With Super Sunday drawing a line under the gameweek, we can now turn to our regular round-up. We can’t fail to heap further praise on Fulham’s goalscoring American, the continued upturn in Sunderland fortunes and the consistency of a couple of cut-price alternatives in the Man United line-up:
The Player
To be honest, we’re rather tired of promoting the merits of Clint Dempsey. He’s been given plenty of oxygen on this site over previous weeks and immediately after Saturday’s hat-trick heroics in the win over Newcastle. Despite the performances of team-mate Bobby Zamora and the continuing form of United’s Antonio Valencia, we just can’t deny Dempsey’s rightful place as the Digest’s player of the Gameweek.
A 20-point haul was completed this morning with the inevitable three bonus points, lifting Dempsey to eighth in the overall FPL points rankings. Despite an overnight price rise to 8.6, only Demba Ba can offer stronger value than the American.
A glimpse at the FPL market has Dempsey just behind Sunderland’s Stephane Sessegnon for transfers in, the goal and assist return form the Benin international ensuring that he stays ahead as the Gameweek’s most coveted player. Dempsey, however, remains a much sought after acquisition for the coming weeks, despite potentially returning his biggest profit of the season on Saturday.
Gameweek 23’s clash with an inconsistent West Brom marks a homecoming for Roy Hodgson, but also presents another platform for Dempsey to build on his goals tally. With Stoke, Wolves, Swansea and Norwich the next four teams at the Cottage after that, it’s clear that Dempsey’s potential remains strong, as Fulham look to build on their recent attacking form.
The Team
Sunderland’s 2-0 win over Swansea brought a fifth league victory since Martin O’Neill grasped the reins at the Stadium of Light. In this spell, the Black Cats have scored 13 goals, conceding 7 and have kept two clean sheets. Suddenly Fantasy managers are taking notice in a big way, and it’s not just the obvious talents of Stephane Sessegnon drawing our attention.
While Sessegnon confirmed his status as a January Wildcard darling with his goal and assist, James McClean offered another convincing case for a place in our squads as a budget midfield signing. If Sessegnon is too rich for your blood, McClean looks a shoo-in to offer coverage of O’Neill’s blossoming attack.
The charismatic O’Neill is a gift to Fantasy managers – a Premier League boss who resists rotation and instead looks to establish a solid pattern to his team selection, in order to bring familiarity on the pitch. That could make O’Neill’s back four worthy of consideration, given the price tags attached and form and fixtures.
With that in mind, Fantasy managers are looking to the likes of Phil Bardsley, as well as Wes Brown and Simon Mignolet. With Norwich, Arsenal and Liverpool arriving on Wearside next, it might be optimistic to expect imminent defensive returns, but then anything seems possible when O’Neill’s influence is at work.
The Talking Point
United’s 2-1 win at the Emirates once again brought Antonio Valencia and Danny Welbeck to our attention. A goal and assist from the former, supplemented by the latter’s late winner, highlights their flourishing roles within the champions’ first XI.
Valencia continues to overshadow Nani’s output on the flanks, despite filling in at right-back on occasions. Indeed, a look at their respective game times shows Valencia’s work ethic and adaptability affords him more minutes than his Portuguese team mate. Since returning to the first-team in gameweek fourteen, Valencia has missed just eleven minutes, completing eight of United’s subsequent nine fixtures. Nani, on the other hand, has missed seventy-nine minutes; despite starting every one of those nine games, he has been subbed off five times.
Valencia has produced double-figure returns in three of those games compared to Nani’s two, dispelling the myth that the latter is capable of more explosive returns. Their consistency levels are contrasting, too; Nani’s blank in yesterday’s game means he has now failed to produce any attacking returns in his last five fixtures, while Valencia has returned 2 goals, 3 assists and 6 bonus points over the same games. Valencia’s 8.1 price tag, compared to Nani’s 10.4, is one Fantasy managers will surely be looking to exploit, particularly from gameweek 28 onwards, with United’s run-in looking particularly enticing.
Welbeck is also outgunning his far pricier counterpart in the Man United attack. While Wayne Rooney struggles to justify his 12.0 investment, Welbeck, at just 6.6, looks outstanding value if he can continue to cement a starting place in Sir Alex Ferguson’s first XI.
A look at the form of his competition certainly suggests no reason why not. Dimitar Berbatov flickered ever-so-briefly between gameweeks 17-19 but a typically lethargic display at Newcastle has seen him quickly fall from favour. Javier Hernandez seems to have lost the confidence of his manager and has started one match since gameweek 13. Welbeck’s winner at the Emirates was his third goal in his last four starts and indicates he is the form forward for the champions right now.
As we mentioned in Scout Notes earlier, Rooney –despite his penalty duties- has produced attacking returns in just six fixtures since the end of gameweek 5. Compare this to a fellow heavy-hitters Robin Van Persie and Sergio Aguero, who have produced 12 and 8 times respectively times since then, and it all makes for a frustrating captaincy option who continually fails to disappoint.
While Welbeck is never likely to be handed the armband –he has produced double figures just once this season – he certainly affords Fantasy managers a substantial saving in budget over his fellow-forward and seems less and less likely of a punt as the season unfolds.
