FANTASY SOCCER: PREMIER LEAGUE POINTS

Clint Dempsey reigned supreme on the weekend as he tallied a hat trick. He finished with a total of 20 Fantasy points while teammate Bobby Zamora nabbed a quiet 17 through three assists and a goal of his own. Fulham wasn’t the only club to produce points. There were only three clean sheets out of the 20 teams, which means there were a lot of goals.

The usual names weren’t on the top of lists though. A total of 12 players reached double-digit Fantasy points. Out of those 12, only three of them cost over 6.7m, and they were all less than 8.7m. This means if you could predict the future, you would have had a midfield that produced 89 points and could have easily filled out the rest of your team under the salary cap. Unfortunately, no one was able to do that.

Instead, we have to focus on what we know and predict from there.

FOOTIE NOTES

Another big name from the weekend and over the past couple months has been Sunderland midfielder Stephane Sessegnon. Against Swansea, he finished with a goal, an assist and three bonus points. Not only is he a minimal 6.7m, which is good enough to be your third or fourth midfielder, but he is the hottest player in the Premier League. In his past six matches Sessegnon has three goals, four assists and seven bonus points. That’s still better than Dempsey even though he just got a hat trick.

The second big name that deserves a mention is Antonio Valencia. For those unaware of his history, here’s a little lesson.

Valencia joined Manchester United before the 2009-10 campaign in a transfer from Wigan. He proceeded to be United’s best midfielder that year with five goals and nine assists and the replacement to Cristiano Ronaldo. Prior to the 2010-11 campaign, RotoExperts listed him as a top midfielder. That may have happened until he broke his ankle in September and wasn’t able to return until March of the next year. His replacement was Nani. You may know what happened next as Nani finished the season with nine goals and 18 assists and made everyone forget about Valencia.

This season, Valencia battled small injuries and fought for playing time as Nani continued to make all the headlines. After injuries to other United players, Valencia broke the lineup as a right back a couple months ago and was gradually moved back to his midfield role. Valencia now has two goals and eight assists to go along with nine straight starts in the Premier League. In that same period, Nani has three goals and four assists.

As long as Valencia keeps getting the minutes, he can put up the numbers. If you’ve had Nani since the start of the season, I wouldn’t

Antonio Valencia is getting back to his 2009-10 form. Photo Credit: soccer.ru

get rid of him. He’s been off lately, but Nani isn’t one to continue struggling. If you had to choose between the two right now, you’d obviously go with the cheaper Valencia. Going forward, I like both of them.

Hatem Ben Arfa is next up. He was supposed to be one of Newcastle’s better players until he injured his ankle in a preseason match in the United States. All season he has battled injuries. If he can stay healthy, Ben Arfa will be an excellent option at 5.4m. He has two goals and three assists in just five starts this season.

FANTASY TIP

Take a look at these schedules for teams on opposite ends of the table.

Manchester City – at Everton, vs. Fulham, at Aston Villa, vs. Blackburn, vs. Bolton, at Swansea
QPR – at Aston Villa, vs. Wolves, at Blackburn, vs. Fulham, vs. Everton, at Bolton

What I’m saying is you want players from these clubs over the next six Game weeks.

Silva is an obvious option while Samir Nasri could even sneak in as a good candidate while Yaya Toure is away. Stefan Savic costs as much as a fifth defender and now has two straight starts. Vincent Kompany is also back from suspension. Up front you have your usual Sergio Aguero and Mario Balotelli. I’m staying away from Edin Dzeko and his inconsistencies.

At QPR, everyone is cheap so that’s a big positive. Joey Barton is easily QPR’s top choice. Defenders Luke Young and Clint Hill can be looked at, although you shouldn’t expect many clean sheets. QPR doesn’t have much, but Heidar Helguson is probably their best attacking option.

YOU’RE THE CAPTAIN

The same three players are at the top of the captain rankings yet again and for good reason. While Silva, Gareth Bale and Robin van Persie weren’t the best options last week, they were all able to produce.

Some people may look at Dempsey and say that he’s the top option this week because he’s in form and at home. This is very true as Dempsey has two hat tricks in the month of January (one was in the FA Cup). However, consistency is the main thing you look at when picking captains. I preach it every week.

