What to expect from Lampard’s Everton?
Transfer Deadline Day was very busy on the blue side of Merseyside. With multiple signings added to the squad and the appointment of Frank Lampard as manager, should FPL managers start looking seriously at investing in the Toffee’s?
Lampard’s Everton have pricked the ears of FPL managers. With plenty of new signings, especially on the final day of the window, and a fixture run that looks promising Everton could be a team to target. We have already taken a look at the Everton fixtures in a previous article you can read here.
Lampard at Chelsea
Lampard’s time at Chelsea was a rollercoaster.
His first season was very successful. Chelsea were on a transfer ban, had a very young and inexperienced squad and had lost Hazard. However Lampard still secured a top four finish and Champions League football.
However, the second season was much more difficult. When Chelsea and Lampard parted company Chelsea were ninth in the league, with Lampard losing five out of his last eight games.
Tactically Lampard mostly deployed a 4-3-3 system at Chelsea.
However, with the personal he had at Chelsea this meant that the opposition were often able to create a central numeric advantage in the middle of the pitch. This caused Chelsea to shift the ball out wide and build from there. As a result the wingbacks were often in defensive positions rather than further up the field where they would have been more explosive.
What can we expect at Everton?
Tammy Abraham became an excellent option as a target man for FPL managers under Lampard and thus this could be a similar situation for Dominic Calvert Lewin at Chelsea.
Lampard will likely try and deploy wingbacks at Everton and this should provide the service that Calvert-Lewin has been missing for the majority of the season.
With the arrivals of Donny van de Beek and Dele Alli Everton have invested in creative midfielders. This is again positive for Dominic Calvert-Lewin who will have more creativity on the pitch alongside him.
These creative midfielders will also now be coached by the second highest scoring Premier League Midfielder of all time. Indeed in midfield only Bruno Fernandes has scored more FPL points in a season in midfield than Lampard.
Should we invest in FPL?
With a glorious fixture run as well as multiple fixtures which still need to be rearranged it makes a lot of sense to invest in the Toffee’s.
Calvert-Lewin is the obvious signing. He will be the focus of the Everton attack. Although Calvert-Lewin hasn’t yet returned the level of FPL points that managers would have expected this season, he missed Gameweeks 4 – 22 through injury. Calvert-Lewin did return in the opening three fixtures of the season prior to injury and FPL managers and Lampard alike will be hoping he can return to that consistency.
There are plenty of options in the Everton midfield too now. New signings van de Beek and Dele Alli have both played very little football so far this season at Manchester United and Spurs respectively. They will both have a point to prove when they arrive at Goodson Park, especially with Dele Alli targeting a return to the England squad ahead of the World Cup.
Demarai Gray is currently the highest scoring FPL asset at Everton, returning five goals and three assists so far. At just £5.5m FPL managers will be hoping Lampard can get Gray firing as he would be a great enabler as well as a reasonable differential at just 10.3% owned.
Whilst the Everton defence still looks vulnerable, investing in their forward players ahead of the next few Gameweeks, especially if on Wildcard, seems a sensible decision.
