for the remaining attacking midfield spot alongside Sigurdsson at Swansea. Whilst for Stoke, Walters, Marko Arnautovic and Victor Moses (due to return to Chelsea) were the preferred options. Until it becomes clear which of the Swansea players are likely to be regulars it is difficult to recommend any of them; in any case they lagged behind their Stoke counterparts by quite a way on creativity and shooting stats. The Stoke options look better, especially Moses if he were to remain at Stoke and stay fit. But recent reports suggest that Stoke may sign Ukrainian Yevhen Konoplyanka on a free transfer from Dnipro. An attacking winger who scores a lot of goals, Konoplyanka was previously linked with Arsenal and Liverpool and could be a great addition to Stoke’s ranks. He’d clearly be one to keep an eye on in the early stages of next season, although his price may be in a similar range to the proven Sigurdsson.

THE STRIKERS

For Stoke, Mame Biram Diouf had a decent season with 128 FPL points. Very pacey, he could certainly be an option in the 6.0/6.5 third striker range, especially as Peter Crouch seems to now mainly be used as an impact substitute rather than a starter. After joining Stoke in the summer of 2014, Diouf improved as a goalscorer as the season went on (seven of his 12 goals came in the last 13 games) and it may be that next season will be when we see what he is really made of.

Bojan Krkic is another that FPL managers will want to consider, depending on price. After taking some time to settle in at Stoke, Bojan became a regular in the team from November and embarked on a run where he scored a creditable 55 FPL points in 12 games (4.6 PPG) and received very good reviews from many pundits. Unlikely to undergo a significant price hike from last season’s 5.0, he could well be a decent option once recovered from his knee injury.

For Swansea, Bafetimbi Gomis, also signed in the summer of 2014, improved as the season went on, especially after Bony left and he became first choice striker. Lagging behind Diouf on chance creation, Gomis was well ahead of him for shots taken per game, both from inside and outside the box, and he scored five of his seven goals in his last six appearances of the season. He seems likely to be priced in the 6.5/7.0 range and, like Diouf, could represent a very interesting option at that level.