Everton under Roberto Martinez

"...we now play a system that is designed to get the best out of our players. It’s a system that has been made here to play the best we can with the players we have. Here we are now very well balanced. We are organised defensively and we are creating opportunities. It’s not a case of the players adapting to a system. It’s adapting to a system that suits our players..."   Roberto Martinez on his Wigan side in 2011

With the tactically astute Martinez installed as the Toffees new manager we expect him to push on from where he was headed with Wigan over the last few seasons, and Swansea before that. The 3-4-3 he pioneered at the Lactics is much talked about but let us remember this was a system he implemented to get the best out of his players at the time.

The Everton players he'll inherit do fit this system to some degree, particularly down the flanks where a Baines-Pienaar and Coleman-Mirallas will only need a modest tactical tweak to suit Martinez. It's central positions though that may need time to develop.  Everton fans won't be too encouraged to see defenders Jagielka or Distin attempting a short passing game. In central midfield Fellaini and Gibson are talented footballers but Goodison Park my wince a little to see them try and boss possession after years of a much more direct and risk-free approach under Moyes. 

A more lively centre forward than Jelavic may be needed too, a la Martinez's former employ Arouna Kone, and the central attacking midfield role would also need some consideration. Osman, Pienaar or the emerging Ross Barkley could enjoy some success but again the signing of someone like Shaun Maloney may be on the cards.

We would expect Martinez to start well but by building on Everton's current strengths and then, over time, develop the team into a more fluid, attacking side, with one or two signings along the way. 

Regardless of the exact formation and players though we fully expect Everton to be just as bountiful a side for your Fantasy Premier League team come 2013/14.  The key player from a FPL viewpoint will be out on the wings with the aforementioned Baines, Coleman, Pienaar and Mirallas the main candidates. A new signing in either the AMC or Centre Forward position would also be one to watch.

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Mourinho loves a Goalscorer

We had a feeling that Mourinho's return to Chelsea might shake up the way the Blues play and after a long hard pour through team and player statistic we think might be right. We looked at Chelsea's stats over the last 10 seasons and Real Madrid and Inter Milan's from when Jose was in charge (data source: ESPN).

Last season's FPL saw Juan Mata and Eden Hazard both do great for your teams, whilst striker Torres suffered further ignominy and ridicule. 

With Mourinho back at the helm we expect him to buy a dominant striker and set the team up to play to that strength. He likes his players to play their role and that means the striker to score goals. We'd love this to be Lukaku but with millions to spend he may as well go out and buy someone and Edison Cavani's name on the back of a Chelsea shirt would see us prepared to stump up £10-11m or so of our FPL budget come August, leaving Mata to pick up assists for our rival's teams.