Change we can't believe in

As the saying goes, the more things change, the more they stay the same. We speculated in the pre-season about what differences the new bonus system might produce, given that it was now to be based on a scientific and objective formula. The EA Sports index is based on six categories of contribution, which combine to give a player's overall contribution to a game. The approximate weighting appears to be as below:

• Scoring a goal: 90%


• Winning the game: 10%


• Other: 1%*

*Rounding difference of +/- 1% is possible

Only two of the top 12 scorers in GW1 failed to find the net (Kompany and Yaya Toure) while all found themselves on the winning team. In GW2 an incredible 13 of the top 20 scorers all benefited from having a goal to their name while the top 17 scorers all won their respective games. 

The top 20 scorers to date gives us 6 players who are yet to find the net - Richards, S Taylor, Adam, Yaya Toure, Bosingwa and Kompany. Four of these names are already highly prized fantasy assets anyway but Taylor and Adam at least bear mentioning:

S Taylor - these strong displays, along with his goal threat from set pieces go a long way to suggesting he may be worth the extra 0.5m over Danny Simpson. This theory is further cemented by the chance that Simpson could face a rotation threat from R Taylor if a full time left back is brought in over the next couple of weeks.

Adam - Adam was obviously great last year but a large portion of his value derived from his ability to attract bonus points in a weak Blackpool side. If he can continue to be rewarded under the new system (despite not scoring or adding an assist in GW2) then he may have value again this year.

In short, there is very little more to say on bonus points and it appears they will simply follow the goals and clean sheets you are already chasing. Perhaps we give a slight nod to the teams who are more likely to win, but given the extra cost you will have to pay to acquire such players, even that looks like a dead end.

Until something changes with the data we are seeing, I won't be touching on this area again for a long time.

[I'm not sure it's obvious reading this but the percentages were a joke, sort of]