Last weekend saw the return of Jose Bosingwa to Premier League action after a year-long absence with a knee injury and the Chelsea full-back thoroughly impressed against Mick McCarthy‘s Wolves.
Although Chelsea have both Branislav Ivanovic and Paulo Ferreira as options for the right-back slot, Bosingwa is perhaps the best fit for Carlo Ancelotti’s system and the Chelsea boss admitted as much after the 2-0 win, saying:
Bosingwa was one the best players on the pitch. He put a lot of pressure on in the second half by pushing up without the ball and he had opportunities to score. For 70 minutes he played very well and he is an important player for us in the future because we can use his speed and resistance to play better in attacking play.
A look at this Average Position map from the Wolves game indicates there was not much positional difference between Ashley Cole (no.3) and Bosingwa (no.17) on Saturday and suggests that, within this system, Bosingwa can be expected to mirror the threat of Cole on the opposite flank every time he is selected.
As the Passing Heatmaps below also show, 40% of all Bosingwa’s passes were made in his opponent’s final third of the pitch, whereas only 32% of all Cole’s were. Given that Bosingwa made 50 passes and Cole made 38, it’s fair to say there was more of a threat coming down Chelsea’s right flank for a change.
As a result, Bosingwa made 2 Key Passes that led to Goal Attempts on Saturday, and considering that Cole has made 10 Key Passes in 9 games, it’s food for thought for Fantasy Premier League (FPL) managers, bearing in mind the right-back comes in at £5.6m compared to Cole’s £8.2m. However, for those Fantasy managers giving him the once over, a word of caution: there’s no doubt that Ancelotti will take time in easing him back into the fold, and it’s perhaps worth waiting to see how things unfold over the next couple of gameweeks before diving in. Once his fitness is full, though, it’s feasible that Bosingwa’s impact could see him become a first-team regular if Ancelotti’s comments are anything to go by.
Bosingwa also managed 3 shots at goal and was perhaps unlucky not to find the net, denied by Marcus Hahnemann on a couple of occasions. This was an amount beaten only by Didier Drogba on the day and considering Ashley Cole has had 6 shots at goal all season, it’s further indication of his attacking prowess.
Somewhat bizarrely, despite lagging behind Bosingwa in such critical areas, Cole was still awarded all 3 FPL Bonus Points but if the right-back continues to perform as he did at the weekend, there’s no reason why he won’t soon be offering the kind of returns that saw him bag 156 FPL points a couple of seasons ago.
