Fantasy Football Insider – Gameweek 35: The rejuvenation of RVP

Robin van Persie is back amongst the goals and looking as good as he has all season, but will he be kept in reserve now that United have sewn up the league title?

Gameweek 34 review

Unsurprisingly, one man with three initials dominates the Dream Team this week and much to the inevitable disappointment of Nottingham Forest fans of the mid to late 90s, we’re not talking about Pierre van Hooijdonk.

The man in question, of course, is Robin van Persie, whose hat-trick in the title-clinching clash against Aston Villa on Monday night earned the Dutchman 17 points, two more than his former Arsenal colleague Per Mertesacker after his winning goal against Fulham.

Gareth Bale returned with a bang to strike a goal and earn 13 points for his contribution to Spurs’ victory over Manchester City, while Peter Crouch came back to haunt old boss ‘Arry with a goal and an assist against QPR that earned him 12 points.

As there are no points deducted for biting as far as Fantasy Football is concerned, Luis Suarez’s 11-point haul, unlike the skin on Branislav Ivanovic’s arm, remained intact and he was joined on that tally by Laurent Koscielny, Ryan Bennett, Kevin Nolan, Ryan Giggs and Stephane Sessegnon.

In goal, meanwhile Wojciech Szczesny (9 points) took Arsenal’s Dream Team contingent to three after keeping a clean sheet and making a handful of saves at Craven Cottage.

The J-League

In stark contrast to last week, scoring was high in the upper echelons of the J-League, with the top five managers all managing in excess of 80 points after all of them followed my advice (because they certainly wouldn’t have done it of their own accord) and picked Robin van Persie as their captain.

As a result, there was only one change in the top five with Andy Twomey’s Athrasna moving up the fifth place at the expense of Neill McNicholas’ 123, who dropped all the way to tenth spot after a mediocre 58 points.

Darren McCann’s Dazzleros still hold a healthy 42-point lead over Mickey Hanrahan’s Shawn Michaels Babes at the top, with Martin Hanway’s Marty’s Muppets and Terry 2 O’Connor’s Terry 2 not far behind in third and fourth and certainly not out of contention for the top spot just yet.

J-League Top 5:

1. Dazzleros – Darren McCann: 2,128 points
2. Shawn Michaels Babes – Mickey Hanrahan: 2,086 points
3. Marty’s Muppets – Martin Hanway: 2,081 points
4. Terry2 – Terry2 O’Connor: 2,076 points
5. Athtrasna – Andy Twomey: 2,065 points

The rejuvenation of RVP

Only foolish observers believed that Robin van Persie’s mini-drought was a sign of a more serious problem with the Dutch striker, but he responded to his small band of doubters in some style with a cracking hat-trick, including the probable goal of the season, against Aston Villa on Monday night.

As it turned out, those who lost faith in the reigning Player of the Year were in the minority as Van Persie was the most captained player in Gameweek 34 and, at the time of writing, is a part of two out of every five teams in the entire Fantasy Football League.

It was fairly inevitable that RVP would get back on the goal trail as soon as he ended his five game drought in the league and so it proved as he has struck five goals in his last three games, during which time he has picked up eight out of a possible nine bonus points.

The problem for managers now, however, is that Sir Alex Ferguson may choose to give the lesser-used members of his squad some game time at Van Persie’s expense in the remaining four games now that the league has officially been sewn up.

Javier Hernandez, for example, has started only two out of the last ten games and Danny Welbeck two of the last seven, while the inclusion of Wayne Rooney and Shinji Kagawa in advanced roles means that United often play with only one man up front.

The fact that United are chasing a record Premier League points total could mean that Fergie sticks with RVP for the remaining few games and you can be damn sure he’ll start him against Arsenal when his old team-mates will form a guard of honour welcoming him back onto his old stomping ground this weekend.

If RVP plays regularly for the rest of the season, with the form he’s in, the pressure off and the golden boot as good as in the bag after Luis Suarez’s ban, then the chances are he’ll knock plenty more in between now and the end of the campaign. If not, he’s a hell of an expensive Fantasy Football acquisition to have sitting on the bench.

It’s a big decision for managers to have to make and at such a crucial stage of the season, could be the deciding factor in whether you’re destined for success in your mini-league or doomed to failure.

JOE’s Fantasy Football Picks:

Top Dollar: Gareth Bale (£10.5 million). Back from injury with a bang against City at the weekend, he’ll be desperate to propel Spurs to a spot in next season’s Champions League and to reach 20 league goals before the season’s out.

Mid-Range: Christian Benteke (£7.4 million). If they can beat Sunderland on Monday evening, Villa can improve their relegation prospects and drag another rival back into the dogfight at the same time and we’ve a feeling they’ll do just that. Benteke hasn’t scored in his last two games but he netted in the four games previous and he remains Villa’s greatest scoring threat.

Bargain Basement: Daniel Sturridge (£6.7 million). Turned the game after his introduction against Chelsea last week and will have to pick up the burden in Liverpool’s attack while Suarez is out for the rest of the season.

Irish Pick: John O’Shea (£5.0 million). Although we think Villa will nick a win on Monday night, O’Shea will be going all out to see that they don’t and to try and secure a third consecutive clean sheet for the Black Cats.

Captain’s Pick: Juan Mata (£9.8 million). Swansea have been on auto-pilot since the Carling Cup Final and haven’t won any of their last five games in the league. No better man to exploit their drop in form than Juan Mata, who hasn’t scored in ages but has three assists in the last two games.