There is nothing quite like a managerial change to rekindle interest in a Fantasy Premier League “sleeper”.
Gylfi Sigurdsson‘s (£7.5m) appeal as an FPL asset was nullified last season playing under both Ronald Koeman and Sam Allardyce at Everton, with the Icelandic midfielder having his worst season from a Fantasy perspective (four goals, four assists and a total of 96 FPL points) since leaving Tottenham Hotspur in 2014.
Unlike during his two-year spell at White Hart Lane, Sigurdsson was a regular first-team fixture for the Toffees during 2017/18, starting 25 of Everton’s first 30 league matches before a knee injury cut short his season.
Many pundits pointed to the fact that a large chunk of those appearances for Everton featured Sigurdsson as a left-sided midfielder in a 4-2-3-1 (or variations thereof), unable to influence the game as much as he could from his preferred “number 10” position.
It should be said, though, that Sigurdsson featured a lot on the left flank during his final campaign with Swansea City, a season that ended with nine goals and 13 assists for the Iceland international.
The capture of Richarlison (£6.5m) from Watford looks likely to put that argument to bed, with the Brazilian winger set to play on the left wing for new Everton boss Marco Silva as he did at Vicarage Road at the beginning of 2017/18.
Silva has stated that, should he be able to recruit a suitable candidate for the all-action “number 6” role, he intends for Everton to line up in a 4-3-3 formation this season, giving the freedom for at least one of the three-man midfield to step up and support the attacking trio.
This channel between midfield and attack would seem ideally suited for Sigurdsson to occupy and Iceland’s talisman made his first post-World Cup appearance for the Toffees in one of the central attacking midfield positions in the 3-0 pre-season friendly defeat to Blackburn Rovers on July 26. Sigurdsson was said to be one of the few players to emerge from that chastening loss with any credit, having demonstrated that he could execute Silva’s high-pressing gameplan in his 45-minute showing.
Sigurdsson was quiet in the 4-1 defeat to Rennes on July 28 but set Richarlison on his way for Everton’s consolation strike.
The Toffees’ current form in general is something of a concern. While too much weight can be given to pre-season run-outs that are effectively fitness-building exercises, Everton are nevertheless winless in five, having scored on only two occasions during these matches and conceded nine.
That Richarlison, who is available for £1.0m cheaper than Sigurdsson in FPL, has looked sprightly and found the back of the net in pre-season would further dent the Icelandic midfielder’s appeal.
Sigurdsson’s statistics from his final year at Swansea and his talismanic performances at the World Cup this summer, however, suggest that he could still be a credible FPL candidate in the right set-up.
GOAL THREAT
Sigurdsson mustered only 39 attempts on goal last season at a rate of a chance every 58 minutes. That mean was well down on his efforts in 2016/17, when averaging a shot on goal every 28.7 minutes. Sigurdsson fired in 116 attempts on goal during his last season with the Swans, with only Christian Eriksen (£9.5m) and Alexis Sanchez (£10.5m) bettering that total among midfielders.
Everton’s record signing also had three fewer big chances, 27 fewer shots in the box and 33 fewer penalty area touches in 2017/18 than he had managed the previous season.
While it is easy to conclude that Sigurdsson is an FPL asset on the wane, some context needs to be provided as to how anaemic Everton were under Koeman and especially Allardyce on the whole.
Despite finishing eighth, Everton ranked 19th for attempts on goal and 18th for shots in the box. In the 24 matches that Marco Silva had at the helm of Watford, the Hornets registered 275 shots on goal. Allardyce’s tenure at Everton lasted exactly the same amount of league fixtures, with the Toffees recording only 213 attempts on goal under his reign.
While we are yet to see Silva fulfil his remit of bringing “attractive, attacking football” to Goodison Park in pre-season, the new Everton manager’s more offensive philosophy will surely bode well for Sigurdsson. That the Icelander’s goal conversion rate actually improved last season highlights that, if given adequate attacking opportunities, he will guarantee goals.
CREATIVITY
Like his goal threat figures, Sigurdsson’s underlying creativity statistics also nosedived last season.
The Icelandic midfielder created 38 chances at a rate of one every 60 minutes, a drop-off from the 2016/17 campaign in which he carved out 77 opportunities for the Swans and averaged a key pass once every 43 minutes.
Again, though, Sigurdsson’s figures reflect Everton’s laboured attacking play in 2017/18: the Toffees ranked 18th for chances created among Premier League sides.
SET-PIECE DUTIES
Where Sigurdsson’s goal and assist potential could really be enhanced this season is from dead-ball situations.
The Icelandic midfielder took 75 corners last season, a huge drop-off from the 2016/17 season in which he delivered 183 corner-kicks for the Swans. Sigurdsson also only had four attempts on goal from set-play situations in 2017/18, down from 27 in the previous campaign.
Sigurdsson could have the monopoly on set pieces this season, though. Wayne Rooney, who took 30 corners last season, has departed for the United States, while Leighton Baines (£5.5m), who took 22 corner-kicks, could soon be surplus to requirements with left-back Lucas Digne expected to sign from Barcelona in the coming days.
Sigurdsson might be presented with significantly more free-kick opportunities this season, too, and not just owing to the absence of Rooney: new signing Richarlison was the most fouled played in the Premier League last season.
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