Fantasy Football Insider – Gameweek 2: Things looking rosy in the garden of Eden

J-League Top 5:

1. Release the Krakens – Richard Snowden: 120 points
2. Perfect Tactics – James Wong: 114 points
3. Man Red – Stephen Ruth: 111 points
4. Meath Lovers Pizza – Gavin Gingles: 110 points
5. Bacary Lasagne – Mark Kilgallon, Poo in a urinal – Paul Murphy: 108 points

In the garden of Eden

We were beginning to tire of Eden Hazard earlier in the summer when he made his transfer saga into a sort of a football equivalent of Le Bron James’ infamous ‘decision’ to join the Miami Heat a few years back.

Given the clamour for his signature, however, it was obvious that the boy’s a bit special and, having endured a somewhat mixed Community Shield, it didn’t take him long to show the Premier League what he’s made of.

Granted, Wigan and Reading may not have been the toughest of opponents, but Hazard has an astonishing five assists to his name already, more than a quarter of the highest number of assists registered by one player in the whole of last season.

They’re a different type of player, but already Hazard is shaping up to be this season’s David Silva and by that we mean a player coveted by every fantasy manager for his knack of picking up assists, with Hazard likely to score more goals than the diminutive Spaniard as well.

In his last two seasons playing for Lille – he was voted the Ligue 1 Player of the Year in both of them – Hazard scored 34 goals and contributed 26 assists, stats that could cause a wet dream for Fantasy Football addicts.

It’s early days yet of course, but Chelsea look to have recruited a real star in the making and although we tried our damnedest to avoid such an obvious and terribly over-used pun, everyone would do well to heed the Hazard warning delivered by the Belgian new boy in the opening week of the season.

JOE’s Fantasy Football Picks:

Top Dollar: Eden Hazard (£9.6 million). After talking him so much above, Hazard is the obvious choice for our recommendation from the high end of the market this week. Newcastle are better than Wigan and Reading, but in this form, he’ll be very hard to stop.

Mid-Range: Shinji Kagawa (£8.5 million). RVP mightn’t have had much of a chance to make an impact and Wayne Rooney might have toiled badly against Everton, but their Japanese playmaker looked very impressive and would have had an assist or two if United’s forward line were on their toes.

Fulham might have got off to a flier last weekend, but they’re traditionally one of United’s least taxing opponents at Old Trafford and the Red Devils need to get things back on track.

Bargain Basement: Steven Davis (£5.0 million). The Northern Ireland international was always a tidy player with Villa and he’ll fit nicely into Southampton’s attacking system. Already a goal to his name against the champions and we fancy him to add a few assists before the season’s out.

Irish Pick: Ciaran Clark (£4.5 million). The signs are that he’ll be a fixture in the Villa XI this season and he got a good 90 minutes under his belt against West Ham. Providing Paul Lambert can tighten them up a bit at the back, Clark could be a bargain for the year ahead.

Captain’s Pick: Robin van Persie (£13.0 million). Some people will say it’s too early yet, but after their toothless display against Everton we would expect Fergie to shake things up a bit and go with the Dutchman from the start. The prospect of the Red Devils going two games without a goal is almost unthinkable and we’ve a feeling RVP will score his first goal in a different shade of red on Saturday.

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