Today’s oh-so comfortable FA Cup win against against Burnley demonstrated that Arsenal hadn’t completely forgotten how to score goals at the Emirates. With injuries clearing, the Gunners are building the momentum to catch and overtake Villa in the coming weeks. However, such are the options available to Wenger, it looks doubtful as to whether fantasy managers can truly benefit from a possible Arsenal revival….
Today’s superbly taken strikes by Vela and Eduardo, plus the appearance of Theo Walcott from the bench, acted as a reminder of the attacking resources no available to Wenger. With Arshavin on the pitch out on the left wing, Van Persie a second-half sub, Bendtner preserved on the bench and a near-fit Adebayor in the stands, it’s clear that Arsenal go into the final ten league games with an abundance of options up front and in wide positions. With Cup silverware to play for, both domestically and in Europe, Wenger will have an unprecedented number of alternatives to use in his Premier League frontline, making fantasy selection from the Arsenal attacking ranks a real lottery.
To this point only Van Persie has truly warranted our attention, with nine goals and seven assists to his name. His prospects have taken a downturn with recent form and since the arrival of Arshavin who, with the return to fitness of Walcott, can now come in from a wide position and adopt a role behind a lone striker – as he did with Bendtner at West Brom.
Adebayor meanwhile has suffered a stuttering season that has never really come close to justifying his substantial fantasy price tag off the back of last season’s outstanding goal haul. His return to fitness will undoubtedly lead to starts but he will remain threatened by the rise of Bendtner who appears to be winning Wenger over with each and every start in a Gunners shirt.
Arshavin, with his ineligibility in Europe, appears likely to end the season with the most league starts over the final furlong. I still question Arshavin’s fantasy potential this season however. Classed as a forward across the fantasy games – I’m still left wondering just how often Wenger will utilise him as an out-and-out forward over these final games. When deployed out wide, as he was against Burnley, Arshavin can be peripheral to the action and miss out on the bigger points hauls. The Gunners scored three at the Hawthorns and three today – on both occasions Arshavin left the game with an assist. Is that really enough to warrant his price tag (9.5 in the FPL) as a fantasy forward?
With ten Arsenal league games to go then, we are likely to witness a fair degree of rotation between Arshavin, Bendtner, Adebayor and Van Persie. This will spread to Walcott, Nasri and Eboue who look set to share out the starting roles out wide, with Arshavin also providing an option here. The degree of rotation will much depend on Arsenal’s fate in Rome on Wednesday. If they survive that test and make passage to the last eight, then the fantasy prospects of Van Persie and Adebayor will surely worsen. That would appear to leave us with Bendtner as an occasional budget consideration and Arshavin as a risky differential.
There might well be goals at the Emirates once again then, but any fantasy manager attempting to plunder them, appears to face a waltz through a minefield of rotation.