A broken leg in Gameweek 4 put paid to Bobby Zamora’s promising start in Fulham’s only Premier League campaign under Mark Hughes. The forward began the 2010/11 season in good form, with 3 Bonus Points away to Bolton on the opening day followed by an assist in the 2-2 home draw with Man United and a goal away to Blackpool at the tail end of August.
Fourteen Fantasy Premier League (FPL) points from the first three game weeks saw 17K managers ship Zamora in during the first international break, with a home fixture against Wolves looking likely to give the Cottagers their first win of the campaign. Twenty-nine minutes into the match, however, a challenge by Karl Henry resulted in Zamora being stretchered from the pitch with a broken leg and despite Moussa Dembele snatching an injury-time inner for the Cottagers, the injury to Zamora took the shine off their victory.
A six-month absence saw him return to action in early March and Zamora’s impact was immediate; coming off the bench to replace Danny Murphy on 70 minutes, he scored a last-minute penalty to clinch a 3-2 home win over Blackburn Rovers. Zamora wasted little time in carrying on his good form, with a two goals and an assist in the following couple of matches highlighting his top-flight capabilities and, with his price having dropped from 6.5 to 6.0, was looking a real bargain as double gameweek 34 approached.
Much to the chagrin of his Fantasy investors, Zamora made two brief sub appearances over those two fixtures and picked up just one FPL point for 45 minutes of game time, with Mark Hughes easing him back into action. This was a temporary blip, though, and the final four gameweeks of the season saw Zamora grab 1 goal, 3 assists and 4 Bonus Points, as the Cottager’s finished the season in eighth place.
Key Factors
- New Fulham boss Martin Jol has already promised more attacking football at the Cottage this upcoming season and not only will this benefit the team’s forwards, it could lessen the appeal of their defensive players, with less clean sheets a possibility. Investment in their front men could be the way to go this season under Jol.
- Zamora played just 757 minutes last term, with a total of nine starts and six sub appearances. Despite this, he picked up 5 goals, 5 assists and 10 Bonus Points and with 63 points, he averaged 4.5 points per game. This was the same return ratio as Clint Dempsey, despite the American’s reputation as a more reliable Fantasy performer.
- Fulham’s Europa Cup qualifying games have seen them start the season earlier than any other top-flight team and Jol’s side could approach the start of the 2011/12 campaign with a little bit more match-sharpness than the rest of the Premier League.
- The Cottagers have one of the kindest runs of early matches to the new campaign- a look at the season ticker sees their “fixture difficulty” ranked second easiest up to gameweek 10, with a home match against Man City in gameweek 5 the only time they face any of last season’s top five in their opening ten Premier League matches.
- Coming in at 7.0, Zamora is still reasonably priced and looks certain to lead the line in Jol’s 4-4-2 formation, with Moussa Dembele and Andy Johnson likely to battle it out for the slot alongside him. Zamora is the only guaranteed starter up front under Jol and with the new manager determined to go on the attack, could prove to be a decent acquisition for those Fantasy managers willing to invest.
