The good news for Kenwyne Jones this season is that he is now at Stoke City and is clearly the main man. No longer playing second fiddle to Darren Bent, Jones is the perfect front man for Stoke’s direct aerial attack.
The bad news for Jones is that he is at Stoke City, where being the main man is only worth so much when your team average is just one goal per game. However, with a decent batch of fixtures on the horizon for Tony Pulis’ side, the ex-Sunderland man deserves to go under microscope and has sneaked back in to our Watchlist rankings this week.
Jones will be glad to see the back of October; having scored in every league game in September -at home to Aston Villa and West Ham, then away to and Newcastle- he failed to find the net in all four of Stoke’s matches last month. His price has subsequently dropped down to £6.8m in Fantasy Premier League (FPL), matching his lowest price this season; just 2% of FPL Managers now own him.
Despite the current goal drought, Jones continues to look dangerous, with just ten players having more goal attempts in the league so far. It’s his fixtures that make him of interest however.
His next seven games through to the middle of December start with an intriguing return to Sunderland this weekend, at a time when the Black Cats are reeling defensively following last weekend’s mauling at Newcastle. Steve Bruce is promising a shuffle of his back and with Titus Bramble suspended, Jones is set to come up against John Mensah – a player who has not started a league game since the opening day of the season – the 2-2 draw with Birmingham in which the Sunderland defence looked far from confident dealing with the crossed ball and the height of sub Nikola Zigic.
From Gameweek 12, Stoke’s fixtures read very favourably (BIR, LIV, wba, MCY, wig, BLP). Fantasy Managers will be tempted to invest in the Potters but with just one clean sheet this season, it will likely be the attacking options which attracts the most interest. With Matt Etherington and the likes of Jermaine Pennant supplying cross after cross from out wide, Jones should have plenty chances to add his 3 Premier League goals (all headers) so far this season.
Add in his two Carling Cup goals, and Jones has registered 5 strikes in 11 games in all competitions so far this season, a fairer indication of his impact at the Britannia Stadium since his summer move. If he manages to keep up the ratio of one goal every two games over the next few fixtures, Jones could well start seeing transfer traffic coming his way.
