Crystal Palace have had a brilliant start to the Premier League season. When Patrick Vieira was appointed many thought Palace were relegation candidates. Fast forward 10 weeks and Palace are sitting in an impressive 10th place, playing good football, and have got a tough run of fixtures out of the way. With favorable fixtures coming up, Palace players are on FPL watchlists. In this article, I discuss how Palace are playing, what Palace’s best team is, and which Crystal palace fpl assets we should have in our FPL teams!
Crystal Palace were known for many years as a boring side to watch that were not good enough to threaten a top-half finish, however, this season Vieira has changed things around big time. Palace are winning games comfortably, defending well, attacking with purpose, and have plenty of options. I can’t quite believe it. With Eze coming back into the frame to add to these options, the only way is up for this Palace side.
Before going further, Do vote in this week’s FPL GW12 allaboutfpl captaincy poll. The same will be available in the captaincy analysis and metrics blog written by@AK_FPL1. The metrics has a 10/11 record this year. Last week the metric predicted Salah as the best captaincy candidate and he returned once again in GW11. Stay tuned for the GW10 Captaincy metric to see who tops it. Link to all our FPL Gameweek 12 blogs.
[Total_Soft_Poll id=”21″]
The results and the captaincy metric blog will be published soon based on the votes.
Crystal Palace attacking and defensive numbers this season
In attack, Palace are creating a big chance every 49 minutes. This, in comparison to previous seasons, is a big improvement. Palace are playing a more attacking brand of football and it is giving their attackers more chances to score goals. Therefore, the Palace attack is worth investing in.
In defence, the minutes per expected goals conceded is 91.7 minutes, meaning Palace are basically giving up only 1 expected goal per game, only Man City and Chelsea have better defensive stats. This further highlights how impressive the defensive side has been for Crystal Palace.
Crystal Palace have had much more possession this season than in previous seasons. This leads to both higher attacking output and a better defensive record. Palace are a team that is playing with confidence, on the front foot, and have become a good side. So, the big question is, who will play every week and which players do we want in our FPL teams?
For the first time in a long time, Crystal Palace have plenty of options to choose from. Therefore, knowing which players will start every week has become tough to predict. Therefore, I have enlisted the help of four Palace fans to get their opinions on what CPFC’s best possible side is. Thank you to FPLWILSON, FPL_OLISE, FPL_Serpent, and CPFC_Curt for sparing the time to help out. Including myself, I have 5 opinions on the best CPFC team and only 2 of the 5 are the same. This itself shows just how hard it is to predict the Palace team at the moment. If you want a deeper look into the specific teams the 5 Palace fans have produced, head over to my Twitter @FPL_EZE and they will be posted there.
Crystal Palace defenders
What all five fans do agree on is the defence. The back 5 of Guaita, Ward, Andersen, Guehi, and Mitchell have been brilliant. The perfect mix of youth, experience, leadership, pace, tenacity, and quality. The Palace defence has been hugely improved this year and the back 5 is nailed on.
Crystal Palace Midfielders
It is the midfield and attack where the uncertainty lies. This season Vieira has set up in a 433 formation. However, the question is, will this change when Eze returns?
One thing that is certain, when fit, both Conor Gallagher and James McArthur are nailed in the centre of midfield, both have bundles of energy and are key to the way Palace are playing and pressing. But who plays with them? In my opinion, in the tougher games, a third defensive midfielder will play, either Milivojevic, Kouyate, Hughes, or Reidewald. However, in the easier games, I see Eze coming in alongside Gallagher and McArthur to offer more creativity in the midfield. One of the other Palace fans agrees with me, however, the other 3 fans would all stick to a midfield 3 of Gallagher, McArthur, and Reidewald/Hughes.
Crytal Palace Attackers
In attack, Zaha is nailed to play, but who plays alongside him in the front 3? Edouard is the most popular option upfront with 4 of the 5 fans favoring him. Olise features in 4 of the 5 teams on the right-hand side. Eze features in 4 of the 5 teams also, 2 in an attacking midfield role, 2 on the left of a front three. This highlights have even 5 different Palace fans can’t agree on a settled line-up in the attack. Palace finally have some depth which will keep competition for places high and hopefully performance levels even higher.
So, to sum up, Palace’s defensive 5, Gallagher, Zaha, and Edouard could all be brilliant assets in the short term. Eze and Olise could be brilliant assets in the long term but wait and see what Vieira’s favored formation and team is with all his attackers available.
