Already one of the best players in the Premier League, Sergio Aguero is on a hot streak at the moment and primed to deliver some big scores for Fantasy Football managers.
Gameweek 8 review
After a very disappointing start to the season, when he was in virtually every Fantasy team because Chelsea started with a double Gameweek, Eden Hazard sprung into life last weekend with 18 points from Chelsea’s 4-1 win over Cardiff.
With that tally, Hazard was easily the leading scorer this week, with two points more than Sergio Aguero and three more than our *cough* captain’s choice for last week *cough* Mesut Ozil, who rewarded our faith with two goals and three bonus points against Norwich.
Bryan Ruiz was next best with 14 points after three assists in Fulham’s foiling of Crystal Palace on Monday night, while Kevin Mirallas was a point further back after a goal and assist against Hull.
Roberto Soldado and Angel Rangel finished with 12 points apiece with Rangel’s teammates Jonathan de Guzman (11) and Chico (9) and West Brom duo Boaz Myhill (9) and Liam Ridgewell (9) making up the dream team this week.
J-League
There was plenty of moving and shaking at the top of the J-League this week with the three teams currently at the top all improving on last week’s positions thanks to some solid if not spectacular scoring.
Martin McMahon’s Accent Centic narrowly hold top spot after a 69 point haul was just enough to keep Stuart McGoldrick’s Champions 2013/14 at bay in second place.
Barry Curran’s Gambitbeer managed to move into third ahead of Tadgh Mullane’s Kammy’s XI one place further back, while Brian Doherty’s Dynamo Dodos prop up the top five, with plenty of challengers jostling for position a little further back.
J-League Top 5:
- Accent Centic – Martin McMahon: 535 points
- Champions 2013/14 – Stuart McGoldrick: 534 points
- Gambitbeer – Barry Curran: 525 points
- Kammy’s XI – Tadgh Mullane: 523 points
- Dynamo Dodos – Brian Doherty: 522 points
Right now, there’s no show like Aguero
Like a lot of Manchester City players, last season wasn’t a vintage one for Sergio Aguero but he’s been making up for lost time in the opening couple of months of this season and in some style too.
The diminutive (yet incredibly powerful) Argentinean forward has already scored half the amount of goals (6) he managed in the last campaign and before we’ve even reached the end of October, he already has more assists (4) than the three he managed last season.
As it stands, Aguero is well on the way to repeating the impressive numbers he managed in his first campaign (23 goals and nine assists) and the way things are going at the moment, he might even manage to blow those stats out of the water.
With five goals, two assists and 36 points in his last three starts, Aguero is the form striker in the Premier League and he also managed two away to CSKA Moscow during the week.
The fact that City are away to Chelsea this week will prompt an understandable reluctance amongst managers to introduce him into their teams, but Aguero is the ultimate big game player, having scored in countless important games for City, including the famous ‘Aguerooooooo’ title winner in the last seconds of their 2011/12 title-winning campaign.
Aguero might be a little expensive – £11.2 million doesn’t grow on trees in the Fantasy Football forest – but even still, it is a little strange that he isn’t as popular with managers (selected by 11.7 per cent of teams) compared to, for example, Daniel Sturridge (41 per cent), Olivier Giroud (40 per cent) and Robin van Persie (26 per cent); we are talking about easily one of the top ten and probably one of the top five players in the league after all.
Manuel Pellegrini is somewhat spoiled for choice in the attacking third but Aguero is his go-to man up front and his performances in the blue jersey to date suggest that that is how it should be. A decent run of games for City follows the Chelsea game this weekend and as long as injury doesn’t get in the way, we wouldn’t think Aguero will let anyone down. He rarely does.
JOE’s Fantasy Football Picks:
Top Dollar: Robin van Persie (£13.9 million). Questions remain about the exact reasons behind his absence during the week but he loves playing against Stoke and if he does start, you’d expect him to get on the scoresheet at Old Trafford.
Mid-Range: Paulinho (£7.0 million). He didn’t score – he really should have – but he did grab an assist and was probably the best player on the park against Villa last week. Chances are likely to arise again against Hull at home this weekend, however, which should lead to opportunities for points aplenty.
Bargain Basement: Dejan Lovren (£5.5 million). We fawned over the Saints in last week’s column and their performance at Old Trafford only served to increase our admiration for Mauricio Pochettino’s men. Lovren has been one of their stars so far and is easily affordable at £5.5 million.
Irish Pick: Robbie Brady (£5.2 million). Made an earlier than expected return to the Hull side against Everton last week and remains the best-value Irish selection as far as Fantasy Football is concerned at the moment.
Captain’s Pick: Mesut Ozil (£10.7 million). Against a Palace side without a manager and in complete disarray, it makes sense to stick with the German genius for the second week running.
