It wasn’t a weekend for big scores or bagloads of goals, but there were plenty of stars and a fair share of disappointments in the fantasy world.
Star Players
Carlos Tevez – Manchester City – striker – 21m; 11 points The Argentine striker continues to lead the way for the Sky Blues and his double in the 4-3 win over Wolverhampton had plenty of class. Tevez, owned by 9 per cent of Fantasy coaches, continues to deliver and despite his lofty price, he seems worth every penny. Reliable.
Branislav Ivanovic – Chelsea – defender – 7.2m; 11 points Chelsea got back into the groove with Saturday’s 2-0 win over Blackburn. There was plenty for the Blues to be happy about, but for Ivanovic to claim a clean sheet in defence plus a goal shows he can deliver on the faith many Fantasy coaches have had in him and his fellow Chelsea defenders. Will the patience be rewarded?
Peter Odemwingie – West Bromwich> – striker – 12.5m; 11 points The Nigerian remains one of the real finds of the Fantasy season with another two goals delivering a score of 11 points this weekend in the 3-2 win over Blackpool. As a striker priced at 12.5m, he represents wonderful value and you could do a lot worse.
Disappointments
Joe Hart – Manchester City – goalkeeper – 9.5m; -1 points Hart is one of the most popular Fantasy players with 17 per cent of coaches owning his services but when City conceded three goals to lowly Wolverhampton they were left unhappy. The result was Hart scoring -1 points in a rare poor showing, not that he was to blame for any of the goals, just the way the scoring system works for keepers.
Rafael – Manchester United – defender – 6.9m; -1 points The Brazilian full-back was sent off in United’s goalless draw with Tottenham on Sunday. Perhaps he was harshly done by by the referee, but it was his second yellow and he had to be a tad more careful.
Joleon Lescott – Manchester City – defender – 6.9m; 1 point The Sky Blues were cruising at 4-1 against lowly Wolverhampton on the weekend, before Lescott’s clumsy challenge in the box earned the visitors a penalty. Kevin Doyle duly despatched it and then Wolves grabbed another. Man City’s tidy performance got messy late on and it ended 4-3. Lescott must cop plenty of the blame for that, with the goals against column harming his score.
Special mentions
Goalkeepers
Asmir Begovic – Stoke City> – 6.5m; 7 points (cheap but probably not consistent enough)
Wojciech Szczesny – Arsenal> – 8.1m; 7 points (gets his chance and does well, but not Arsenal’s number one)
Petr Cech – Chelsea – 11m; 7 points (rewards the faith… finally)
Defenders
Danny Higginbotham – Stoke City – 5.7m; 11 points (goal and clean sheet)
Roger Johnson – Birmingham City> – 6.2m; 7 points (goal and good defensive performance, solid)
And don’t forget to sign up, if you haven’t already, for Sports Pundit’s Fantasy Premier League with plenty of weekly prizes up for grabs.