With two wins and a draw from a tough opening schedule, Steve Clarke has turned a few heads as the new man in charge at West Brom. The Baggies first three Gameweeks, which saw them welcome Liverpool and Everton to the Hawthorns in addition to a trip to Spurs, had many Fantasy managers reluctant to invest early on but, with just two points dropped, their assets are starting to pick up plenty new suitors:
Mainly, the focus has been on defence. With a couple of clean sheets already in the bag, Fantasy managers have snapped up the likes of Gareth McAuley, Liam Ridgewell and Ben Foster in their numbers as a source of mid-price cover, while the likes of City and United – without a single clean sheet between them – toil to justify their costlier price tags at the back.
James Morrison, however, has flown under the radar. The Baggies midfielder has a mere 1% ownership in Fantasy Premier League (FPL), despite returning a goal, an assist and a couple of bonus points over his opening trio of matches. Currently sitting on 18 points, he’s racked up more than Foster and is only one behind Ridgewell for West Brom, while in terms of midfielders, he’s just a single point worse off than the likes of Santi Cazorla, Marouane Fellaini and Kevin Nolan – all far more popular picks, each with their own bandwagons to boast of.
While consistency of selection has plagued the Baggies forwards, with only Shane Long starting the first three matches, Morrison’s place in Clarke’s midfield currently looks assured. Stationed in “the hole” behind the Irishman, he has played all but nine minutes of the season so far – Long, on the other hand, has been subbed off midway through the second-half in all three matches as Clarke freshens up his attack late on.
Priced at 6.0 in FPL and 6.4 in the Sky Sports game, the Scot looks a real mid-price differential to consider over the next few Gameweeks. With Clarke’s in-form side welcoming (RG, QPR, SOT) to the Hawthorns in the next eight and with trips to (ful, avl, wig) also on the agenda, his propensity to pick up the points could well appeal to those Fantasy managers looking for something different from the template midfields currently doing the rounds on site.
