In life, we meet new people, come across new associations and some old faces start getting a bit unfamiliar with the passage of time. However, a couple of them emerge again while evoking a lot of memories in the process. The same goes with FPL too.
I hope you remember Kaoru Mitoma? How can we forget the Brighton attacker! Just two years back, the Japanese left-winger used to be a template pick in fantasy football. It was his debut season in 2022-23, when he racked up 138 pts in total. There were seven goals and nine assists under his name.
Last season, his ‘minutes played’ tally plummeted to 1,485 from 2,311; whereas, the number of goals and assists dropped down to 3 and 7. In no time, he lost appeal in FPL as well.
But in Fantasy Premier League 2024-25, the Japan international can be the subject of an interesting case study. Brighton had a bright start in the campaign under their newly-appointed head coach, Fabian Hurzeler. So had Mitoma.
The 31-year-old gaffer who became the youngest permanent coach in the history of PL, guided Brighton to consecutive wins in which Mitoma raked in two attacking returns — one goal and one assist. Since then, it has been largely a case of hits and misses for the Brighton winger until a while ago.
During this phase, he also lost his starting place and registered seven successive blanks from GW14 to GW20. But in the last three gameweeks, we have probably rediscovered Mitoma’s old-self. In two consecutive away duties against Ipswich Town and Manchester United, the ace dribbler came out with three attacking returns.
The underlying numbers strengthen the ground even further — two goals and one assist from a cumulative xGI(expected goal involvement) of 1.31. That’s twice the sum. Now this is quite something and speaks volumes about his quality in the attacking third.
Moreover, Mitoma has started all these games and appears to be integral to Hurzeler’s plans. He has amassed 24 pts in this period, out of which 22 came from the first two. One might argue that the sample size is too small, but it’s not. The grass is green even beyond this brief purple patch.
Firstly, Mitoma is a proven asset in FPL. This season, he has already started 20 out of the 23 matches and has scored 5 goals and 4 assists. His current tally stands at 94 pts with an average xGI of 0.42 per 90’.
Secondly, Brighton is an exciting unit when it comes to scoring goals. In the ongoing campaign, they have scored 35 goals in 23 games, averaging 1.52 goals per match. Hurzeler who took St. Pauli to the Bundesliga in a fairytale saga, has been always applauded for his attacking approach.
By the way, prior to losing to Everton this gameweek, Brighton were unbeaten for six successive gameweeks in the Premier League. Barring Forest, Chelsea, Man City, and Liverpool, they don’t have any red signs in the FDR (Fixture Difficulty Rating) right till the end of the season.
But they will face Forest and Chelsea in the next two following gameweeks. Therefore, GW26 looks like a good entry point for this once-fan-favourite FPL asset. He is a great differential at the moment with an ownership of just 5.6% and I expect more FPL managers to cash in on this Japanese fantasy action-hero in the upcoming transfer windows.