With just the one game to salivate over today it was difficult to get overly excited. Sunday’s solitary fixture saw Everton travel to the Reebok to play Bolton and, with neither team having a double game this week, it was unlikely that many Fantasy Football managers would have had much interest. It did however provide a useful scouting exercise for those of us with half an eye on the Toffees in light of their forthcoming double fixture. So what did the good honest Fantasy Football gaffer gleam from todays festivities?
Well the first thing to note is this game pretty much summed up Everton’s season. Whilst they weren’t overly bad they weren’t particularly good either and its not hard to see why they are languishing close to the relegation zone. The Toffee’s seem reliant on Seamus Coleman and in particular Leighton Baines marauding down the flanks and putting the ball into areas for Tim Cahill to attack. It would be no surprise therefore if investment by gamers is limited to these three players.
Everton’s defensive performances have been nothing to write home about over recent weeks having failed to keep a clean sheet in 9 Gameweeks. However with Baines and Coleman you have two players with such attacking intent that this almost compensates for the lack of defensive pointage. The pricey Baines offers more chance of assists being the better crosser and being involved in set pieces but Coleman’s position of the flank means that he is always likely to be involved in anything Everton do going forward.
Cahill’s record speaks for itself with 9 goals and 4 assists this season. His goalscoring prowess wasn’t as missed as first feared with the walking sick-note Louis Saha coming good with 6 goals in the Australians absence. However as King Louis was, shock horror, injured again Cahill was pushed back in the centre forward role against the Trotters. Investment in the Australian is almost certain to be high particularly with the double gameweek but also with the fact that Everton have three home games in the next four. He was kept quite today bar a missed chance in the first half.
I struggled to find anyone else in a blue shirt today who could justify investment outside the aforementioned trio. I was hoping that a gem might emerge which would be a bit outside the box – alas it wasn’t to be. Not even previous favourite Mikel Arteta did enough today or has been doing enough of late to justify investment in my opinion.
Bolton’s on loan striker Daniel Sturridge continued his fine start at the Reebok with his third goal in as many appearances. Whilst he doesn’t have a double in the offing, at 5.2m on the FPL game, he may well come onto the radar of managers looking to replace Odemwingie at the end of this current double gameweek and definitely falls into the bargain basement differential category. A couple of away games and Manchester United to come may cause many to double take but as with Jack Wilshire, Owen Coyle appears to able to get the best out of young English loanee’s so I expect his form to continue.
