Both Kane & Son just had a mammoth season, their personal best in terms of FPL points. Kane finished the season as the top scorer (23 goals) & top provider (14 assists), scoring 242 points (6.9 pts per game). Son scored 17 goals & assisted a further 10, finishing on 228 pts (6.2 pts per game).
Let’s have a look at some stats of Kane & Son from Fantasy Football Fix.
Something that you would immediately notice is the massive overperformance on xA for Kane & xG for Son. If we dive deep, we would see that 9 of Son’s 17 goals were assisted by Kane. Yes, Son’s unreal finishing was key in Kane & Son significantly outscoring their expected points (208.4 & 189.2 respectively). You might be wondering if this is sustainable. Let’s look at some Understat data for Son’s league seasons from 2014/15 onwards. You would see that Son has always been an elite finisher, scoring 81 league goals from an xG of 57.81 in that period.
Yes, there has been a managerial change, but I think Nuno will incorporate the elements of play that allowed Spurs’ two best players to thrive. We could see more of Kane dropping deeper with Son running in behind, allowing Kane to play those passes through. I wouldn’t be surprised if both of them find their way into our teams at some point as they did in the last season.
Now let’s look at the prospects of both the players if Kane gets the move to City. We could assume that Kane’s assist potential would probably drop without Son’s unreal finishing to rely on & probably reduced creative responsibilities at City. This could be more than compensated for by a potential increase in goal threat though. Aguero’s xG per 90 had been insane in the seasons prior to his last one (fbref). This could be reassuring despite the difference in playstyle between the two strikers.
Kane could very well be a no-brainer pick. The best striker in the league would be joining the best-attacking team in the league (City topped the xG & goalscoring charts in each of the past 4 seasons, even scoring a century of goals in two of them). Meanwhile, I don’t buy into the idea of permanent captaincy circulating in the community. I don’t think Pep would risk him every game with that fragile ankle of his. The recurrent ankle sprains (Transfermarkt) is definitely a matter of concern. We could see sub-ons, sub-offs & 1 pointers as with other City attackers.
How could Kane’s potential transfer affect Son’s prospects?
Let’s have a look at Son’s stats with & without Kane (Fantasy Football Fix)
We can see that Son’s actual output, as well as underlying numbers, significantly dropped except for xG when playing without Kane. In his defense though, the sample size (334 mins) is small & included games against Chelsea (under Tuchel), Liverpool & Brighton. Also, it may be worth noting that all these games were in the second half of the season when Son’s performance relatively dropped (89 points as opposed to 139 points in the first half). Let’s look at some stats comparing the two halves.
It could be seen that there was a massive drop in Son’s goal threat in the second half of the season while there was a significant increase in xA. This could be down to him assuming more of a creative role with Bale in the side. Bale started 9 times in the second half as opposed to a single start in the first half of the season.
Now let’s look at how Son did without Kane in the 2019/20 season.
As you can see, there is a massive increase in goal threat (Surprise! Surprise! He underperformed his xG) when playing without Kane. This could be down to him playing more centrally and closer to the goal and taking a lot more shots in the box as a result. There is also the added bonus of penalties. Though his creative underlying stats mostly remained the same, the assists dropped, understandable with Kane not being there to convert those chances.
Now let’s see how Son’s 2019/20 season stats without Kane compare to his GW1-19 stats this season.
Why, though? It’s simply because that period has been Son’s most productive when playing alongside Kane in the recent seasons (looked at data from 2017/18 onwards). This could be down to Kane dropping even deeper this season with Son running in behind.
Looking at these stats it becomes obvious that Son playing centrally in the absence of Kane clearly has the potential to match or even outperform arguably the best ever version of Son playing alongside Kane that we have seen early this season. A lot of this would depend on the transfer activity though. Do they bring in another striker, forcing Son out wide, reducing his appeal? I think Nuno would find solutions to get the most out of his best player even if they get a new striker.
Thank You
Don’t want to pay and try out a free trial instead?
