Here’s the fantasy premier league perspective on Cardiff City.  We’ll be looking for the best players to slot in to our fantasy premier league team

Background

Cardiff City were last years winners of the Championship.  They were the 2nd highest goal scorers behind also promoted Crystal Palace and  had the 2nd best overall defence behind Gus Poyets Brighton.  At home they had the best record in terms of points and conceded the least goals.  They also had a very respectable 10 clean sheets.    Attack wise they certainly weren’t the best at home though with 7 other teams scoring more than them.  Away from home they were the 2nd best team in terms of points behind Watford.  Only Watford scored more goals away.  Their defence away wasnt that great, although they claimed a respectable 8 clean sheets they conceded more goals away than  6 other teams.  Overall on clean sheets though they led the league with 18 home and away.

One shocking stat is that Cardiff had no player in the top 20 goal scorers in the league (counting cup games).  you can see why they paid so much money for andreas Corneluis who we will discuss later

In terms of fixtures I’ve rated Cardiffas having the 14th best opening 6 fixtures although it does drastically improve for GW2 and GW3.  Here are the opening 6 fixtures

West Ham A  Man City H  Everton H  Hull A  Spurs H  Fulham A

The fixtures then are only ok which means you do get time to assess Cardiff without having to panic about putting someone in for a great run of fixtures 

GK and Defence 

Marshall who played 46 games last year is the first choice GK at £4.5m.  One of the best prospectsat this price, except maybe if Boruc plays for Saints.  There are no realistic £4.0m GK options in FPL this year so Marshall is as good as anyone else at this price. 

In defence as ususal were looking for the mythical £4.0m defender. They get harder to find each year.  At the moment I expect the back 4 to line up as Connolly Taylor Turner and Hudson.  Turner is a £4.0m player and looks a good bet to start.   Taylor (6 assists) and Hudson, the captain,  (4 goals and 1 assist)  at £4.5m are  probably the safest choices.

In terms of home and away game rotation Cardiff, play at home when Swansea are away and vice versa.  Not ideal as Swansea arent blessed with bargains although they seem to rotate a bit with Sunderland as well.

 Midfield 

The goals were very spread in the midfield. Craig Bellamy is the most expesnive candidate at £5.5m although historically compared to his price he’s cheap.   4 goals and 8 assists from 33 games last season is a pretty poor return and to me its doubtful whether he’s worth the expense.  Gunnarson  at £5.0m has a good goal record, 8 goals and 6 assists from 45 games but plays in quite a deep position so I’m a little doubful there as well despite him being in my 15 minute team.  Other than that there’s no one you can put as a regular starter who will really contribute to the goals/assists.  There doesn’t appear to be a reliable player playing behind the striker, the favoured fantasy premier league midfield position.

So what about a £4.5m 2 point filler as a bench player with minimal expense.  Mutch is probably your best bet here but be warned, 22 games no goals or assists and 7 yellow cards, he really is just a 2 pointer (on a good day) and no more

UPDATE:  I’ve had some feedback on why I havent included Peter Whittingham who last year scored 8 goals and 5 assists in 40 matches and had some set piece and pen duties.  The reason I didn’t include him is that he lost his place in the latter part of the season which does put a cloud over him for the new season.  However MacKay has talked him up and refused to sell him.  Here’s a recent quote

 “We will not be listening to anyone about Peter Whittingham. He is totally part of my squad. He is very much part of my plans for the Premier League now.

“He is a fantastic player and a tremendous young man to have at the club. He’s someone who is involved in everything we do and a player who has a very big part to play for us.

“He’s signed three contracts for me and he’s under contract right now and that is the way things are going to stay.

“He’s going to be playing in the Premier League with Cardiff. He is going to get his chance and he thoroughly deserves it after everything he has done for Cardiff City.”

Still I’ll need to see some evidence of a role and gametime in pre-season before I consider him and at the moment he’s not an option.  Apologies I should have covered him

Forward

Frazer Campbell scored 7 goals from 12 appearances last year but I cant see him lining up in the central role as it seemed the manager preffered 4-5-1.  He’ll probably play on the flank given that and his Sunderland experience plus the fact that they’ve purchased £7.656m Andreas Cornelius. He is my best Cardiff prospect.  This is a young 20 year old Danish International striker who was top scorer in the Danish league last year with  18 goals and 5 assists in 32 games.  He’s also played 9 games with 5 goals and 2 assists for the Danish National team which is a pretty impressive return.  He’s also in that price bracket with very little choice,  £5.5m.  He’s a real prospect in my mind and an option for a cheap striker

Summary

Best defence from the Championship.  Not the best attack but new signing should help.   Ordinary opening fixtures.

GK Marshall £4.5m – one of the few certain £4.5m starters

Def  – Turner £4.0m – gold dust at £4.0m  should start.  Wont get many attacking points but at that price its worth the scarifcie

         – Hudson £4.5m  –  the captain is a safer bet

Midfield – no real options in my mind.  Whittingham’s role will be monitored in pre-season

Forward – new boy Cornelius is the best option with a good pedigree and a great price at £5.5m

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stats from transfermarkt and football lineups