Is Palmer £4.0m better than Nkunku in FPL?

With Gameweek 1 of Fantasy Premier League (FPL) 2024/25 nearing, we’re welcoming back our team of Hall of Famers and guest writers. Here, eight-time top 10k finisher and Chelsea fan Zophar asks if Christopher Nkunku will provide better value than Cole Palmer.

Now you’re probably looking at the title of this article and saying that ‘coverage’ is an FPL myth. I completely agree with you. I’m not going to be talking about how Christopher Nkunku (£6.5m) can cover Cole Palmer (£10.5m) in your teams because you can’t cover Palmer’s points. He’s just too good.

Instead, I’ll focus on why I think Nkunku is a great FPL option in his own right. And how, pound-for-pound, he might be as good of an option or an even better one than his colleague.

PRE-SEASON SO FAR

From what I have seen of this pre-season under new coach Enzo Maresca, I think Chelsea are going to be a much stronger collective outfit this time, compared to the Palmer team of 2023/24. This should mean that goals and assists will be more spread out amongst the squad.

Granted, all these observations have been without the England international playing a single minute. It’s all based on very limited information, alongside the past preferences of Maresca.

Above: Christopher Nkunku’s pre-season numbers, via Sofascore

The Frenchman has started every friendly, one of the few Chelsea attackers to do so. As the above data shows, his involvement has been quite high, both for chance creation and goal threat. Despite playing in front of a very porous defence, the Blues’ attacking numbers have actually been decent. Especially when it comes to setting up big chances.

Speaking after the Real Madrid game, Maresca admitted he’s trying to use Nkunku as an attacking midfielder and a forward.

“For me, he played a very good game, We are trying to use him as an attacking midfielder and a striker, depends on the moment. Also, we are using him as a striker today because Marc [Guiu] was tired at the end.

“Today we contact with Christo [Nkunku] and Enzo [Fernandez] many, many times between the lines. This is the most important thing, to arrive there, and with time we will take chances and score more goals.” – Enzo Maresca

The Italian had also spoken earlier on Chelsea’s US tour about Nkunku being the perfect player for his system, with a versatility that allows him to play in multiple positions.

NKUNKU’S PAST CREDENTIALS

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