Flawless since returning from injury only a few weeks ago, Daniel Sturridge’s performances are persuading a lot of managers to double up on Liverpool forwards at the moment.
Gameweek 25 Review
We hate to say we told you so, but it is rare enough that this column gets to bask smugly in the aftermath of a recommendation that turned out perfectly, as was the case with our advice (because it wasn’t at all obvious until we said it, of course) to pick Eden Hazard as captain at the weekend.
Your humble author would be even more smug if he hadn’t at the last minute opted to hand the armband to Edin Dzeko and cost himself 20 sweet points in the process, but some (albeit scant) consolation is provided by JOE readers benefitting from the advice.
Hazard, as you might expect, was top scorer with 21 points after the first hat-trick of his Chelsea career against Newcastle and is included in a Dream Team dominated by Liverpool and Chelsea players on what was an excellent weekend for both sides.
Two-goal Martin Skrtel is next best with 17 points, a point more than renaissance man Kevin Nolan, who struck his second brace in successive games against Aston Villa. The other Liverpool player to grab two goals at the weekend, Raheem Sterling, is well deserving of a Dream Team berth after 14 points, the same total as Swansea’s Wayne Routledge.
Tom Ince’s first start as a Crystal Palace player yielded a goal, an assist and 13 points, defenders Kyle Walker (12), Maynor Figueroa (12) and Branislav Ivanovic (11) all broke into double figures, with the Dream Team completed by Chelsea striker Samuel Eto’o (10) and Spurs netminder Hugo Lloris (9).
J-League
Resting on one’s laurels is not something you can get away with in the white-hot pressure cooker that is the top of the J-League and one bad week can prove very costly indeed. Barry Curran’s gambitbeer didn’t surrender top spot this weekend, but their lead isn’t half as comfortable as it was before the weekend after they could only muster 39 points.
That allowed former leader Stuart McGoldrick to reduce the gap at the top significantly, to just 13 points in fact, after his charges Champions 2013/14 managed a solid 65 points. An even better score of 80 points was posted by Adrian Marnane’s Michu at De Gea Bar, who have gone from relative obscurity to real challengers in a matter of weeks.
Similarly good totals were posted by Gavin Dixon’s Dodgers 2013/14 in fourth and Sean Jackon’s Bloemfontein Celtic on a weekend when there was ample opportunity to put up plenty of points, providing you selected the right skipper, of course.
J-League Top 5:
- Gambitbeer – Barry Curran: 1,672 points
- Champions 2013/14 – Stuart McGoldrick: 1,659 points
- Michu at De Gea Bar – Adrian Marnane: 1,658 points
- Dodgers 2013/14 – Gavin Dixon: 1,644 points
- Bloemfontein Celtic – Sean Jackson: 1,641 points
Back sure-fire Sturridge to deliver the goods
It’s understandable when you play alongside somebody like Luiz Suarez that you’re going to be the less celebrated member of a partnership but Daniel Sturridge deserves an awful lot of praise for his performances in a season where he really has gone from strength to strength.
Because of doubts that lingered over his ability and his character – doubts held by many including his current manager, who said something to the effect that he was in the last chance saloon following his move to Liverpool – there was a reluctance in some parts to believe that he could maintain his brilliant run in the second half of last season on a more permanent basis.
Sturridge has rubbished any of those doubts this season, and in some style too, with only Luis Suarez scoring more than his 15 goals this season, a tally he has recorded in 17 games having missed the guts of ten games through injury.
Managers are reluctant to pair two players from the same team who play in the same position in their fantasy lineup because it can be costly when that team has an off day, but those concerns are groundless when it comes to the SAS partnership, as Sturridge has shown since returning from injury in the middle of last month.
The England attacker has scored in each of the five games since his comeback, including a brace against Everton, and with one assist and the maximum bonus haul in three of those games, he has averaged just short of nine points a game in that period.
No opposition seem to hold any fears for Suarez and Sturridge and indeed Liverpool as a whole at present, but the Reds’ fixture list over the coming weeks will only increase the temptation amongst Fantasy managers to pair Liverpool’s deadly duo in attack.
JOE’s Fantasy Football Picks:
Top Dollar: Eden Hazard (£10.8 million). Loses out to Suarez for the captaincy this time around but in the form he’s in and on the back of a hat-trick on Saturday, he is a must-have in any team at the moment.
Mid-Range: Kevin Nolan (£6.6 million). We doubt that Nolan’s current run of goals is going to last very long, but who are we to argue with four goals and 32 points in his last two games?
Bargain Basement: Thomas Ince (£5.5 million). Granted it’s early days yet, but his first performance in a Palace shirt hinted that there might be a lot more to come from the highly sought-after youngster.
Irish Pick: Damien Delaney (£4.4 million). Plays 90 minutes week in, week out in what has become a very solid Palace rearguard and is very good value a little over four million quid, even if it’s just as an option to come in off the bench.
Captain’s Pick: Luis Suarez (£13.4 million). The league’s leading scorer has, quite unbelievably, managed just the one goal in his last four games, but he has compensated with an assist in all four of those encounters. This ‘barren’ run won’t last and there’s a good chance it will come to an end at Fulham tonight.
