The best player in the league this season won’t be seen for the guts of another month so how do managers go about replacing him?
Gameweek 15 review
We’re glad to say that there was a decent Irish presence in the Dream Team this week, well, there were two players in there thanks to the goalscoring exploits of Ciaran Clark and Jonathan Walters at the weekend.
Clark and Walters scored 11 and 12 points respectively but they were overshadowed by the contribution of Andy Carroll, whose luscious head of hair accounted for two goals and 16 points against Swansea.
That tally was one point better than Hull ‘keeper Allan ‘penalty-save king’ McGregor, who scored 15 points, two more than two-goal Robin van Persie and three more than Walters, Papiss Cisse and QPR defender Mauricio Isla.
Not for the first time in recent weeks, Yaya Toure was in the mix after ten points for his penalty against Everton, with Leroy Fer, Martin Skrtel and Jan Vertonghen filling the remaining spots with nine points apiece.
J-League
It will probably come as little surprise that last weekend was one of the lowest-scoring weekends in recent memory, largely due to the injury-enforced withdrawal of most people’s captain, Sergio Aguero, after just seven minutes against Everton.
Only Enda McGearty’s Coin Men broke the 50-point barrier this week and in doing so he closed the gap on the leaders, Terry O’Rourke’s Sporting Kilbeggan, whose lead has been cut to a paltry nine points.
After that, there was little activity in the top five as Stephen Mullet’s wecouldwinitsixtimes dropped to third ahead of Dan Kelly’s Kelly’s Heroes and Sean Kelly’s The Honey Badgers, with all of the top five having legitimate ambitions of breaking the 1,000 point barrier this weekend.
J-League Top 5
- Sporting Kilbeggan – Terry O’Rourke: 924 points
- Coin Men – Enda McGearty: 915 points
- Wecouldwinitsixtimes – Stephen Mullett: 912 points
- Kelly’s Heroes – Dan Kelly: 906 points
- The Honey Badgers – Sean Kelly: 905 points
Surviving without Sergio
It wasn’t just Sergio Ageuro who was in tears as he had to withdraw through injury last weekend; those tears were also shed by the millions of Fantasy managers who had handed him the armband last weekend.
On a more serious note, the Argentine was the top points-scorer in the league up to Saturday and he’s going to take some replacing. So what are the alternatives? Here are three to bear in mind, if you haven’t got them in your team already of, course.
Robin van Persie (£12.5 million): A few weeks ago, RVP looked a shadow of his old self and was seemingly on the verge of being dropped for promising youngster James Wilson. After three goals in two games, he’s found a new lease of life and against Southampton, he really did look like the player who propelled the Red Devils to the title in 2012/13.
When Van Persie is in the mood, he’ll score goals and he should be provided with plenty of opportunities to do so over the next few weeks. RVP is £0.1 million cheaper than Aguero right now so if you’re looking for a straight swap with the minimum of fuss, he’s your man.
Wilfried Bony (£8.5 million): The Swansea striker endured a stop-start beginning to this campaign, but he’s banged in seven goals in the last ten games and proved himself as one of the best strikers in the league. Excellent value for money at that price.
Andy Carroll (£6.9 million): The big man didn’t see a minute of action until November 8 (when he literally played for a minute) but he’s been making up for lost time in the last two games.
In that time, Carroll has scored twice and provided an assist and given the mood that both he and the Hammers are in right now, there’s no reason he can’t maintain that form in the coming weeks.
JOE’s Fantasy Football Picks
Top Dollar: Robin van Persie (£12.5 million). As we said above, RVP looked a lot more like his old self against Southampton and he has a decent record against Liverpool in the past.
Mid-Range: Edin Dzeko (£8.1 million). The Bosnian has barely featured for City in the league in the last few weeks but Aguero’s injury will surely change that and the Champions face badly-struggling Leicester this weekend.
Bargain Basement: Leroy Fer (£5.5 million). QPR have looked a lot more solid of late than they did at the start of the campaign while at the attacking end, Fer has netted two goals and 18 points in total in his last three games.
Irish Pick: Jonathan Walters (£5.2 million). Providing he starts (he’s a slight doubt with a knee injury), Walters is well worth a shout as he is in super form with three goals and two assists in his last six games.
Captain’s Pick: Diego Costa (£11.0 million). The Blues’ unbeaten record is gone but we fully expect them to return to form this weekend and bully Hull as they have been bullying so many teams so far this season. No better man than Costa to do just that.