Best Crystal Palace FPL Assets
Vicente Guaita (4.6m)
Vicente Guaita (4.6m) has been Palace’s number 1 for a number of years now. Guaita has always been a good option in FPL as he makes lots of saves and the occasional clean sheet goes his way. However, under Vieira, Palace’s defensive numbers have improved drastically, this includes an impressive 2-0 victory over Manchester City at the Etihad! Only Man City themselves and Chelsea have better defensive stats than Palace. Guaita has earned himself 43 FPL points in the first 11 game weeks with 4 clean sheets to date, and that includes a tough fixture run. With a nicer run of fixtures leading up until Christmas, Guaita could be the best goalkeeping option in FPL, and with just 7.3% ownership, a nice differential.
Wilfred Zaha (7.0m)
For too long, Crystal Palace have relied on Wilfred Zaha (7.0m) to be their attacking threat. This season, Palace finally have other exciting attackers who are sharing the workload and taking pressure off Zaha. Edouard, Eze, Olise, Benteke, and Gallagher all have stepped up and showed they are capable of scoring goals. They also allow Zaha extra space as their are more threats in the Palace team to mark than just Zaha himself.
Therefore, Wilf can focus on doing what he does best, scoring, assisting, and entertaining fans, without the extra pressure of being the only attacking outlet. Alongside this, the additional responsibilities of penalties have added another facet to Zaha as an FPL asset. Zaha has 48 points so far this season, has scored 4 goals, and got 1 assist in just 9 appearances. Another low-owned asset with just 7.5% ownership, with Palace’s fixture run, Zaha could be set for plenty of returns!
Odsonne Edouard (6.5m)
Odsonne Edouard (6.5m) took the Premier League by storm on his debut, coming off the bench for just 12 minutes and scoring a brace against Spurs. Since then, Edouard has been an ever-present in the Palace attack. However, the form of Benteke has seen Edouard shifted out wide in some games which has hurt the Frenchman’s goal-scoring chances. However, Edouard has played brilliantly and Vieira clearly rates him.
With 3 goals in 8 appearances, Edouard has made a great start to his Premier League career in some tough fixtures. If Edouard finds himself back in the centre of attack with the likes of Olise, Eze, Zaha, and Gallagher supplying him, he could score goals after goals. At just 3% ownership, Edouard could be a brilliant cheap differential in the run-up to Christmas!
Conor Gallagher (5.8m)
Conor Gallagher (5.8m) has been the standout asset for Palace this season. His fantastic form has seen him grab 4 goals and 4 assists this season in just 10 appearances! This has gained him an impressive 62 points in FPL. His ownership has increased to 15.6% and I only see that increasing. Conor’s form has seen him earn his first international cap with England. This should only increase the confidence of the young midfielder leading to more returns in the Premier League. A very cheap enabler that is a fantastic asset for your FPL teams.
Thank you for reading! Let me know on Twitter @FPL_EZE your thoughts and whether you will be bringing in any Palace options in the run up to Christmas!
Further Reads from ALLABOUTFPL Ahead of FPL Gameweek 12:
FPL GW12 Transfer Trends Analysis | Best Transfer Combinations
Everything Begins With the Fundamentals | Story on Son-Heung Min
FPL GW 12 Player Watch & Analysis | Callum Wilson
FPL Forwards Analysis Ahead of FPL Gameweek 12
FPL Planned Transfers based on Fixtures Between FPL GW12 to GW17
FPL GW11 Saturday Fixtures Review Based on Stats and Eye Test
FPL GW11 Sunday Fixtures Review Based On Stats And Eye Test
Link to all our FPL Gameweek 12 blogs. All of the blogs are completely free to access and covers everything right from game week preview to captaincy!
Thanks for reading the ‘Crystal Palace FPL assets’ blog. Keep checking allaboutfpl.com for regular blogs. Also, follow our 40000+community on Instagram, Facebook, and Twitter to stay updated on regular Posts and FPL updates.
AllAboutFPL November mini-league give away
What’s next from ALLABOUTFPL ahead of FPL Gameweek 12?
We’ll be covering fixture analysis, differential picks, GW12 Wildcard drafts, captaincy metrics, transfer trend analysis, expected line up, press conference summaries, Buy, hold, sell analysis for FPL GW12, our expert panel team reveals and more. 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 Gameweek 12 FPL Deadline Countdown
Login and set your team for FPL GW12 now!
FPL EZE
Latest posts by FPL EZE (see all)
- Best Crystal Palace FPL Players | Crystal Palace FPL Preview - August 2, 2022
- Crystal Palace Analysis | Best Crystal Palace FPL Assets - November 17, 2021
- Teams and Players to Target for the next 5 Gameweeks in FPL - October 13, 2021
