Having delivered 131 points in the Fantasy Premier League (FPL) game last time around, hopes were high for Jason Puncheon’s prospects as the new season got underway. The Palace winger quickly found his form and served up a goal and three assists in the opening six matches under Neil Warnock to suggest he could be worthy of our attentions once again.
As the Eagles started to struggle, Puncheon fell completely off our radars on the back of 14 successive blanks which saw his price slip down to 5.5 by the time Alan Pardew rolled up in Gameweek 21. Under the new manager, it’s been a different story altogether – two goals, four assists and eight bonus points has earned him 46 points in eight appearances, compared to 47 points in the first 20 rounds of matches.
With Palace poised to host QPR, West Brom and Hull in the next six, in addition to travelling to Stoke and Sunderland, expectations are building for Puncheon to maintain his recent momentum over the final three months of the campaign. We cast an eye over his displays across both periods and assess his contribution against other midfielders to ascertain his impact since Pardew took the Selhurst Park helm.
