Said Benrahma (6.0) – What an exciting player to watch! However, the question remains, is he the FPL asset to own? In this article, we will take a look at his stats and try to answer whether is he a good FPL option (i.e. whether to own him or not).
After a very good pre-season and productive first gameweek (GW1), there is a lot of discussion about Benrahma (especially for the upcoming gameweeks).
Here is our view of him.
Previous seasons
Last season, Benrahma did not settle very well at West Ham United, as was expected from him. He only played 1376 minutes, scoring only 1 goal and 6 assists, which in FPL terms was 76 pts.
Although, he did make 30 appearances but mostly from the bench. Not to mention that the loan spell of Jesse Lingard in the 2nd half of the season snubbed his minutes even more.
Algerian showed strong determination during the pre-season. He made 4 apps scoring 2 goals and 3 assists. He thus imposed himself on David Moyes and showed that he can count on him. It looks like Benrahma settled well after the rough first season, which shows his display in gameweek 1.
Impressive display in GW1
In the first gameweek of the 2021/22 season, West Ham beat Newcastle 4-2. Benrahma played 87 minutes in that match.
He had 3 shots on goal and 1 key pass. Moreover, he scored and assisted in that match (he contributed to 12 pts, including 2 bonus points), continuing his pre-season form. WhoScored site gave him an 8.0 rating for that match, which shows how good he was.
We only have underlying data from a very small sample size (one gameweek) but we will look at it anyway.
In the GW1, according to Understat.com, he had xG (expected Goal) 0.58 and xA (expected Assist) of 0.39.
If you are not sure, what xG and xA mean, feel free to read our article about expected goals here.
Comparing to last season, he had been averaging 0.16 xG, 0.33 xA, and 2.29 Shots per 90 minutes.This is a good indicator of Benrahma’s improvement, and he could be on his way to a great season in the WHU.
Benrahma is a very creative player, however, the only problem he has is consistency. He needs to be more consistent if he’s about to prove his quality.
The question remains – is he a good FPL asset? In FPL terms, Benrahma costs only 6.0, which might prove as a bargain if he continues his GW1 form. In the 6.0 bracket, not many players can be as good as Benrahma.
Players who can rival Benrahma in this price bracket are Jack Harrison, Eze (when he returns from his injury), Willock maybe, and Sarr I would say. The only problem for Benrahma might be if Lingard returns to West Ham.
But if he continues his form, that should not be a big issue, because Benrahma can play on left-wing (LW) or as no. 10 (AMF), which gives David Moyes flexibility to play him in different roles.
Conclusion
To answer the question of whether Benrahma is a good FPL option: in my opinion, he is a GOOD option, mostly because of his price (6.0).
If you put him in your team, you won’t lose too much. He will definitely play most of the games (either as a sub or in the starting XI). We hope that Benrahma can keep his place in the starting XI and that Moyes can count on him.
The stats are looking good, which he showed in GW1. He is definitely one to watch, but if you don’t want to miss the bandwagon, go get him!
WHU has favorable fixtures and he should continue to return. However, pay attention to Lingard’s situation and WHU matches in the Europa League!
