The Digest – Gameweek 2

With just two Gameweeks gone, it’s Premier League new boys who have defied the odds to earn attention from Fantasy managers. We examine the credentials of a reborn England hopeful, assess the talent of his team-mates before examining an FPL points trend that has us re-assessing our established thinking.

The Player

Fraizer Campbell’s brace against City not only put the Cardiff faithful in dreamland, it also placed Fantasy managers on alert to a potential source of goals in the budget bracket.

The timing was perfect: with Nicolas Anelka absent from the West Brom squad through compassionate leave and possible retirement, Campbell cropped up to provide an obvious like-for-like replacement. Priced at just 5.5 in the Fantasy Premier League (FPL) game, £6.3 million in Sky Sports and just £1.5 million in Sun Dream Team, Campbell has soared in the rankings across all three games and is suddenly blinking brightly on the radar.

It’s unlikely that he’ll find a defence so obliging from set-plays as City were on Sunday afternoon but, regardless, Campbell’s pace was a factor all match and is set to be a key component of Cardiff’s attacking play this term.

The former United striker has played just 14 times for the Welsh club and now scored nine goals in those appearances, underlining his value to Malky Mackay since arriving in Wales. It’s led to the Cardiff boss talking up Campbell’s chances of an full England recall…

“I firmly believe in him and I think he has got a lot of ability. He showed against top, top defenders that if he keeps his head down, keeps working and keeps playing like that there’s a chance eventually he will be considered for England again.”

Injuries have previously blighted the 25-year-old’s promising career and they will remain the key concern for those considering investment. That, and the presence of new signing, Andreas Cornelius, will cast some doubts over his long-term potential but there’s no doubting that Campbell has the confidence and ability to more than justify the modest outlay in the short-term.

Certainly, Campbell has drawn plenty of new suitors ahead of Cardiff’s home clash with Everton. Almost 60,000 FPL managers have taken the bait, ranking Campbell behind just David Silva and Ross Barkley for popularity.

The Team

While Campbell was the protagonist on show in Cardiff’s victory over City, the three points were made possible by resolute defending and organisation across the pitch. Drilled with some efficiency by Mackay, the Welsh club showed they will be a tough nut to crack on their home soil, perhaps prompting Fantasy managers to reconsider the defensive assets on show.

Centre-back Ben Turner looks the preferred option priced at just 4.0 in the FPL and the cheapest active Bluebird defender in the both the Sky Sports and Sun Dream Team. Turner may come under threat from Mark Hudson for his starting role but, as yet, that challenge has not materialised, leaving Turner clear to offer budget potential for would-be suitors.

A patchy set of forthcoming fixtures may yet perturb that investment, with Mackay’s attacking options perhaps more likely to draw interest. Both Peter Whittingham and Kim Bo-Kyung were prominent in Sunday’s win, with the South Korean pitched furthest forward in support of striker Campbell. It was Aron Gunnarsson who opened the scoring, though, and with eight strikes in the promotion campaign, he is another coming under close scrutiny.

As mentioned, the fixture list could be the caveat to consider. So strong in front of their own fans, Cardiff’s favourable home matches look set to arrive in the second half of the season. Indeed, in the next five home games, Mackay’s side face the derby with Swansea and dates with Tottenham, United and Arsenal.

The Talking Point

With just two Gameweeks down, it appears that defences have been on top to this point, with Fantasy backlines offering strong returns. We saw nine clean sheets in Gameweek 2, to add to the seven on show in the opening weekend. While that seems more than usual, it’s worth pointing out that we’d seen 13 clean sheets at this point last term – we’ve seen an increase, then, but not by a huge margin.

It’s perhaps the spread of bonus points that have had a more significant impact. So far this season, no less than 35 defenders have benefited from bonus points. This is compared to just 13 midfielders and 16 forwards. Indeed, over the 16 matches that have featured clean sheets, 29 defenders have been awarded bonus points.

It’s already clear that, regardless of goals being scored in a match, if a clean sheet is kept, then defenders, particularly dominant centre-backs, have a strong chance of harvesting bonus rewards. Of those aforementioned 29 defenders, no less than 21 were centre-backs, with only 8 full-backs fetching bonus points in a clean sheet by comparison.

That kind of trend, should it continue as anticipated, will likely have FPL managers reconsidering their backlines. It seems we need to weigh up the attacking potential of our full-backs next to the apparent advantage granted to centre-backs when it comes to bonus points.