Brentford are set to rise to the top of our Season Ticker for ease of fixture difficulty once their Gameweek 8 clash with Chelsea is out of the way.
Their (mostly) favourable run stretches from Gameweeks 9-19, which takes us right the way through to Boxing Day.
Fantasy Premier League (FPL) managers currently on a Wildcard ought to be seriously thinking about the Bees’ assets for this period, then, while the rest of us will likely be eyeing up Thomas Frank’s side once Saturday’s visit of the European champions has been and gone.
Frontmen Ivan Toney (£6.4m) and Bryan Mbeumo (£5.5m), who are the two most-bought Brentford players of Gameweek 8, will be among those competing for our attention.
One is the penalty-taking talisman of their promotion-winning season, the other is a cheaper, ‘out of position’ midfielder who has matched his strike partner for goals scored in 2021/22.
But which of them is more deserving of our investment – and is there room for both in our FPL squads going forward? Our Premium Members article delves deeper.
MBEUMO v TONEY: THE COMPARISONS
Mbeumo stacks up very well next to Toney when it comes to goal threat, trumping or matching his strike partner for penalty box touches (32 v 29), goal attempts (17 v 16), shots in the box (11 v 11) and big chances (5 v 2).
Arguably the most eye-catching stat is ‘expected goals’ (xG) when penalties are taken out of the equation: Mbeumo’s figure (3.2) is almost three times that of Toney’s (1.11).
Toney has been the more creative of the two so far in 2021/22. Edging Mbeumo for chances created by 11-8, Toney has supplied four ‘big chances’ to his strike partner’s zero.
Indeed, the forward’s ‘expected assists’ (xA) tally is 1.91 to Mbeumo’s 0.54.
All of that leaves the two Brentford attackers pretty much level for expected goal involvement (xGI) overall: Mbeumo the greater goal threat from open play, Toney the man on penalties who looks like he may chip in with almost as many assists this season as goals.
