Cesar Azpilicueta is the second to be named among the Fantasy Football Scout defenders of the season after finishing runner-up in our recent poll.
Having ended 2017/18 as the top-scoring defender (175 points), the versatile Chelsea man claimed 15.15% of the votes, with Nicolas Otamendi leading the way.
Azpilicueta recorded 15 clean sheets, was involved in eight goals (two his own and six assists), topped the charts for bonus points in his classification (25) and had the best value in defence across the season, too (25.8). In Fantasy Premier League terms, it was his most productive campaign, beating his previous best score of 170 from 2016/17 by five points.
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Season Review
Much like Otamendi, Azpilicueta wasn’t the most popular choice at his club at the start of the season with Marcos Alonso (527,000+ owners) and Gary Cahill (620,000+) in more squads (445,000+) for the opening day, both on account of their greater goal threat.
Despite Chelsea’s defeat to Burnley in Gameweek 1, the first six weeks of the campaign highlighted Azpilicueta’s abilities as an all-round achiever.
Gameweek 6, in particular, thrust him into the limelight when he provided the assist for two of Alvaro Morata’s three goals in a 4-0 win at Stoke City.
They were his third and fourth of the season so far, all of which had been supplied for his compatriot. It also meant that in just six Gameweeks, the defender had already registered three clean sheets, four assists and four bonus points, averaging 6.5 points per match. Not surprisingly, that was when he earned his first price rise.
Three Gameweeks later, Azpilicueta found the back of the net for the first time in a 4-2 home win over Watford. Next, in Gameweek 11, he chalked up his sixth goal involvement – another assist for Morata as Manchester United were defeated at Stamford Bridge.
Gameweek 14’s 1-0 win over Swansea City was the only match of the campaign that Azpilicueta missed, an end to an incredible run which had seen him start 74 league meetings in a row.
He registered another 37 appearances in 2017/18, underlining a security of starts which remains a significant factor behind his appeal.
This is compounded further when we consider that the average number of appearances made by Chelsea’s other senior defenders (Alonso (33), Moses (25), Rudiger (25), Cahill (24) and Christensen (23)) in combination was just 27.83.
By that Swansea encounter, the Spanish international was valued at £6.9m and spent nine weeks between Gameweek 21 and 29 at £7.0m before Chelsea’s underperformance as a team triggered the sales to bring him back to £6.9m.
Even so, Azpilicueta’s remarkable consistency was again demonstrated in the second half of the season. Between Gameweeks 18 and 38 he never went longer than four matches without an FPL return, either a clean sheet or attacking points.
In the end, only Ben Davies, Aaron Cresswell and Kieran Trippier (all seven) assisted more times than Azpilicueta’s six, while only Antonio Valencia and Jan Vertonghen (both 16) registered more clean sheets.
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THE PROSPECTS
Azpilicueta’s chances of replicating his output remains debatable.
We can be reasonably confident that he’ll remain in the £6.5m to £7.0m price bracket, but with Antonio Conte’s future still in doubt, there are several unknown factors at play.
The 28-year-old should remain an ever-present in the side, regardless of manager, as he has arguably been Chelsea’s most consistent performer in recent seasons. However, with both the personnel and tactics at the club very much up in the air, his clean sheet prospects are uncertain.
2017/18 demonstrated that Azpilicueta will likely prosper in whatever role is asked of him, though. The secret to his success this season was an ability pick up bonus points from multiple avenues on top of his clean sheets.
While Alonso excelled for goal threat, Otamendi for pass completion, Davies in assists and Hegazi for his defensive duties, Azpilicueta achieved in all four categories.
He was second only to Otamendi for passes attempted (2758) and completed (2392), second also for BPS points claimed for pass completion (152) and top for big chances created among defenders (11). Defensively, Azpilicueta also finished second on the BPS charts for points earned from tackles (39), joint with Christopher Schindler and behind Southampton’s Wesley Hoedt (42).
Conte’s future as Chelsea manager should be resolved very soon. We will then be required to monitor the players to leave and arrive over the summer before making a final decision on Azpilicueta’s role.
His case remains strong though. Ultimately he proved to be better value than any other Chelsea defender, including the explosive Alonso, who he also surpassed in our poll. That alone should assure that he remains a key target for 2017/18.
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5 years, 11 months agoGood luck to Unai Emery at Arsenal. 50m budget + sales. Bit of a job on his hands but could win them the Europa league. His Sevilla team were horrible to play against.