Here’s a catch on Aston Villas fantasy premier league pre-season so far including a look at form and likely lineups for our GW1 teams
Aston Villa
The other team that has a double game week 1 apart from Chelsea. Aston Villa have played 6 pre season games. 3 on a German tour where they drew all 3 games and 3 back in the UK where they have drawn 1, lost 1 and won 1. So far Benteke has scored 3 goals, Weimman 2 and new boy Helenius 2. The pre season has been blighted by injuries to a number of players which has made piecing together a pattern difficult. However this has changed recently with players returning to fitness.
Most of the time Aston Villa last year played 4-3-3. The team would typically line up as follows; Guzan – Lowton Bennett Clark Vlaar – Sylla Westwood Delph – Agbonlahor Benteke Weimann.
Since then there a number of fringe players have left. The main ones being: Makoun, Dunne, Lichaj, Holman
A number of players have been added:
Helenius (fwd £5.5m) – a 22 year old Danish striker who scored 16 goals and 7 assists in 33 matches (2921 minutes) in last years Danish league for Allborg
Okore – (def £4.5m )- a 20 year old CB/CDM who scored 4 goals in 29 matches in last years Danish league for Nordsjaelland
Bacuna – (mid £5.0m) – a 21 year old CM who last season played 35 games with 5 goals and 2 assists in the Dutch league for Gronigen
Tonev – (mid £5.0m) – a 23 year old midfielder/left winger who last season played 26 games for 4 goals and 3 assists for Poznan
Luna – (def £4.5m) – a 22 year old spanish left footed left back who last season played 11 games for Mallorca
I rated Villas first 6 games as being reasonably difficult. The 13th ranked difficulty in the league. Here’s the opening 6 fixtures
DGW1 Arsenal A, Chelsea A, GW2 Liverpool H, GW3 blank, GW4 Newcastle H, GW5 Norwich A, Man City H
Lets look at their last 2 pre-season games
Luton 2 Aston Villa 0
Line up: Aston Villa – Steer; Donacien, Baker, Herd, Webb; Delph (capt), Sylla, Gardner; Carruthers, Burke; Benteke (Robinson, 45). Subs – Guzan, Lowton, Vlaar, Clark, Bacuna, El Ahmadi, Johnson, Rodriguez Luna, Westwood, Robinson, Grealish.
A pretty mixed lineup with a number of injuries still to Agbonlahor, Okore, Weiman, Helenius and Tonev all absent through injury. The only interesting point was the favoured defence line up seems to be the 2nd half defence of Guzan, Lowton, Vlaar Clark and with Luna coming in that gives you some feeling that he may be the starter although I have to say I’m not sure why Bennet has been absent from the last 2 games.
Nothing much to report in the match. Lambert praised Benteke, that was about it
Crewe 1 Aston Villa 5
Goals from Benteke 3 Weiman Bacuna
Now this game is much more informative. Here’s the line ups from the Daily Mail article on the match which interestingly included some player ratings
(4-3-3-)
BRAD GUZAN – won’t be happy at conceding, given Villa’s dominance, but could do nothing about the goal. Otherwise never tested. 6.
MATT LOWTON – in his element, raiding down the right and playing a full part in some of Villa’s best moves. One of the best attacking right-backs around. 8
RON VLAAR – an untroubled night for the burly central defender, though questions could be asked of him and his fellow-defenders over their failure to clear the corner that led to Davis’ goal. 6.
CIARAN CLARK – allowances are always made for clumsy challenges in pre-season games, but Clark incurred the wrath of the home crowd, and the displeasure of the referee, with a foul that flattened Anthony Grant and earned him a booking. 6.
ANTONIO LUNA – lively going forward, but lacked the defensive discipline Villa might be entitled to expect from a full-back. Shown up by Ryan Colclough twice in the first half. 6.
LEANDRO BACUNA – made to put in a full shift, but coped well enough. Unspectacular but effective in a Villa midfield that bossed proceedings. 6.
ASHLEY WESTWOOD – impressive return to Gresty Road for the former Crewe favourite, who took the eye with one brilliant turn that opened up space for a shot on target. 7.
