FPL Dilemma – Callum Wilson vs Troy Deeney

Trying to use your £100m to fit in superstars such as Hazard, Silva, Ivanovic and Rooney is a tough ask for any Fantasy Manager and at some point we must look to cheap options which predominantly come from promoted clubs. Cameron Jerome looks the pick of the Norwich forwards but with an injury looming over him many have turned to assess the bargains available at Bournemouth and Watford. The two star men here are Troy Deeney (£5.5m) and Callum Wilson (£5.5m) but who is the better choice for your third striker?

Callum Wilson

Callum Wilson of Bournemouth, who finished as Champions last year. He has very similar stats to Deeney with 20 Goals and 13 assists and like the Watford man, Callum has never played in the top flight so life in the Premier League will not be easy. He did however score against Villa last year in the FA Cup, who incidentally are Bournemouth’s opponents in GW1, and also scored versus West Brom in last season’s League cup so to a certain extent has proven himself against top flight teams. Wilson is 2nd in command with regards to taking penalties so this is first blood to Deeney. Wilson has less competition at Bournemouth which isn’t necessarily a good thing but with Kermorgant and PIttman only notching 28 goals last season between them, Wilson’s position is very much secure. Bournemouth’s fixtures have been more kindly awarded in my opinion with home games against Villa, Leicester and Sunderland combined with visits to Liverpool, West Ham and Norwich initially.

Troy Deeney

Last season Watford narrowly finished 2nd in the Championship table and were automatically promoted to the Premier League. Deeney was instrumental to this plight topping the goals and assists tally for Watford with 21 and 10 respectively. Deeney may have never played in the top flight of English football, however he has scored and assisted against Manchester City in the FA Cup two seasons ago. Deeney is also Watford’s first choice penalty taker which is always something we should look for when acquiring any player. Deeney’s competition is rife at Watford with Ighalo, who has better goals per game records, and Vydra, who scored 16 goals in the last campaign, both eager to play on the world’s biggest domestic stage. In total, the Watford strikers scored 57 goals in 2014\15 so Deeney isn’t the only striker for Quique to consider. Lastly the fixtures for Watford are mixed, facing difficult opponents at home with tricky trips to Everton and Manchester City early on.

Who to Choose?

If you can’t make your mind up from the above synopsis then there is a sneaky option to play both players in your 15 man squad. Rotating attacking players is ill advised but when both are so cheap it is worth considering. In doing this, their combined fixtures in the first 8 gameweeks would be…

Aston Villa (H) Wilson
West Brom (H) Deeney
Southampton (H) Deeney
Leicester (H) Wilson
Swansea (H) Deeney
Sunderland (H) Wilson
Crystal Palace (H) Deeney
Watford (H) Wilson

Apart from Deeney’s fixtures in GW2 and GW3, it looks tasty doesn’t it? However I am not going to wimp out and instead will endeavour to pick the better option.

It’s a close one between these two. Both scored similar amounts last season for 2 successful clubs but have no EPL experience coming into this season. For me, the fixtures tip it for Bournemouth, not facing a top 4 club until gameweek 9 and with Watford playing their first two home games against last season’s Premier League’s 2nd and 3rd best defences, goals will be hard to find. Callum Wilson is my pick out of these two bargain strikers but it was extremely close and came down to factors out of their hands.

FPL dilemma result: Callum Wilson

Matty Kaye

@EmKWhy

You may also like...