Jamie Vardy arrives late to the party, Sam Allardyce finally finds the formula and double Gameweeks fill our heads with countless possibilities. With these three things, we close the lid on Gameweek 29.
The Player
Jamie Vardy already has his place in Fantasy Football folklore.
Priced at just 6.0 in the 2015/16 campaign, he emerged as one of the most unlikely “essential” assets in memory. Surging to 24 goals and eight assists, the Leicester City man delivered 211 points, including that run of goals in 11 successive Gameweeks.
The inevitable price hike followed, with a shiny 10.0m price tag making unreasonable demands of a striker who was always likely to struggle to match his title-winning output. But few could have predicted such a slump.
As the champions’ season nose-dived into an unlikely relegation battle, it seemed that Vardy would never threaten to enter our thinking – destined to be cast aside as an expensive also-ran.
But Claudio Ranieri’s departure, and the subsequent appointment of Craig Shakespeare, has rejuvenated the Foxes and Vardy, in particular.
The factors at play are perhaps uncomfortable to explore. The sudden transformation is so stark, we eventually have to question why Vardy has “flicked the switch”, but for now we should just look to exploit this purple patch.
Three goals and two assists since Shakespeare seized the reins for Gameweek 26 has elevated the striker, just as our options up front appear limited.
With Harry Kane ruled out and Zlatan Ibrahimovic likely to be parked until Gameweek 34, Vardy can now come in and do a job over back-to-back home matches with Stoke City and Sunderland.
A goal and assist return at the London Stadium on Saturday provided the latest evidence of the revival; preceded by his tireless performance against Sevilla.
Receiving more passes, attempting and completing more dribbles, creating more chances, shooting more often and involved in 55% of the Foxes goals since Gameweek 26, while Vardy’s underlying numbers have yet to reach the heights of last season, his case for inclusion is strong.
With over 44,000 new owners ahead of Gameweek 30’s meeting with the Potters, Vardy is picking up traffic with the injured Kane and Manolo Gabbiadini making way.
He may struggle to hold onto to those new suitors once the aforementioned King Power Stadium clashes are done but, by that point, he would have served his purpose.
In a season that has seen heavy-hitters shift in and out of our squads with regularity, Vardy could now fulfill a similar role. Only month ago, even a fleeting two-match cameo seemed far-fetched.
The Team
The impact of Sam Allardyce’s appointment at Crystal Palace has been a long time coming.
Anticipating an immediate honeymoon period, Fantasy managers were put on alert for a marked improvement in points potential – particularly among their defensive assets, with Scott Dann earmarked as a key target.
The instant upturn in form never arrived and, three months later when the Palace rearguard finally show improvement, Dann has been reduced to a watching brief.
Saturday’s 1-0 victory over Watford brought a third successive victory and clean sheet – clear indication that the Eagles have finally bent to the Allardyce vision.
Sadly for Fantasy managers, with Dann frozen out, the key men perhaps offer little appeal as assets.
The combative Luka Milivojevic has proved a vital midfield screen in front of the defence, while Mamadou Sakho has been a stubborn barrier at centre-back and is responsible for Dann’s reduced role.
While Sakho has produced maximum bonus points in successive matches, he’ll be ineligible for the first of Palace’s two Gameweek 34 fixtures against Liverpool, driving us to look elsewhere when considering our options.
On his return from injury, Patrick van Aanholt will undoubtedly offer the best of both worlds – the promise of further defensive returns, coupled with a buccaneering attacking style that’s always likely to produce a goal or assist.
The double-header with Liverpool and Spurs seems unlikely to reap defensive rewards, a factor that could yet see us consider Allardyce’s attacking charges.
Wilfried Zaha may yet edge his way back into our thinking and even Christian Benteke – with a point to prove against Liverpool – could even find a reprieve.
But, as mentioned in This Much We Know, it remains to be seen if Palace can play a positive role in our season climax.
The defensive revival under Allardyce could simply serve to stifle returns from our heavy-hitters, with Palace never truly offering attacking promise of their own while the quest to grind out points remains a priority.
The Talking Point
With the Gameweek 34 schedule now reinforced with five new fixtures, chatter of the impending double Gameweeks dominates our thinking.
We now know that the rescheduling of the remaining six fixtures will come “in or around April 7”.
As a result, they can surely only drop in from Gameweek 33 onwards. With 34 fully stocked, we have a limited window to fit the remaining matches.
It appears that five can slot into Gameweek 37, scheduled for May 16 and 17 – avoiding any clash with UEFA semi-final fixtures.
But that still likely leaves Southampton’s St Mary’s clash with Arsenal orphaned and set for another Gameweek.
As Swan identified in his recent Hot Topic, the smart money is on Gameweek 35 which, while colliding with UEFA fixtures, still appears the most likely destination given Arsenal’s Monday night fixtures and the fact that they would face two matches in Gameweek 37.
For now, this is all pure speculation, but already the prospect of Alexis Sanchez facing two double Gameweeks (tot/sou and stk/SUN) has to put us on alert, particularly with the chips in mind.
Equally, Southampton would be graced with a Gameweek 35 double-header handing them twin home matches with Arsenal and Hull City. They could follow that, in Gameweek 37, with a trip to Boro while hosting a weary Manchester United days later.
We need confirmation, emptied treatment rooms and some clarity on end of season motivation before we can really exploit the possible scenario in front of us.
But, once again, the fixture list, coupled with our remaining chips, looks destined to offer us the opportunity to end the season with a three-figure score and a significant spike in rank.
