We’re now 25 days away from Norwich City opening up against Crystal Palace at Carrow Road. Everyone is excited about promotion and being back in the Premier League. We are now involved in the Fantasy Premier League! I’m here to help you get the best buys on your team so that the top of the overall table is dominated by yellow and green.
Best Striker – It has to be Cameron Jerome. He has experience with 30 career goals in the Premier League. He also seems to be clicking well with Alex Neil, and is sky high on confidence after 18 league goals last season. This game also gives you the most points for goals, and Jerome has proven he can score in this league. He will cost you only £5m million pounds, making him a good compliment to your leading striker.
Best Midfielder – Although he’s tied for City’s most expensive Norwich City player, Nathan Redmond is a good option to me. Defenders get points for clean sheets, and attackers get points for goals and assists. Redmond can get up the wing and put in crosses for assists. Also, as we saw in the playoffs, he can score the goals to help you get points. We’re a newly promoted team that is going to look to grind out results to win games. If you really want a Norwich midfielder, pick attacking threat Nathan Redmond.
Best Defender – Like I said, this game is all about putting points on the board. A defender that can help get you clean sheet points and go forward and put in a cross from the left side is great. For that reason, I think Martin Olsson is the best option here. He is not our best defender, but for only £4.5m he’s a good deal. His ability to get assists in attacking positions is enough to give you points. When the defense keeps a clean sheet, he will get points. He is the best combination of attacking and defending that we have.
Riskiest Pick – This might surprise people, but I am going to go with John Ruddy. This might seem like a good deal by buying him at £4.5m, but I don’t think so. As we saw in the Championship last season, he was prone to a mistake here or there. A goalkeeper can actually drop into the negatives for conceding a certain number of goals, and the only we he can help your team is by keeping clean sheets. Against big teams with powerful attacks, we will probably not keep a lot of clean sheets. He will be losing your team points in those matches.
Safest Pick – Youssouf Mulumbu will cost you only £4.5m, and is a solid player. He’s a midfielder coming off four years of top flight experience. Being a holding mid, he will not lose points if the defence has a bad game. He will bang in the odd goal for your points, and will probably be in the team a lot this season. He won’t cost you much and can only improve your team. Mulumbu seems like a solid player if you are looking for a cheap, but safe Canary option.
Best Financial Value – You may laugh, but Jos Hooiveld at just £4m could work. Let’s face it—these Norwich players are nice, but they will not win you your league. You are going to need superstars like Eden Hazard, Alexis Sanchez, Sergio Aguero to accumulate points. These players are much more expensive than the Norwich players. Having a cheap player that will not hurt your team on the bench can help open up the finances for those big players. Hooiveld will never play, so he cannot hurt you point wise. He’s the cheapest player in the squad. Think of the money you will save for your first team with a cheap Hooiveld on the bench.
That is my take on the Norwich players in the Fantasy Premier League. They are good cheap players who have a little bit of quality, but will not be the league winning game changers. Still, there are definitely players worth putting in your lineup. Which Canaries will you have in your starting XI when August 8th rolls around?
Read Norwich has created our own group! Here is the league code: 44089-35318.
