Fantasy Football Run Down.

With the International Break in full swing, it seems like a good time to reflect on this season’s Fantasy Football competition. Who’s been good value for money? Who’s surprised us?  Read it all here! (Based on Sky Sports unless stated)

Liverpool sit top of the table having taken all 9 points from 3 games, and all have been 1-0 wins, with Daniel Sturridge scoring all the goals, so naturally he is the league’s best striker at the moment having accumulated 31 points. Hand-in-hand with that goes Simon Mignolet’s clean sheets, and the Belgian stopper has had a fantastic start to this new season with his new club, scoring 26 points already. He’s significantly cheaper than the top keepers, so while he’s cheap he might be a bargain…

Defence

Sticking with Liverpool, 3 of the top 5 defenders are unsurprisingly Glen Johnson, Jose Enrique and Daniel Agger, while Everton’s Leighton Baines makes up fifth. But the surprise package has been Seamus Coleman who sits top with 27 points, having started 3 games, scored 1, assisted 1, and kept 2 clean sheets, with a MOTM performance in there. Coming in at £6.5m he might be worth a punt, but with a home game against Chelsea, and trips to West Ham and Man City looming, it’s a game of weighing up the options.

With the transfer window recently closed, there are some new additions in defence:

Martin Demichelis (MCY, £7.3m), Mamadou Sakho (LIV, £6.6m), Vlad Chiriches (TOT,£6.3m), Tiago Ilori (LIV, £5.5m), Diego Lugano (WBA, £5.2m), Andrea Dossena (SUN, £4.3m), Adrian Mariappa (CRY, £4.0m), Jack Hunt (CRY, £4.1m), Emiliano Viviano (GK) (ARS, £4.4m).

I’m sticking with my tip about Luke Shaw, and he is doing well considering he didn’t feature in the Norwich game, and I would add Coleman to that tip list.

Midfield

Moving ahead to midfield, Swansea’s Pablo Hernandez is the current leader on 21 points, with Man City’s Yaya Toure close behind with 20. Norwich’s Nathan Redmond sits joint 4th with 16 points, and at £4.6m looks an attractive buy, but again, with Spurs, Chelsea, Arsenal and a trip to Stoke in the next six games, he could be a gamble. Everton’s Ross Barkley (£4.3m, 14), Stoke’s Charlie Adam (£4.9, 15) and Arsenal’s Aaron Ramsey ( £5.8m, 14) have all started strongly, and could prove to be good buys in midfield.

Mesut Özil signed for Arsenal on the last day of the window for a jaw-dropping £42.5million, luckily for us he is available at a mere £8.8m. Willian, who Chelsea signed from under Spurs’ nose, is available for £7.4m, while Spurs’ Erik Lamela is priced at £7.5m. 

Others added:

Christian Eriksen (TOT, £7.0m), James McCarthy (EVE, £6.9m), Morgan Amalfitano (WBA, £5.4m), Jimmy Kebe (CRY, £5.2m), Marko Arnautovic (STK, 4.9m), Elsad Zverotic (FUL, £4.4m).

Forwards

Fraizer Campbell sits quite high up the table due to his brace against Man City, which came as a surprise to all, but if he can maintain that form then his £6.3m price tag could soon rise. Olivier Giroud is also coming good this season with 3 goals in as many games, but a word of warning; only select him when Arsenal are playing in London as he is yet to score outside of the Capital. Dwight Gayle, who famously played in the non-league just 2 seasons ago, looks a threat, and his goal against Sunderland last weekend may give him the confidence to run at defences and pinch a few of goals as the season goes on.

New additions include Samuel Eto’o at Chelsea for a hefty £9million; just be wary about how often he will play though..His arrival prompted the loan departure of Romelu Lukaku (£8.6m) to Everton, so there is a strong possibility he will start, and with luck we could see him replicate the form that saw him score 17 goals at West Brom last season. 

Newly added:

Alvaro Vazquez (SWA, £6.9m), Libor Kozak (AVL, £6.8m), Gedo (HUL, £6.2m).

Dream Team (Premier League Fantasy Football)

It’s a surprise formation in a 5-2-3 shape, showing that defenders are having a good year. Just something to think about when making transfers; defenders who play weekly and occasionally keep clean sheets, then add a goal or an assist every now and again make the best, cue Zabaleta and Ivanovic.

   Mignolet;

Coleman, Enrique, Agger, Zabaleta, Ivanovic;

     Yaya Touré, Hernández;

      Giroud, Sturridge, Campbell.

Our Leagues

Sky Sports - Sitting joint top of our Outside The Box league on Sky Sports is myself (Los Forajidos) and Louise Heinzman with “Avington FC” with 159 points, while Aaron Peacock sits in third, three points behind with “You What You What”.

Premier League - Ahmed Pimpo leads the league with “Moves Like Agger’”, and is 16 points clear of Tom Somers’ “Kanye West Brom” and Reza Septian’s “Campur Sari FC”, who share second place on 177 points.

Get in touch on twitter and tell us who's been your Fantasy Football stand out @ItsBizLIVE