Things couldn’t have gone any better for Newcastle and Andy Carroll. A hat-trick in the 6-0 demoliton of Villa in the first home game of the season was an outcome that few could have predicted. Throw in an assist for Nolan’s goal (almost) and the inevitable Fantasy Premier League (FPL) Bonus Points and it’s clear that we are set to see the fastest moving Fantasy bandwagon of the season so far.
Priced at just 5.0 in the FPL game Carroll soar straight to the top of the shopping list to a position previously occupied by Marlon Harewood after his brace for Blackpool on the opening weekend.
Carroll may cost that 0.5 more but is a far better prospect. A constant threat in the air with decent enough mobility and touch, Carroll looks set to play a similar role to that of Kevin Davies for Bolton – with the promise of a few more goals thrown in. Given the number of ball he wins and “passes” he’ll contribute in the opponents half, you can see Carroll collecting regular Bonus Points in Newcastle victories in a similar way to Davies for Bolton…
Having scored a goal every two games in the Championship last term, we were “projecting” a modest goal return of 8 goals from 32 starts for Carroll; the fact that Newcastle weren’t expected to win matches by a six goal margin had a lot to do with that. That’s now been ripped up the Newcastle showing and his hat-trick today. Neither will come up against many defences as obliging as Villa’s but Carroll showed more than enough to suggest that he’ll comfortably notch the goals and Bonus Points to easily justify an outlay of 5.0 and maybe contribute enough to mantain Newcastle’s Premier League status.
This is of course an excited knee jerk but it really does look difficult to argue against acquiring Carroll right now. Newcastle’s fixtures even fall in his favour over the next few months (wlv BLA eve STK mcy WIG whm SUN). Home games will be crucial to Newcastle and Carroll’s points tally and those four against Blackpool, Stoke, Wigan and Sunderland all look set to lend him the platform to offer immediate return on any investment.
Watch his FPL price soar this week as thousands of lineups become Drogba, Carroll plus an(other) up front.