Our final glance at Gameweek 30 takes a look at Chelsea’s resurgent Belgian, a couple of new options afforded by Mauricio Pochettino’s arrival at St Mary’s and the armband disappointment suffered by many a Fantasy manager in a weekend that promised much but ultimately delivered little.
The Player
His arrival to England’s top-flight could hardly have been more emphatic. With double figure Fantasy Premier League (FPL) returns in each of his first three appearances for Chelsea, Eden Hazard rocketed by 0.8 in price by the time Gameweek 5 came around as Fantasy managers scrambled to snap up the summer signing. A series of patchy performances, allied with the sensational displays of Juan Mata in the Blues midfield saw the Belgian’s bandwagon grind to a halt, however; our affections quickly turned the Spaniard’s way, with his reduced price also proving crucial to balancing the budgets in the early stages of the campaign.
As we edge towards the final few fixtures of 2012/13, Hazard is firmly back on Fantasy radars after proving key to Chelsea’s home win over West Ham last Sunday – a goal and assist, supplemented by maximum bonus points, earned him a 14 point haul and was the fourth time in Hazard’s last six home starts that he has served up double figures.
Looking at the Chelsea midfield returns under Rafa Benitez, the disparity between the two players’ home and away performances is stark. Hazard has produced 62 points at Stamford Bridge to Mata’s 32 since the dismissal of Roberto Di Matteo – conversely, Mata has racked up 69 points on the road to the Belgian’s 20 (though he missed two road trips as a result of the infamous altercation with a Swansea ballboy).
Startlingly, Mata has failed to deliver double figures at Stamford Bridge even once this season and with two of the Blues’ next three league fixtures (sou, SUN, TOT) in front of their own fans, Hazard looks to have further opportunity to close the 11 point gap between himself and the Spaniard in their ongoing duel near the top of the midfield standings.
The Team
A 3-1 triumph over Liverpool at St Mary’s ended a run of three games without a win and boosted Southampton’s chance of survival last weekend. It seems Mauricio Pochettino’s team are intent on doing things the unorthodox way, though – having beaten City by a similar scoreline, they then proceeded to pick up a single point from their next trio of fixtures, with losses to QPR and Newcastle in addition to a goalless draw against Norwich.
As always, Rickie Lambert was crucial to the Saints’ prospects. Sold by over 83,000 FPL managers prior to the weekend deadline, he returned to form after a recent couple of blanks and notched his 13th goal of the season. With maximum FPL bonus points also thrown in, Lambert moved to 154 points – whether under Pochettino or previous boss Nigel Adkins, his consistency has been a stand-out feature of Southampton’s attacking play and has harvested attacking returns in 14 of his 29 appearances.
While the new manager’s arrival has posed problems for Jason Puncheon’s owners, it has, however, offered us a couple of in-form alternatives in the Saints’ first XI. The Argentine’s tactics seem tailor-made for Morgan Schneiderlin – the central midfielder has now notched three times in eight since Adkins’ dismissal and has also picked up seven bonus points. Compare that to a previous haul of two goals and four bonus points in 21 appearances and Pochettino’s impact is obvious – at 4.6 in FPL, Schneiderlin’s has started all 29 fixtures he has been available for; Puncheon, on the other hand, has a single start in the last four and is looking a peripheral figure under the new regime.
Jay Rodriguez is another name to flourish since Adkins’ departure – mainly at Puncheon’s expense out wide. Introduced as a sub in Pochettino’s first match in charge, he has now started six of the last seven, with a goal and assist against the Reds highlighting his form. The former Burnley man has now produced attacking returns in five of those seven matches and while his classification as a forward is frustrating, his price of 5.1 may appeal to those who currently don’t have Lambert and are on the lookout for a cut-price option for their three-man forward lines.
After the weekend win over Liverpool, Rodriguez spoke of the increased confidence Pochettino has instilled in the Saints squad since taking the reins in Gameweek 23:
“You can see from the way we’ve played that he’s had a massive effect on us. We’re more than good enough to beat any team. Everyone in the squad knows how to play and it’s a great feeling….I have more belief in my game. Also full credit to the gaffer as he has given me freedom to go and play and express myself.”
The Talking Point
With 45% of the votes cast in last weekend’s Captain Poll, it’s something of an understatement to say that Robin Van Persie let many of us down with a blank in United’s narrow 1-0 win over Reading. The Dutchman – who was also the most-captained player in the FPL game ahead of Saturday evening’s home clash – continued a worrying streak of form which has seen him find the net in just one of his previous six Gameweeks. Van Persie’s slump has coincided with the return to fitness of Wayne Rooney; the former Everton man has notched five times in the same period and has outscored his strike partner by 47 points to 30 from Gameweek 24 onwards.
While Van Persie’s 38% of FPL owners were left ruing another disappointment, his blank was offset by a number of poor displays by many of the popular Fantasy picks. Indeed, it was a Gameweek that many Fantasy managers will be delighted to quickly draw a line under. With Luis Suarez and Gareth Bale ‘s recent runs of double figure returns grinding to a halt, and with the likes of Theo Walcott and Michu toiling yet again, it was intriguing to see that only one of the top five owned midfielders and forwards respectively (Eden Hazard and Rickie Lambert) in the FPL game managed to find the net.
With no one really stepping up, then, there was perhaps a lot less significant movement in mini leagues as a result of a collective failure from the majority of our favourites. With the international fortnight now upon us, the savvy approach would be to wait out the upcoming games, with many potential twists and turns a distinct possibility before domestic action once again returns. A genuine injury – not just an “international” one – has the potential to scupper many a plan and with double Gameweeks just around the corner, now hardly seems the appropriate time for our trades to be dictated by knee jerk transfers or concerns over player and team value. Having said that, the failure of Van Persie and a number of our established heavy-hitters, will clearly test the resolve over the next fortnight.
