As this 2010/11 season has progressed, the displays of David Silva become more assured with every passing game. There was no questioning the Spaniard’s ability when he joined Man City from Valencia at the start of the season, it was more a question of a tricky settling-in period for a diminutive playmaker less accustomed to the physical rigours of the Premier League.

A look at Silva’s Fantasy Premier League (FPL) points is fairly indicative of his debut campaign; up until the end of January, he’d played 22 games, scoring 1 goal, picking up 5 assists and 7 Bonus Points for a return of just 74 points, averaging just 3.3 points per game. For a player who started the FPL game priced 9.0 back in August, it was something of an understatement to view Silva as poor value in terms of Fantasy Investment.

Since February, however, the Spaniard seems to have found his feet within both the league and Roberto Mancini’s Man City system. The past 9 games have seen score 3 goals, pick up 3 assists and 11 Bonus Points for a 56 point return, or 6.2 ppg, more or less double his previous output.

Last Sunday’s home win over West Ham saw Silva at the heart of so many Man City moves, with a fantastic display that could have brought home far more than just 7 points for his Fantasy Owners. As our Members can see, this was far and away Silva’s most influential performance of the season and it seems that, in the absence of Carlos Tevez, his importance to City has only increased. Here’s a look at his displays in the last two home games, with and without Tevez.

This Average Position map shows Tevez (32) playing far up the field in the Sunderland game. Silva is just obscured by Mario Balotelli (45), who started in the middle of the front three, with Yaya Toure (42) fielded in defensive midfield.

Against West Ham, Silva (21) is virtually in the same position, but the crucial difference here is Balotelli. Playing as the lone forward on Sunday, the Italian’s position, rather than being similar to Tevez, shows a different interpretation of the role, as he played far deeper than the Argentine.

This meant that when in possession there was no Tevez to play forward to and Silva, popping up all over the pitch, became the main outlet time and again. Yaya Toure, back in his familiar berth at attacking central midfield, was City’s most forward player on average, as his endless energy saw him bomb forward and cause the Hammers problems from deep. City kept the ball much better, and had 60% possession against West Ham compared to 50% against Sunderland.

A look at Silva’s passing chalkboards in the two matches is revealing. He made 43 passes against Sunderland but against West Ham his distribution almost doubled, as he made 75 passes in an altogether more threatening performance, despite the match finishing 2-1 to the hosts.

A look at City’s shots also confirms they had more attempts in the West Ham game, with 21 shots (5 blocked) compared to 16 shots (5 blocked) versus Sunderland. Silva, in particular, managed 4 shots against the Hammers but just 1 in the Black Cats demolition, another example of an increase in his attacking potency.

With Tevez still only rated 50-50 for the FA Cup Final and Edin Dzeko failing to make much of an impression, it appears Balotelli is likely to continue leading the line for City, a good omen, perhaps, for Silva Fantasy Owners ahead of the upcoming double gameweek (eve & TOT) and beyond (STK, bol). Let’s hope the City boss chooses not to follow up on his weekend hint of rotation, then.