Get a seven-day free trial for FFHUB now: Free trial
2021/22 FPL Season ALLABOUTFPL Mini League:
Thanks for reading the budget FPL Defenders(£4.5 Mil) blog. Keep checking allaboutfpl.com for regular blogs. Also, follow our 20000+community on Instagram, Facebook, and Twitter to stay updated on regular Posts and FPL updates. Link to all our 2021/22 FPL pre-season blogs. Check out our Rules and Basics Guide, FPL Team Structure Guide, FPL Goalkeepers, FPL Budget Strikers, FPL Midfielders, FPL position-wise player analysis, FPL Strikers, FPL Defenders FPL Team Analysis, and FPL Player Analysis.
Further Reads from ALLABOUTFPL Ahead of the 2021/22 Season:
FPL Budget Defenders (£4.5) Analysis Ahead Of 2021/22 Season
Best FPL Assets to Consider From Promoted Teams for 21/22 FPL Season
Hunt For The Next Martinez: Ideal FPL Goalkeeper 2021/22 season
AllAboutFPL Mini League For 2021/22 FPL Season | Free Entry with some amazing prizes
Best Mid-Priced Defenders To Target For The 2021/2022 FPL Season
Bruno vs Salah FPL Comparison Ahead of 2021/22 Season
Budget Picks/Enablers To Consider Ahead of the 2021/22 FPL Season
FPL Premium Forwards Analysis Ahead Of 2021/22 Season
FPL Mid-Priced Strikers (£7.0 – £8.5 Mil) Analysis For 21/22 Season
2021/22 FPL Season Set Piece & Penalty Takers List and Analysis of 3 Season Data
Mid-Priced FPL Midfielders (£7 – £9.5 Mil) Analysis and Comparison Ahead Of 2021/22 Season
FPL 2021-22: Best 4.5M FPL Defenders Rotation Combinations
Man City FPL Preview | Fixture Analysis, Pep Rotation, and Key FPL Assets
Making the Case to be an FPL Asset This Season ~ Edinson Cavani
Team to Target for Initial Few GW’s – Brighton & Hove Albion | FPL 21/22 Season
2021/22 FPL Team Structure | One premium Mid and Forward with Drafts
2021/22 FPL Team Structure | Two Premium Midfielders with Drafts
FPL GoalKeepers for 2021/22 FPL season
FPL Budget Strikers (£4.5 – £6.5 Mil) Analysis Ahead Of 2021/22 Season
Official FPL- Making Your First GW1 Draft |Top Picks For 21/22 Season
FPL 2021-22: Best Rotational Pairs of Teams for Alternate Easy Fixtures
Best Premium Defenders To Target For The 2021/22 FPL Season
FPL Season Review – How I became a Top 500 FPL Manager! | FPL Tips
FPL Scouting Report: Jadon Sancho | Is It Worth Getting Sancho in FPL?
Team to Target for Initial Few GW’s – Everton | FPL 21/22 Season
An In-Depth Look at Team Structure 1: Three Premium Assets
2021/22 FPL Season: FPL Price Changes Explained | FPL Guide
2021/22 Fantasy Premier League Season Rules, Tips | The Ultimate Guide
What is Effective Ownership(EO) in FPL? | FPL Guide
A Guide to FPL Team Structure | 21/22 FPL Season (Pre Wildcard)
How Structure and Approach can Shape your 2021/22 FPL Season
If you like our content do vote for us in The Football Content Awards under the FPL Editorial Category. You can also vote directly on their site. LINK HERE
What’s next from ALLABOUTFPL ahead of the 2021/22 FPL Season?
We’ll be covering the lengths and breaths of FPL analyzing every single topic possible right from team previews, fixture analysis, position analysis, tips, and strategy from our expert writers over the pre-season. Keep checking allaboutfpl.com for all our blogs and subscribe to our free newsletter through the link below. We’ll also be posting regularly about the same on our social media accounts so follow us on Twitter, Instagram, and Facebook keep our notification ON.
Our content is always free and if you like our content do drop a comment, follow, subscribe, and support us. Your love is what keeps us going:)
FPL GW1 FPL Deadline Countdown
Login and set your team for FPL GW1 now!
FPL Enthusiast
Latest posts by FPL Enthusiast (see all)
