Is Mahrez a fantasy football option again?

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Riyad Mahrez has been involved in more goals in his last four Premier League games (5) as he had in his previous 17 games combined (4).

The 2015-16 PFA Player of the Year’s latest effort against Stoke produced flashbacks for the defenders, who had to contend with the dainty attacking midfielder during his world-class season.

The Algerian’s goal saw him slip away from one defender on the right wing, cut inside and curl home with his favoured left foot.

After a year’s break, is it time to bring in this fantasy football legend again?

Is Mahrez now better than his best?

Leicester have scored seven in the previous four games, five of which have been scored or assisted by Mahrez, giving the Algerian a goal involvement of 71%.

For comparison, during Leicester title run, Mahrez scored 17 goals and made another 11, meaning he contributed to 45% of the Foxes’ goals directly.

It may not be fair to compare a four-game spell to a whole season. So, his best four-game stretch in the 2015/16 season saw him score six goals and make one more. This gave him a goal involvement of 6 in 7 or 86%. It’s no wonder he was voted the best player in the league that year.

This year, Mahrez assisted twice in the opening two games, before going the next five without contributing to a single goal. His recent flurry in the last four games has catapulted himself back onto our fantasy radars, but is this just a flash in the pan, or is vintage Mahrez back for good?

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What changed four weeks ago?

Mahrez scored a late equaliser during Leicester’s home tie with West Brom: it was enough to secure a point, but not enough to secure manager Craig Shakespeare another week in the job.

In Claude Puel’s first game, Mahrez was deployed behind Jamie Vardy in a central role, with Demarai Gray taking his place on the right.

This was the first game this year that Gray and Mahrez started together and with Jamie Vardy, the trio caused mayhem for the Toffess, dove-tailing and weaving their way at pace towards the Everton goal.

Mahrez picked up an assist for Vardy’s opener and made a shot and two key passes during the game.

The following week against Stoke, Mahrez returned to his usual right midfielder position, following the injury to Ben Chilwell, which forced Gray to be deployed on the left instead.

In the last four Gameweeks, Mahrez has had 10 attempts, seven in the box and four on target. He’s also created five chances for teammates.

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Start fast

Speaking before the Stoke game, Harry Maguire said the French manager has made a couple of changes to the side’s style of play already during his limited time at the club.

“The new manager has come in and changed a few things about the way we play and I am sure we will change a lot more between now and the next game.”

Puel told his new players that they needed to start fast according to Maguire.

The foxes had not scored before 45 minutes since the opening game against Arsenal on Aug 22. In Puel’s first game, they scored twice in the opening 30 minutes and against Stoke, Vicente Iborra opened the scoring in the 33rd minute.

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Buy now or add to the watchlist?

Mahrez’s recent form has coincided with kind fixtures against four teams currently in the bottom seven: West Brom, Swansea, Everton and Stoke.

Three of the next four games feature at the King Power, with a mixed bag of fixtures to come in the form of Manchester City (H), West Ham (A), Tottenham Hotspur (H) and Burnley (H).

With two of the top-6 and high-flying Burnley to visit in the next four games, just how well does Puel deal with big games?

Last year at Southampton, Puel’s team struggled to score and wavered when the top-six came to the south coast.

They drew with Liverpool and Manchester United 0-0 and lost to Arsenal, Chelsea, Spurs and Manchester City by at least two goals, only scoring against Spurs.

But Puel’s methods did see the Saints reach the EFL Cup final, controversially losing the final against Manchester United.

Verdict

The addition of Gray has changed the dynamic in Leicester’s attack and injected some youthful energy back into the side. Vardy, and in particular Mahrez, are benefitting from this, with the latter looking like a viable fantasy option again.

Five of the next eight games are at the King Power, with trips to West Ham, Newcastle and Southampton scheduled for the Foxes.

Given the Algerian’s price, it may be worth waiting for the City game to pass before jumping on the bandwagon, but Mahrez looks deadly again and Leicester look full of life once more.