In his latest article, two-time Indian Fantasy Premier League (FPL) champion Lateriser assesses the merits of the three in-demand Bournemouth midfielders: Dango Ouattara (£5.1m), Justin Kluivert (£5.9m) and Antoine Semenyo (£5.6m).
The in-form team in the league, Bournemouth, are top of the Season Ticker for a while now.
Bournemouth tick a lot of boxes from an FPL point of view. They have a confirmed game in Blank Gameweek 29 and even after that round, they have good fixtures, including a home tie against Ipswich Town in Gameweek 30.
They have lost only one game (a keenly contested tie against Liverpool which could have gone either way) in their last 14 matches in all competitions. From Gameweek 16 onwards, they sit fifth for xG in the league and only five clubs have scored more goals than them in that period. They also happen to have three midfielders under the price of £6.0m who many FPL managers are seriously considering – or have already bought.
CHANGE OF ROLES
The Cherries’ primary strikers Evanilson (£5.6m) and Enes Unal (£5.4m) are injured for the foreseeable, which means a couple of things. Dango Ouattara (£5.1m) is playing ‘out of position’ (‘OOP’) as a striker for Bournemouth and it increases the expected minutes for Justin Kluivert (£5.9m), as well, as there are fewer options in attack. Antoine Semenyo (£5.6m) looked electric against Liverpool, meanwhile. The question is which midfielder do we go for?
When looking at the data, I want to look at the last four league games as Evanilson was playing before that. Semenyo was primarily operating on the right, with Ouattara on the left.
Things have changed once the strikers got injured. Ouattara is primarily playing up top, with Kluivert in his standard number ten role, David Brooks (£4.9m) on the right and Semenyo now playing on the left.
We’re expecting this to continue for the foreseeable future as Bournemouth didn’t indulge in the market for a striker (they bought one but loaned him off immediately).
IRAOLA ON OUATTARA…
Andoni Iraola has had quite a few good things to say about Ouattara.
“I think he has been very good, all the games, the four he has played as a number nine. I think he’s playing really well, He’s been a threat, plus he helps with the link-up play. We can use him in many positions.”
“He’s playing as a number nine and he’s giving us a lot of things without the ball, he’s adding numbers, he’s – I think – feeling comfortable and I’m very happy for him.
“He’s probably playing better than we expected and I hope it continues, giving us these performances, because it’s very good for the team.” – Andoni Iraola on Dango Ouattara
…AND KLUIVERT
There was some scepticism and doubt about Kluivert’s minutes but such has been his form since Chelsea, where he got dropped and substituted into the game in the 22nd minute, that he has had a minimum of 87 minutes in the league since. Before that Kluivert, used to see a lot of 60-70 minute appearances but such is his form right now that he looks like their most dangerous player on the eye and has a certain confidence and swagger about him when he’s playing (except for when he decided to miss an open goal against Liverpool). He has rightly swiped up the Player of the Month award in January and has earned high praise from his manager as well.
“I think Justin is obviously playing with confidence. For me the first goal is key, it’s a good transition but he had options to play both sides and he decides to take the shot. And it’s a great decision, a great finish. He also scores an amazing goal after that is disallowed, but this was a lovely, lovely goal. And the assist to Dango. Apart from the job that he normally does in our press, he’s adding numbers that is always very nice.” – Iraola on Kluivert
So that addresses the question and doubt about minutes. You would think that given their form and the chemistry, the minutes for these three will largely be secure despite the slight competition from Brooks, Marcus Tavernier (£5.4m) and Daniel Jebbison (£4.5m).
LAST FOUR LEAGUE GAMES – UNDERLYING DATA
Let’s look at the more short-term data in the last four league games.