KARIM EL AHMADI – busy and energetic and laid on two of Benteke’s goals. The first assist was particularly impressive, a clever dink that sprang the offside trap and put the striker clean through. 7.
ANDY WEIMANN – sharp and lively and far too quick, in thought and deed, for Crewe’s defence. Tore them apart for Benteke’s first goal after opening the scoring himself. 8.
CHRISTIAN BENTEKE – one-season wonder, eh? That’s what some are suggesting, but he hardly looked it as he rattled up a hat-trick in no time. Finishing of the highest order. 9.
GABBY AGBONLAHOR – can look disinterested at times, and this was just such an occasion. For all that Villa were rampant and could easily have scored even more, little was seen of the pacey frontrunner. 6.
Subs (all on the hour) – Steer, Donacien, Baker, Helenius, Delph, Sylla, Robinson, Herd, Gardner, Carruthers.
fantasy premier league perspective
GK and defence
Firstly I’m not a fan of the defence. I rated them as having the 3rd worst home defence and the 3rd worst away defence. 5 clean sheets was the miserable return. The same as Reading. Its possible the new signings of Okore and Luna may strengthen the defence but with the difficult start its just not an option for me. In any case this is how they could line up. Guzan looks nailed on to start but at £5.0m he’s too expensive in my book.
The back 4 looks like it could be Lowton (£5.0m) Clark (£4.5m)/Okore £4.5m Vlaar (£4.5m) Luna (£4.5m)/Bennett (£4.5m)
I dont think they are worth buying but if you really want to Vlaar is the best option for me. Lowton has more attacking potential but for me the premium isnt worth it
Midfield
The midfield is a tricky one. At the moment I think the line up will be Bacuna (£5.0m) Delph (£4.5m) and Westwood (£5.5m). Tonev is injured so where he would fit in is unclear. However I dont think that anyone is worth investing in. Bacuna and Westwood are just too expensive for 3 players who will play behind a front 3. They just wont score or assist enough in my mind and there duties will involve alot of defensive work and cover for advancing fullbacks.
Delph is £4.5m so poentially cheap bench cover, the trouble is he scored and assisted none last year and got 7 yellow cards in the process.
Forwards
Benteke is the standout player with a good return per minute rate from last year although not in the RVP or Suarez class. Don’t get me wrong, I’m a huge fan but £9.0m is some price and although he will score goals he is a similar price as the likes of Sturridge (£9.0m) Negredo (£9.5m) and more than Lukaku (£8.0m) in teams who will create far more chances. There are no forwards at that price outside the elite teams which is a stat in itself. To have that money invested in a player who will be fighting relegation is a big call. Granted 2 of the comparisons have no certainty over gametime at the moment but pre-season chould change that and given the fixtures and other options he’s a monitor for me at the moment
Weimans (£6.0m) returns at 1 goal or assist every 200 minutes are just a little off the pace. Benteke is 1 every 122 minutes. Agbonlahor (£7.0m) is better at 1 every 156 minutes but with strikers I think you have to look for the most central advanced striker if possible as they should get the most goal scoring chances. The shots in the box stas leaders are invaraibly all such strikers. For that reason I cant see either of them in my GW1 team.
New boy Helenius is reasonably priced at £5.5m but has no certainty of gametime and is injured at the moment so difficult to look at for now.
It’s worth remembering that Villas DGW1 week is away to Arsenal and Away to Chelsea. Neither look particulalrly frutiful from a defensive or attacking point of view.
Summary
A terrible defence, one of the worst in the league last year and tricky fixtures with the worst double gameweek 1 you could imagine means I wont be looking at any defensive options. If I was forced to I would go for Vlaar at £4.5m
A midfield in a 4-3-3 formation that wont get players in to advanced positions regularly enough to warrant selection.
The front 3 has the outstanding benteke but at £9.0m he’s the most expensive forward outside the elite teams and I’ve got him on monitor at the moment. Agbonlahor has a bit of potential but slightly too dear at £7.0m and I don’t think wide players in the 3 up front are the best choice.
Hope that gievs you some food for thought for your fantasy premier league team
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