Luka Milivojević, MID, Crystal Palace

Milivojević is entering his second EPL season, but this will be his first from the start as he joined Crystal Palace from Olympiacos last season on New Year’s Eve. The 26 year-old Serbian is not an all-out attacker, but he did become a midfield starter after signing a 3.5 year £10M contract. Mili can feel good about his role in helping steer Palace towards a finish north of the relegation zone in 14th place by way of a 41-point season haul.

To call Crystal Palace solid but not spectacular last season would flatter the way they truly underperformed at stretches. The team was unpredictable, and in fact the most exciting thing about Crystal Palace is that one never truly knew what Alan Pardew team would show up, and for which match. Nevertheless, Mili’s mostly bland fantasy outlook is majorly buoyed by his set-piece responsibility. He can improve on two goals scored 2 goals in 16 appearances, his first being a penalty against Arsenal, with more games and minutes.

As far as the outside observers can currently, tell Mili is most likely to retain his spot as the first-choice penalty taker. His main competition would be Christian Benteke (58%), but seeing as the Belgian striker has two memorable misses against West Ham and Watford before Mili was signed, Mili might stick as #1 for spot-kicks. The appeal even extends to direct free kick responsibilities, too, as evidenced recently by a clean strike from 25 yards against West Brom in pre-season.

I can’t see anything except Mili being a regular, 90-minute player this season. Surrounding him are the aforementioned Benteke, Wilf Zaha (52%) as the top asset in midfield, Andros Townsend (18%), Yohan Cabaye (24%) and captain Jason Puncheon (5%). The question remaining is whether dictating play from a deep-lying position, and taking set-pieces will push Mili beyond Puncheon, Cabaye, and Townsend in the fantasy pecking order. With Pardew sacked and Frank DeBoer now in charge, Draft Fantasy managers will hope for a better balance of organization and consistency, and more good excitement than the mixed bag of years past.

Is there a lot of upside? Some, at least, if he takes 5 penalties or adds corners. But perhaps we shouldn’t be greedy. If you need a fifth midfielder in a deeper league. Mili may not fly too far under the radar in draft simply because he is seen as a potential bargain in salary cap fantasy formats, but consider yourself put on notice. At only 2% owned in Draft Fantasy, he’s available most everywhere and I could envision him being a solid weekly fill-in later in the season.