Chelsea have had a bittersweet start to their season, drawing 1-1 against Liverpool in their season opener at the Stamford Bridge, however positives were ever present for Pochettino’s side as his young Chelsea side dominated majority of the game against Jurgen Klopp’s side.
Speaking from an FPL perspective every pundit and expert will be looking to invest in Chelsea assets as they go on a run of games that are fairly easy including the likes of West Ham, Luton Town and Nottingham Forest.
Chelsea’s positives and shining ray of hope comes with a dark cloud of uncertainty, as their captain and first choice right back Reece James suffered a hamstring injury that sees him out for the foreseeable future.
Pochettino’s tactic is to use his fullbacks as wingback in a much more advanced and attacking role as one could see against Liverpool where Chilwell and James played a lot higher on the pitch and tried to create a 2v1 against The reds’ fullbacks using Chukwemeka and Sterling as interiors.
The Reece James injury can put a stop in Pochettino’s tactics but the presence of young Frenchman Malo Gusto could be a saving grace for the Argentine manager as well as FPL managers looking to invest in Chelsea assets.
Gusto is priced at 4.0M and could prove to be a major differential for managers looking to take a slight risk. James’ injury could lead to increased playing time for the ex-Lyon fullback.
In his 22/23 season for Lyon, he did not manage to get many attacking returns only providing a single assist and failing to register a single goal in his 21 appearances for the club in Ligue 1.
The issue with Gusto could be uncertainty, and it would be advised to wait and watch the West ham fixture to ensure he’s a nailed-on starter and if he does start, it could be a sort of audition for him to enter your FPL squad.
However, a two-week break after Forest could see Reece coming back into the squad and that would equate to the Frenchman only being useful for 2-3 matchdays.
The positives however with Gusto are there, because if you change your perspective and look at him as a short term, quick fix for injured Reece James, at 4.0m he is a bargain, and if Reece James were to get injured again, you have a similar profile playing in a system that uses the attacking potential of a fullback to the fullest.
Another major boost for potential Gusto owners is if you view the players stats, they aren’t quite impressive but numbers don’t lie and the underlying stats showcase his prowess as he has a major eye for crosses and passes into the penalty box and final third respectively, with him being in the 99th and 92nd percentile for both actions, even his expected assists is in the 89th percentile amongst fullbacks.