Look at the numbers. Dempsey has only scored or assisted in back-to-back games once this season. To extend that, he has scored or assisted in nine matches this year. That may be good, but to compare: Silva has scored or assisted in 15 games, RVP in 14 and Bale (who started the season slow) in 11. Now you’re telling me you want to captain Dempsey because he just got a hat trick even though he’s less consistent than other players? It’s almost a sure thing that Dempsey won’t get another hat trick this campaign.

In case you’re wondering, I do like Dempsey. I just think everyone will overrate him after this big game.

For Game week 23, Van Persie gets the nod as my No. 1 option because he’s going against a weakened defensive line at Bolton. I know they just beat Liverpool, but you can’t really compare Liverpool’s forwards to RVP.

Gareth Bale has a nice matchup at White Hart Lane against Wigan. Bale’s value has jumped from 7.9m at the beginning of November to his current 9.5m value. He gets the job done.

Silva, while he may be consistent, isn’t as explosive as the other two. He’s almost a lock for a goal or an assist even on the road at Everton.

Next up, Emmanuel Adebayor returns to the Tottenham lineup and it couldn’t be a better matchup for him. Wigan sits at last place in the table and has given up the second-most goals this season.

It looks like Valencia is finally healthy and back to relativity. Valencia has been a beast lately and will likely pick out a few players in the box in this game to increase his assist total.

1. Robin van Persie, Arsenal
2. Gareth Bale, Tottenham
3. David Silva, Manchester City
4. Emmanuel Adebayor, Tottenham
5. Antonio Valencia, Manchester United

WEEKLY RANKINGS

Goalkeepers

1. Brad Friedel, Tottenham, 5.7m, vs. Wigan
2. Anders Lindegaard, Manchester United, 4.4m, vs. Stoke City
3. Joe Hart, Manchester City, 6.8m, at Everton
4. Simon Mignolet, Sunderland, 4.3m, vs. Norwich
5. Petr Cech, Chelsea, 6.8m, at Swansea

Defenders

1. Patrice Evra, Manchester United, 7.1m, vs. Stoke City
2. John Terry, Chelsea, 7.5m, at Swansea
3. Thomas Vermaelen, Arsenal, 6.7m, at Bolton
4. Benoit Assou-Ekotto, Tottenham, 5.7m, vs. Wigan
5. Wes Brown, Sunderland, 4.5m, vs. Norwich
6. Brede Hangeland, Fulham, 6.0m vs. West Brom
7. Jose Enrique, Liverpool, 6.0m, at Wolves
8. Ryan Taylor, Newcastle, 5.4m, at Blackburn
9. Vincent Kompany, Manchester City, 6.5m, at Everton
10. Kyle Walker, Tottenham, 6.0m, vs. Wigan

Midfielders

1. Gareth Bale, Tottenham, 9.5m, vs. vs. Wigan
2. David Silva, Manchester City, 10.3m, at Everton
3. Antonio Valencia, Manchester United, 8.1m, vs. Stoke City
4. Clint Dempsey, Fulham, 8.6m, vs. West Brom
5. Stephane Sessegnon, Sunderland, 6.7m, vs. Norwich
6. Rafael Van der Vaart, Tottenham, 9.9m, vs. Wigan
7. Steven Gerrard, Liverpool, 10.6m, at Wolves
8. Juan Mata, Chelsea, 9.7m, at Swansea
9. Hatem Ben Arfa, Newcastle, 5.4m, at Blackburn
10. Scott Sinclair, Swansea 6.4m, vs. Chelsea

Forwards

1. Robin van Persie, Arsenal, 13.2m, at Bolton
2. Emmanuel Adebayor, Tottenham, 9.3m, vs. Wigan
3. Sergio Aguero, Manchester City, 11.1m, at Everton
4. Darren Bent, Aston Villa, 9.6m, vs. QPR
5. Craig Bellamy, Liverpool, 7.5m, at Wolves
6. Leon Best, Newcastle, 4.7m, at Blackburn
7. Daniel Sturridge, Chelsea, 7.4m, at Swansea
8. Mario Balotelli, Manchester City, 8.1m, at Everton

Don’t forget to check out our latest podcast of Premier League Plus. Each Monday, Matt Mariconi of FootiePhantom.com and Adam Zdroik of RotoExperts review and preview every Fantasy situation you can think of from Barclays Premier League.

*Stats up-to-date as of 01/23/12

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