The Burning Question – Time for the Power Five Midfield?

Last season, the top two scorers in Fantasy Premier League were Alexis Sanchez and Dele Alli.

Strikers Harry Kane and Romelu Lukaku were then sandwiched between the next set of point magnets, Eden Hazard, Christian Eriksen and Kevin De Bruyne.

Midfielders were the most productive then, and it’s starting to look like the case again now, but by an even greater margin.

With forwards failing us, do we now abandon the comfort of having “heavy hitters” up front in order to pile funds into midfield?

The middle men, after all, are currently easily outperforming the points and value being offered by those in attack.

Mark joins Career Hall of Fame big guns Jay Egersdorff and Peter Kouwenberg and last season’s top two in FPL, Ben Crabtree and Uwais Ahmed, in addressing our latest Burning Question: Is it time to opt for a “power five” midfield?

Jay Says…

I think this issue comes down largely to a manager’s opinion on whether Kane and/or Morata are going to fire over the next few Gameweeks.

For me, the fact that Kane has a blank in Gameweek 21 prompted me to ship out the Spurs frontman in order to free up funds to spread across the rest of my squad.

There’s the further challenge that, Kane aside, there are few other premium-priced strikers in form, whereas there’s a bounty of options across the 8.5-10.5 midfield price range.

In addition, I’ve found that the money freed up by not having Kane has opened doors for a premium goalkeeper and extra investment in my defence.

This leads to a more balanced squad, which is something I’ve come to realise is hugely valuable as you look to steadily climb the rankings.

Don’t get me wrong, I’m not suggesting Kane or Morata won’t return any points over the Christmas period – they’re great players without question – but the attractiveness of three or four premium players across my squad in their absence is more appealing, for the short term at least.

Peter Says…

Previously, when we contemplated whether it was time to ditch Lord Harry Kane, I noted that 17 players were within ten points of the Spurs striker.

Fast- forward a fortnight and Kane leads the way for strikers but, tellingly, trails five midfielders and even a goalkeeper overall.

Even before we factor in value, it is abundantly clear that the midfielders are currently outperforming the strikers, with a midfield double from both the Etihad and Anfield far from ridiculous.

Then there’s Paul Pogba returning fit and hungry after suspension, Riyad Mahrez ticking over impressively and Eden Hazard and Richarlison continuing to pepper the opposition goal (or, in the Brazilian’s case, annoyingly just wide of/over the goal).

Compare that to the current paucity of premium performers in attack, of whom only the much-maligned Kane and Lukaku (barely) make it into the top ten on-form strikers.

Instead we note Goodison’s own Steptoe and Son leading the way at a rag-and-bone cost of 7.6 (Wayne Rooney) and 5.4 (Dominic Calvert-Lewin), Charlie Austin (6.2) inviting us to party like it’s 2014-15 and Laurent Depoitre and Shinji Okazaki, both in the 5.0-5.5 category, as surprised as anyone that they are up there.

So far this season it’s been all about spending big on defence, then a question of squeezing three 10.0+ strikers into the side, and now it looks to be the turn of the midfield to shine.

Time will tell whether a power midfield is for life, but there is no doubt it is for Christmas.

Uwais Says…

The midfield rankings currently show that five midfielders have more points than the highest scoring forward in Kane.

By that very basic logic, you could argue that midfield is king this year in FPL.

However, let me sum this up quickly…

• Mohamed Salah – He plays, he scores.
• Kevin De Bruyne – six goals, eight assists and 16 bonus points
• Raheem Sterling – 11 goals, six assists and Man City’s most dynamic offensive option.
• David Silva -five goals, eight assists and 15 bonus points. Epitome of consistency.
• Christian Eriksen – Outperforming Kane.
• Leroy Sane – Six goals, eight assists and 11 bonus points.
• Riyad Mahrez – Outperforming Jamie Vardy
• Richarlison – Performing as well as Sergio Aguero, Alvaro Morata and Roberto Firmino. For considerably less money.
• Eden Hazard – Can be deployed in attack for Chelsea.

Now let’s look at the strikers:

• Harry Kane – One eighth of your total budget. Too expensive.
• Romelu Lukaku – We are not yet at Christmas and Lukaku has already had two separate goal droughts of four matches this year, despite playing every minute of every league fixture.
• Sergio Aguero – Does not play enough minutes.
• Gabriel Jesus – See above.
• Alvaro Morata – Patchy form and Antonio Conte can play a midfielder in his position.
• Alexandre Lacazette – Completed 90 minutes twice in 18 league matches. Manager does not trust him fully.
• Zlatan Ibrahimovic – He won’t be starting too many games this season

We have a wealth of good value options in midfield, such as Wilfried Zaha and Aaron Ramsey.

Couple that with the dearth of heavy-hitting, consistent striker options and a range of good budget forwards in Glenn Murray, Charlie Austin and Dominic Calvert-Lewin and there is no doubt that this year in FPL, your funds are best invested in midfield.

Ben Says…

Listing the players I’m most interested in, I’m pretty much just looking at midfielders.

I have Sterling, Sane, Hazard and Richarlison, and would really like Silva, De Bruyne, Pogba, Mahrez, Sigurdsson, Ramsey, Eriksson, Lanzini and Arnautovic.

Some of these aren’t for immediate consideration, but there are a lot of options to tinker with, all within a reasonable price range. Only picking three or four of them feels like I’m always going to be missing out on great value players.

Having recently put Lukaku back in for Morata and still optimistic about some captain Kane returns around the corner, picking some players from the wanted list is going to have to wait at least a week.

This is, in part, because I want to see how this weekend’s fixtures play out, but mainly due to a defence weakened by injury, Sead Kolasinac being dropped and Chancel Mbemba being Chancel Mbemba.

It would be handy if a ‘power five’ was the way forward for the last few weeks and some consistent Lukaku and Kane form was just around the corner.

But at the moment there’s a long list of midfielders I want – and it doesn’t even include Salah, Coutinho or Mane.

Mark Says…

I’m a huge fan of the 3-5-2 and a move to a five-man midfield. I’m convinced that the decision to opt for Victor Anichebe and shift more funds into midfield was a key factor in my “success” last season.

I am very likely to go that way again. Just not yet.

For me, there are two factors at play. For one, I feel it’s important to hold one heavy hitter in attack and, for all the frustration he has caused and even with a possible suspension and his Gameweek 22 blank, that will be Kane. Unless he gets that booking at Burnley, of course.

The simple fact is, I don’t see a better captain, either in Gameweek 20, when other options will be rotation risks, and certainly not in Gameweek 22, when everyone, regardless of their midfield spend, will surely want Kane in their squad.

If he goes, it will be for one Gameweek only and then I’ll look again in 2018.

It’s Morata who is at most at risk in the short-term. While selling him could allow me to invest in Pogba or switch out Hazard and form a “Power Five”, I just think the timing is wrong.

This is not a period of the season to take anything for granted, least of all player starts and minutes.

I look at Morata and see a striker that’s been rested for the last two Gameweeks. He, above all other heavy hitter options, offers me a good chance of two starts in Gameweeks 19 and 20.

And with Spurs missing Gameweek 21, the same applies with Kane.

In contrast, I look in midfield and see rotation risks across the board for Gameweek 20.

Why sell two forwards relatively assured of starts in order to spread funds on others in midfield who will be rotation risks come Gameweek 20?

I’ll be handing Morata the opportunity to impress and sitting on transfers ready for the transition after the rotation risk has reduced.