Brighton FPL Gameweek 25: Adingra comes back an AFCON King

Some late heartbreak denied Brighton an impressive point away to Spurs in FPL Gameweek 24 but it was not all bad news for the Seagulls last weekend as Simon Adingra played a starring role in helping Ivory Coast win the African Cup of Nations.

The Albion have coped reasonably well in recent weeks without Adingra, hammering Crystal Palace 4-1 and being the better team for large parts of the game against Spurs before succumbing to Brennan Johnson’s winner with 95 minutes and 30 seconds on the clock.

Pascal Gross (£6.4 million) had delivered for his many FPL backers with a first half penalty at the Tottenham Hotspur Stadium but it just wasn’t to be in North London.

Looking ahead to Gameweek 25, there will be four teams in action twice – Manchester City, Liverpool, Brentford and Luton Town.

Some clubs are coming into Gameweek 25 off the back of European commitments but not Brighton, who skipped this week’s Europa League round of 32 after topping Group B.

The Seagulls instead have been able to fully focus on their trip to Sheffield United. Here are a couple of interesting FPL options for managers to think about.

Simon Adingra (£5.0m)
First off, congratulations to Adingra for becoming an AFCON Champion. Having picked up a hamstring injury in FPL Gameweek 18 as Brighton drew 1-1 at Crystal Palace, Adingra was eased back into international action as the tournament progressed.

This proved to be a wise decision. He scored a last-minute equaliser as Ivory Coast came from behind to beat Mali in the quarter finals and then set up both goals to be named man-of-the-match in the 2-1 win against Nigeria in the final.

Adingra therefore returns to Brighton with confidence sky high, ready to continue a brilliant season which is perhaps not reflected by his bargain FPL price of just £5.0 million.

He first appeared on the radar of FPL managers when netting from the bench against Luton Town in Gameweek 1. Adingra then made his first start in Gameweek 5 and has been a regular ever since when available, being in Roberto De Zerbi’s XI for all but one of the next 14 matches.

Over that period, he ranked second amongst the Seagulls for both points (48) and chances created (17). Only Gross produced better numbers.

The one question mark over selecting Adingra is whether he will be back and available for the trip to Bramall Lane. But even if he isn’t, the winger looks a brilliant option to transfer in before the weeks ahead.

Gameweek 26 sees the Carabao Cup final take place, meaning no Premier League action for the likes of Richarlison (£7.2 million), Cole Palmer (£5.9 million) and Diogo Jota (£8.2 million).

Adingra provides a cheap alternative with proven returns ahead of a favourable home clash for Brighton with Everton next weekend.

Kaoru Mitoma (£6.4 million)
The sole Albion player with more shots on target than Adingra (10) between Gameweeks 5 and 18 was fellow winger Mitoma (11).

Similarly absent since Gameweek 18 due to injury and international duty, a quarter final Asian Cup elimination allowed the Japan star to feature at Spurs.

Brighton opted to throw Mitoma straight back into the starting XI, which bodes well for Adingra owners hoping for involvement against Sheffield United.

And just like Adingra will be, Mitoma was welcomed back with open arms. The 26-year-old had a fantastic second half of last season and began this one with three goals and three assists inside the first half-dozen outings.

Things slowed down afterwards, but he was still fourth throughout the league for penalty area touches (126) by Gameweek 18 when injury struck. Mitoma remains a constant menace to opposition defences.

Captaincy
Armband attention will naturally focus on the four Double Gameweek 25 teams – especially Manchester City and Liverpool.

Such is the inevitable nature of Erling Haaland (£14.4 million), many Triple Captain chips will likely be activated and applied to the Norwegian forward.

He will be at home to Chelsea and Brentford, whilst Jota and Darwin Nunez (£7.6 million) face the Bees and then Luton Town.

Although Nunez is undoubtedly frustrating to own, managers can always point to the latter’s explosive potential rather than dwell on his many missed chances.

Nobody in the league has had more attempts (78) or shots on target (34) than Nunez and that is from starting just 15 of Liverpool’s 24 matches.

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