A move to the KC Stadium has provided Shane Long and Nikica Jelavic with a new lease of life and they’re flourishing in each other’s company at the moment.
Gameweek 27 review
We hope none of you did the dance, but any of you who selected that man Daniel Sturridge *cough* as we suggested *cough* would have been celebrating after Gameweek 27, when he emerged as joint top scorer after two goals, an assist and three bonus points against Swansea for a 16-point haul.
Arsenal’s Olivier Giroud had exactly the same stats from the Gunners’ win over Sunderland and joined Sturridge as top scorer in what was a particularly high-scoring week, or at least it was for the Dream Team in any case.
Experienced defenders John Terry and Patrice Evra came next with 15 points after Terry was dubiously awarded Chelsea’s last minute goal at Everton to go with the clean sheet he kept in the same game, while Evra registered two assists to complement United keeping Crystal Palace scoreless at Selhurst Park.
In-form Liverpool midfielder Jordan Henderson was next best along with Arsenal’s Laurent Koscielny on 13 points apiece, West Ham duo Kevin Nolan and Carlton Cole joined Hull City duo Jake Livermore and Liam Rosenior on 12 points, with David de Gea completing the Dream Team XI thanks to his second consecutive clean sheet in the league.
J-League:
Although there was no change at the top this week, there were a few new entries in the J-League Top 5 this week, with Des Finegan’s The_K_Krew and Michael Roche’s Hyperloopin’ Away making an appearance for the first time after posting impressive scores of 85 and 90 respectively at the weekend.
Those scores were enough to catapult Des into joint-fourth alongside Paul McInaw’s Poppycock Wednesday and Michael into fifth place, with Noel Brady’s Cavan Commandos jumping up to third place behind Adrian Marnane’s Michu at De Gea Bar and Barry Curran’s Gambitbeer, who managed to increase their lead at the top to a fairly comfortable 30 points.
J-League Top 5:
- Gambitbeer – Barry Curran: 1,815 points
- Michu at De Gea Bar – Adrian Marnane: 1,785 points
- Cavan Commandos – Noel Brady: 1,762 points
- The_K_Krew – Des Finegan, Poppycock Wednesday: Paul McInaw: 1,760 points
- Hyperloopin’ Away – Michael Roche: 1,753 points
Long and Jelavic forming one Hull of a partnership
It’s very early days yet and new signings have a habit of producing their best form immediately before tapering off a little, but the new Hull City strike partnership of January signings Shane Long and Nikica Jelavic has looked promising so far.
Although the Tigers were often impressive earlier in the season, it was patently obvious that they were crying out for goals and even more patently obvious that Danny Graham was not the answer.
The signings of Long and Jelavic were a bit of a risk because our Shane has never been what you’d call prolific and Jelavic had regressed to an alarming degree at Everton but they’ve both looked in decent nick since arriving at the KC Stadium.
The pair of them have played together on five occasions in the league and while their stats haven’t been out of this world, they’ve been pretty good all the same. Jelavic has three goals in that time (all scored in his last three games) and Long has contributed two goals and an assist. Between them, meanwhile, they’ve also managed six bonus points.
Unless you’re a die-hard Hull fan, you’re hardly going to pair the two of them together in your Fantasy Football Team, but with the likes of Suarez and Sturridge, Rooney and van Persie, Giroud and a soon to return Aguero all proving popular, nearly every manager needs a relatively affordable third striker.
At £6.9 million and £5.7 million respectively, both Jelavic and Long certainly fall into that category and either of them could prove one Hull of a bargain if they can maintain their good form of late.
N.B. As we pointed out last week, there will be no players from Manchester City, Manchester United, West Brom and Sunderland in action this weekend, just something to bear in mind when you’re making any last-minute transfers.
JOE’s Fantasy Football Picks:
Top Dollar: Emmanuel Adebayor (£8.4 million). After two goals on Thursday night, Adebayor will fancy his chances at home to a Cardiff side that conceded four to Hull last time out.
Mid-Range: Kevin Nolan (£7.0 million). We were nearly going to do an entire column on Nolan given his form of late; he’s got five goals, an assist, eight bonus points and 47 points alone in the last four games.
Bargain Basement: Raheem Sterling (£5.7 million). Withdrawn early against Swansea last weekend, but he’s still managed two goals, an assist and 20 points in total in his last three games.
Irish Pick: Shane Long (£5.7 million). As elaborated upon above, he’s looked very lively since moving to Hull and despite a win last weekend, Newcastle are still looking quite vulnerable ahead of their trip to the KC Stadium on Saturday.
Captain’s Pick: Daniel Sturridge (£10.4 million). Hard to look past anyone else after nine goals in his last seven games and 31 points in his last two outings alone. The man is on fire.
