Christian Eriksen becomes the latest midfielder to claim a place in our Team of the Season for 2017/18.
The Tottenham Hotspur playmaker joins counterparts Mohamed Salah, Raheem Sterling and Kevin De Bruyne in our line-up, having earned 7.14% backing in the recent midfield poll.
He also took fourth spot in the Fantasy Premier League (FPL) midfield standings thanks to a total of 199 points.
Yet that was down from a career-high 218 points in 2016/17, when the Dane delivered eight goals and 20 assists.
Although he netted ten times, Eriksen’s assists tally almost halved, dropping to 11.
Looking at the underlying numbers, there was a drop off in minutes per shot (from 23.8 to 33.3) and key passes (from 28 to 34) from the previous campaign.
Eriksen offered a consistent source of returns, with a goal or assist in 19 of his 37 outings.
Surprisingly, though, in spite of that security of pitch time, he played a part in more one goal on just two occasions, managing a mere four double-digit returns.
As a result, an opening cost of £9.5m in FPL deterred plenty of Fantasy managers in a season where many of Man City’s midfield (and Mohamed Salah) were delivering hefty returns for cheaper starting prices.
Nonetheless, Eriksen still bettered team-mates Son Heung-Min (178 points) and Deli Alli (175) to cement his role as the top Spurs midfielder in a season where the north London side were temporarily forced to play their home matches at Wembley Stadium.
The Prospects
Having returned double-digits for both goals and assists for the first time in his FPL career, Eriksen will remain one of the most reliable big-hitting midfielders around.
The underlying numbers show just why.
In terms of goal threat among FPL midfielders, only Salah bettered the Dane for both shots (144 to 97) and efforts on target (66 to 39).
The Spurs playmaker was ranked second only to Kevin De Bruyne for both key passes (105 to 95) and big chances created (19 to 16), a clear sign of his all-round Fantasy ability.
However, Eriksen’s limited close-range threat hints at why his price never went beyond £9.7 last term.
He placed just sixteenth in midfield for efforts in the box (35), lagging behind both Son (51) and Alli (45) for Spurs.
Indeed, he managed just six big chances to Salah’s lofty 43 at the midfield summit.
That lack of threat in the box, relative to the vast majority of premium midfielders, means that Eriksen is more of a “fire and forget” option and less a player whose form will oscillate.
With Mauricio Pochettino’s men now back at White Hart Lane next season, there’s a hope that they can return to the form of 2016/17, where their total of 86 goals was more than any other side.
By comparison, Spurs’ tally of 74 strikes was some 32 goals behind Man City in 2017/18.
Should Spurs up their output, then it’ll be hard to look beyond Harry Kane as their chief source of returns; the England forward looks the the likeliest to rival Salah for the captaincy in any given Gameweek.
Eriksen’s numbers show that he will always remain in the mix for those prepared to double up on Spurs.
But that lack of explosive potential, allied with the increasing competition from Son as the go-to Spurs midfielder, somewhat lessens his allure.
