Fantasy football is much like our lives. However, with just a little tweak. Otherwise, a word that has severe negative connotations in the popular consciousness, especially after the #MeToo movement wouldn’t have been so appealing to FPL managers.
Yes, you are right. None other than ‘Enabler’ it is! When we talk about this entirely different breed in FPL, there’s a whole new outlook to approach the game.
While signing an enabler, you get a budget option in your squad which allows you enough room in your purse to accommodate expensive players in the playing XI. Usually, they remain low-key. It might be someone, who is your fifth-choice midfielder or fifth-choice defender or maybe the third forward option in the team.
You don’t expect much when you go for an enabler in FPL. Barring a few expectations, they mostly hail from lower-end teams.
Finding an enabler and that too an attacking option, from a top team in PL is something that would give goosebumps to an FPL manager. And it doesn’t get any better when the guy belongs to a side like Arsenal.
Something that makes Ethan Nwaneri a lip-smacking option in the Fantasy Premier League 2024-25. Popular Arsenal asset Bukayo Saka’s injury has changed the dynamics of Arsenal. The attacking third has also felt a shake-up in recent times.
It’s in such a topsy-turvy scenario that young gun Ethan has managed to break into Mikel Arteta’s first XI. He made the headlines three years back while being the youngest-ever Arsenal player to take up the field in the Premier League.
Nwaneri’s numbers in FPL are not exciting in the first place. Barely 23pts from mainly cameo appearances.
But … Here comes the twist — Ethan Nwaneri has started two successive games for the Gunners. In gameweek20, against Brighton, and against Brentford, a week prior. Now that is a big deal for someone who costs only £4.5m in fantasy. And he had an impressive display in both the away fixtures.
When Nwaneri had to be taken out from the field at the lemon break against Brighton, he already had his name written on the scoresheet. Ethan scored against Forest too, in gameweek12, while coming on from the bench.
With an exciting range of gifted players around him on the pitch, Ethan Nwaneri can be a great differential route to score points in FPL. Along with his enabler status, the ‘niche asset’ tag makes him a greater prospect in terms of fantasy.
However, the Arsenal academy product is out for a few weeks now due to the muscular injury sustained in the Brighton match. Yet, he remains an FPL asset to keep a close eye on.
Arteta himself has spoken highly of him: “He has earned the right to step up and play for us and now he has started some games, some big games and impacted those games in the way he has done in different positions, too.”
He may return on time for the Wolves encounter on January 25, when Arsenal embarks on an easy run of fixtures. The Gunners will play Leicester and West Ham in the following three gameweeks.
Therefore, track Ethan Nwaneri’s progress in recovery and bring him on, at the earliest to catch your mini-league rivals in FPL with a surprise!
