Having failed to domestically mirror his headline-making Champions League displays over the last couple of months, Gareth Bale has been a source of frustration for his Fantasy Premier League (FPL) owners. Today, however, the Spurs winger came good with an inspired performance as Harry Redknapp’s side put four past visitors Blackburn.
Bale’s two goals and an assist will surely be followed by the 3 Bonus Points, giving him a total of 18 points from today’s game, which is, incredibly, the combined tally of last eight gameweeks. Given that Rafael Van der Vaart had scored 48 FPL points in the same period prior to today’s game, this gives an indication of just how much Bale has been underachieving in the Premier League, in comparison to his team mate.
Spurs had scored just 2 goals in their last 2 league games at White Hart Lane and were booed off the park last weekend, but today, Harry Redknapp moved from 4-5-1 to his more conventional 4-4-2 formation, which will undoubtedly have influenced today’s scoring.
With Peter Crouch partnered by Roman Pavlyuchenko up top, Van der Vaart was moved from his role behind a lone striker out to the right wing, where he still managed to supply two assists in the home win. Consequently, this was the first home game he has failed to find the net since joining Spurs at the end of this summer’s transfer window.
Bale’s goals were his first since Gameweek 2 and is just reward for the 43.5% of Fantasy managers who have shown patience with him, despite the above-mentioned run of low-scoring. He now sits just 1 FPL point behind Van der Vaart, and dependant on the Dutchman’s Bonus Point allocation this evening, could overtake him by this evening.
Bale sits at £6.8m right now, though his price has been as high as £7.1m this season. This week will no doubt see further heavy investment in the Welshman, despite Spurs travelling to the Emirates next weekend for a North London derby with Arsenal. Clearly, however, Van der Vaart’s consistency is a more dependable source of points and with Redknapp changing the system from game to game, it’s still debatable as to whether Bale is the best Spurs midfielder to have in your FPL squad. His explosive skill and ability to score big, however, was illustrated in emphatic style this afternoon.
