You mean you haven’t used it yet? If not, this is your last chance.
Gameweek 23 review
Liverpool and Manchester City were the most impressive sides in the midweek action and while the Reds are well represented in the Dream Team with three players, it is a surprise that only one City player features despite their shellacking of Spurs at White Hart Lane.
That one player, Edin Dzeko, was joint top scorer this week with 15 points after a goal, two assists and maximum bonus points for his part in that victory and the Bosnian shares top billing with Swansea’s Chico Flores after a goal and clean sheet against Fulham.
Luis Suarez is as close to an automatic selection in the Dream Team as you’ll get at this stage and he’s there again alongside strike partner Daniel Sturridge, after both of them totalled 11 points for their contribution in the Merseyside derby, as did Crystal Palace’s Jason Puncheon after his goal against Hull City.
Defender Kolo Toure is also in there after he notched 10 points, the same total as Adam Lallana and former Red Jonjo Shelvey and one point more than our own John O’Shea and West Brom’s Youssouf Mulumbu. Last but not least is West Ham goalkeeper Adrian, who saved nine of the 40 or so shots Chelsea had on his goal on Wednesday night, kept a clean sheet and earned 12 points.
J-League
Only a few weeks back, Barry Curran’s gambitbeer and Stuart McGoldrick’s Champions 2013/14 were fighting their own battle at the top with loads to spare over the chasing pack, but with Stuart in something of a funk of late, he has fallen back into the chasing pack and Barry has made top spot his own.
Barry’s charges are now more than 30 points ahead of Stuart and Anthony Murphy’s Sea Dogs!!!, who in turn have a lead of nearly 20 points over Brian Ruane’s Dukes of Hazard in third place. After that, Paul McInaw’s Poppycock Wednesday are well in touch in fourth, with Mark Colley’s Ferncourt F.C. and Sean Jackson’s Bloemfontein Celtic inseparable in fifth.
J-League Top 5:
- Gambitbeer – Barry Curran: 1,578 points
- Sea Dogs!!! – Anthony Murphy, Champions 2013/14 – Stuart McGoldrick: 1,545 points
- Dukes of Hazard – Brian Ruane: 1,526 points
- Poppycock Wednesday – Paul McInaw: 1,525 points
- Ferncourt F.C. – Mark Colley, Bloemfontein Celtic – Sean Jackson: 1,516 points
Have you played your Winter Wildcard yet?
The managers that have yet to play the wildcard specially set aside for January and the transfer window generally fall into two separate groups.
The first group includes managers who have cannily held off from using it until after the completion of deadline day and the second includes those who think ‘What? We have another wildcard to use?’ and revel in the knowledge that they can complete as many transfers as they want before tomorrow morning without losing a single point in the process.
The deadline for the wildcard that has been in effect since January 1 expires tomorrow at 11.30 am and in case you didn’t already know, making use of this wildcard does not affect a manager’s ability to use the other one granted to them within the Fantasy Football rules.
The benefit of waiting until the last minute to use it is that managers can snap up players who move on Deadline Day and while there are a number of deals still in the balance – Yevhen Konoplyanka to Liverpool, Mangala and Fernando to Manchester City, for example – at the time of writing, it is still expecting a lot of those who are on the move to make an instant impact and return a load of points immediately.
That said, there is scope to avail of players who made moves earlier in the window and a number of those would appear to have the potential to have a big effect between now and the end of the season.
We analysed the potential benefits of adding Juan Mata in detail in a column earlier this week, but others who might end up catching the eye are Chelsea’s Mohamed Salah (£6.5 million), Fulham’s Lewis Holtby (£6.2 million), Hull City and Ireland striker Shane Long (£5.6 million) and Everton duo Aiden McGeady (£6.0 million) and Lacina Traore (£7.5 million), who won’t feature until the middle of February, but could be required to do a job in the temporary absence of Romelu Lukaku.
Just because the wildcard is there doesn’t mean one has to use it, of course, and if you’re doing just fine as it is then it’s perfectly fine to resist it, but for those in need of a dramatic mid-season overhaul, a bit of a pick me-up or just a bit of fine tuning, it works a treat.
JOE’s Fantasy Football Picks:
Top Dollar: Robin van Persie (£13.6 million). Didn’t take long to settle back in after injury and with Man United facing into a decent-looking run of games and with Juan Mata on hand to potentially provide a few assists, RVP could have a few productive weeks ahead.
Mid-Range: Edin Dzeko (£6.8 million). Third choice striker he may be, but Dzeko has played 90 minutes in four of City’s last five games, scoring four goals and 39 points in the process. With Sergio Aguero out for a month or so, he doesn’t look to be going anywhere yet.
Bargain Basement: Serge Gnabry (£4.2 million). A few injuries at Arsenal have led to first team opportunities for the highly regarded youngster, who has started the last three league games.
Irish Pick: John O’Shea (£4.8 million). Sunderland are way tighter at the back than they were earlier on in the season and the Waterford man has been at the heart of that defensive effort.
Captain’s Pick: Luis Suarez (£13.4 million). When in doubt, go with Suarez and with a few tricky looking fixtures for some of the other candidates, we say you should rely on the Uruguayan to do the business (AGAIN) against West Brom this weekend.
