In the lead up to GW4 on FPL, many of us managers are talking about Bruno Fernandes or Mo Salah out for Cristiano Ronaldo or Romelu Lukaku. Many of us are considering a wildcard which is understandable. For myself though, perhaps it is partly because Tottenham are top, but I am considering Everton players.
HOW EVERTON LINE UP
If we look at a comparison in formations between Rafa Benitez and the now Real Madrid manager Carlo Ancelotti, we see that the Italian was quite strict in his lineup. More often than not Ancelotti would go with a 4-2-3-1 formation. Benitez on the other hand, can at times be quite flexible, using other systems of play, with an emphasis always on defensive solidity.
He is not a huge fan of out and out wingers. It is expected that throughout the season, Benitez will use a combination of 3, 4 and 5 man defences, but he also likes to remain consistent. Therefore, I suspect to not see many chopping’s and changing’s from the Everton manager.
For example, Micheal Keane has struggled whenever he has played in such a system and so will the new manager go into the transfer market and look to secure one of the many defenders linked to Everton?
In midfield, if Benitez wants to play a two with three forwards in support of a lone centre forward, he might try some combination of Abdoulaye Doucoure and either Allan or if he’s healthy again Jean-Philippe Gbamin.
HOW IT PLAYS OUT
We can start to see how that is playing out early doors in the Fantasy Premier League game this season. We can see that the main starting XI have been raking up the points in the first three weeks of the season. Jordan Pickford is currently on 9 points to date, 6 coming in the last match, if we average that out, it is 3 points per game. Same with Lucas Digne in the backline, while Irishman Seamus Coleman is on 12 overall FPL points, averaging 4 per game.
If we move to the midfield and forward lines, it makes it even clearer that people are sleeping on Everton players. Recent transfer in from Bayer Leverkusen, Demarai Gray is leading the midfield with 19 total points, which comes out at 6.3 points per game. Abdoulaye Doucoure and Allan are the only other midfielders to have reached double digits thus far.
CONCLUSION
The conclusion, I (@FPLBooks) am making is that, Everton are flying under the radar of many a FPL manager. There is not much talk about their players on Social Media, forums etc. I for one after this week, if they keep performing and keep their lofty position of 6th in the Premier League table will certainly be considering their players.