A Gameweek that brought goals aplenty was lead by the resurgence of City’s tenacious frontman. He overshadowed another esteemed South American, with Merseyside’s supporting cast begin to catch the eye. As for United, they spluttered without success, with Fantasy managers finding little comfort and age-old arguments opened up once more…
The Player
In a Gameweek that saw City reinstate themselves on top of the Premier League, Carlos Tevez returned his biggest points haul of the season to re-announce himself as a heavy-hitting Fantasy asset.
While nobody was writing off Tevez, one goal in eight consecutive league appearances had seen our focus shift to other, glittering distractions, notably Luis Suarez.
In the week before the 5-0 drubbing of Villa, Tevez had been party to negative transfers for the second consecutive Gameweek, with a deficit of almost 80,000 trades over Gameweeks 10 and 11. There’s little doubt that the majority of those managers switched allegiance to Suarez, a player who had comfortably outscored Tevez over the previous four Gameweeks as he developed a new level of consistency to turn heads.
Regular points scoring was not an issue for Tevez but goals and double-figure returns had escaped him, only for the Argentine to play a pivotal role in putting Villa to the sword.
While a tap-in and penalty kick were amongst the easiest strikes that Tevez will notch this season, the confidence they will bring is surely the factor that will warm the hearts of those who have kept faith with the City man. His contribution of two assists typified a season that has seen Tevez remain at the forefront of City’s attacking play, despite their apparent troubles converting chances and killing off teams. Notably, Tevez has contributed to 50% or City’s goals when on the pitch.
David Silva’s return to midfield will be cited as the catalyst for the five-goal blitz and, ironically, while the orchestrations of the Spaniard will surely benefit Tevez’s output from this point on, Silva also opens the way for more managers to consider shedding the Argentine. Silva now offers the obvious alternative route for City attacking coverage and possibly a more secure one, given that rotation up front will surely bite over the busy Christmas programme.
That said, it’s very difficult to consider doing anything but nurturing the Fantasy worth of Tevez following Saturday’s showing. He proved his class and importance to the City cause and with Robin Van Persie stuttering to a blank at Carrow Road, provided a significant swing across the mini-leagues for those who backed him with the armband.
The Team
Brendan Rodgers’ Liverpool moved to seven league games unbeaten, flexing their muscles with a comfortable 3-0 win over Wigan. While Luis Suarez remains the dominant force and single most coveted Fantasy asset amongst the current Anfield crop, there was little doubt that Saturday’s outcome gave Fantasy managers further food for thought.
The decision to deploy Jose Enrique in an advanced role on the left, with Nuri Sahin benched, drew immediate dividends with the Spaniard fetching goal and assist returns, to accompany Liverpool’s third clean sheet of the season. Named in our “Differentials” going into the weekend, we could not have anticipated such an explosion from Enrique and there’s little doubt that, if he can remain deployed in such a role, he could offer outstanding value for his current Fantasy price tag (5.7 in the FPL, 6.9 in the Sky Sports game).
A knock-on effect of Enrique’s role in front of Glenn Johnson on the left is that it cements the start for Andre Wisdom at right-back. Outstanding this season, the 19-year-old has earned his place in Rodgers’ side, although Fantasy managers have been understandably hesitant to risk acquisition, even with a modest price on offer (4.5 in the FPL, 3.7 in Sky Sports). Wisdom has now started seven consecutive league matches under Rodgers and the fact that the Liverpool boss attempted to find a new role for Enrique would seem to indicate that he is doing his utmost to preserve Wisdom in his lineup.
The value offered by Wisdom in the Liverpool defence from this point on is mirrored by Raheem Sterling in attacking areas. His third place ranking in last week’s Watchlist update raised eyebrows and yet he justified this by delivering his second double-figure points haul of the season. Sterling continues to grow before our eyes as a player and Fantasy asset and, for those who have yet to succumb to the temptation of Suarez, he offers cover of the current Liverpool revolution for a mere 5.4 outlay in the FPL. It’s hard to argue against value like that whilst confidence is flowing through the Anfield gates.
The Talking Point
It was perhaps inevitable that with both Tevez and Suarez delivering double figure returns and even the likes of Santi Cazorla, Eden Hazard and Gareth Bale finding the net, that Van Persie would suffer a blank.
The Dutchman had opportunities to maintain a run that had seen him return either a goal or an assist on every league start thus far but a combination of Norwich resilience and the run of the ball, conspired to keep Van Persie at bay.
While that will have hugely frustrated his Fantasy owners, the majority of which will have surely placed the armband with their expensive striking asset, it showed a chink of light to the remaining Fantasy managers who go on scheming without him.
The argument for and against Van Persie will rage, with the Fantasy Premier League sitting back and admiring what appears to be an almost perfect balancing act with his price tag.
The fact that only four of the top 10 FPL managers currently have Van Persie in their lineup will offer comfort to those who have so far resisted, but that stat perhaps has more to do with the events of Gameweek 12 than the long-term strategy of the leading managers.
With Van Persie rested from Champions League duty and home fixtures against QPR and West Ham in the next seven days, the outlook of those clinging to the United man looks set to improve. Gameweek 12 was a thrill ride for those sans Van Persie but there are clearly plenty of scary moments to come.
