In this new series of articles, we assess the Fantasy Premier League (FPL) players with significant potential who are expected to return from injury in time for the Gameweek 17 restart.
Next up is Kyle Walker (£4.8m), who has been out of action since limping off in Gameweek 8. Successful groin surgery just about got him into England’s World Cup squad, where the right-back played 237 minutes.
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INJURY LATEST
Walker started the first six league games of this season before being rested against Wolverhampton Wanderers. When he returned for the Manchester derby, it lasted just 40 minutes before being forced off.
The right-back ruptured his groin with only seven weeks left until the World Cup but was named in Gareth Southgate’s squad, declaring himself fit for the second match against the United States.
“I had the operation, it was needed, I probably played three weeks longer than I should have done. The Manchester United game was the final straw when it popped. It was a rupture on my groin, I got four hooks on my groin, and I did three repairs, but it’s going fantastically well, I am really happy, everyone seems to be happy with it.” – Kyle Walker
Walker was in the Matchday 3 starting line-up in Qatar, staying there for the two subsequent knockout games. There is now no doubt that he is back, match-fit and ready for elite-level matches once the domestic campaign resumes.
2022/23 STATS
Those first half-dozen starts brought in three clean sheets and 22 points, with Man City’s underlying defensive stats looking better here than during the six of Walker’s injury.
Between Gameweeks 1 to 6, the champions ranked best for conceding goal attempts, shots on target and expected goals (xGC):
Looking at each team’s last six matches, Man City are still allowing the fewest goal attempts but were bettered elsewhere by the likes of Arsenal, Newcastle United and Brighton and Hove Albion:
While Manuel Akanji (£5.0m) and John Stones (£5.4m) deputised at right-back, a lot more shots on target were conceded (11 v 18), as xGC jumped from 3.55 to 5.65. How much of it can be attributed to Walker’s absence is up for debate.
From an FPL perspective, Walker offers very little attacking threat as a full-back.
In fewer minutes, Sergio Gomez (£4.5m) and Aymeric Laporte (£5.8m) have collected far more penalty area touches, as Walker has the worst minutes-per-chance ratio of all Man City defenders.
Only two attacking returns have been banked by the England international in three of the last four seasons and he’s yet to get off the mark in 2022/23.
He’s a bit of a ‘clean sheet or nothing’ type of character, then, with a lack of creativity meaning that he is much less prone to picking up bonus points than Joao Cancelo (£7.4m).
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