Three Liverpool players in the Dream Team is something of a rare occurrence. Seeing Neil Kelly’s The Wet Bandits on top of the Champion J-League, on the other hand, is not.
Gameweek 28 review
Liverpool mightn’t be having it all their own way recently, but some mediocre Premier League performances aside, it hasn’t actually been a bad time to be a ‘Pool fan. A few weeks back they picked up their first trophy since 2006 and last night, they turned over their city rivals in a derby that was far easier than most would have expected considering Everton’s traditional end-of season resurgence.
That was primarily thanks to a stunning hat-trick by their captain and inspiration Steven Gerrard who is by far and away the standout man in the Fantasy Football stakes this week with 22 points. Given his price and his injury record, Stevie G isn’t actually the most popular of players – he’s included in less than two percent of all Fantasy teams – but those that did go out on a limb and pick him up this week were richly rewarded, even more so if he was skipper.
Luis Suarez, on the other hand, appears in one of every five Fantasy teams and although he didn’t score against Sunderland or Everton, he laid on two goals for Gerrard and returned 12 points, the same total as scary-looking (or is it just us that thinks he is – My God, those eyes!) full-back Martin Kelly.
Wayne Rooney *cough* my recommendation as captain last week *cough* and Junior Hoilett went one better than Suarez and Kelly with 13-point hauls after both scored braces at the weekend, while Thomas Vermaelen’s reward for scoring a last-gasp winner against Newcastle was ten points and subsequently having to keep the lid on an extremely angry Robin van Persie.
Elsewhere, Swansea had three players – ‘keeper Michel Vorm and defenders Ashley Williams and Steven Caulker – with nine-point totals, the same as Everton’s Leon Osman and Wigan’s Victor Moses, probably the last time you’ll see a Wigan player featuring on the dream team this season.
Champion J-League
There’s no change at the top of the J-League as Neil Kelly’s The Wet Bandits and Matt Light’s Mamelodi Sundowns continue to occupy the top two positions, although Matt’s relatively low 49-point haul allowed Neil – with an extremely expensively assembled strikeforce of Rooney, Van Persie and Suarez – to open up a significant advantage.
The remaining members of the top five are all names that will be familiar to readers of the column, Eoin Groarke’s Sure Now in third, Conor Sheehy’s A Great Bunch’a Lads in fourth and Joe Culloty’s Stopfeedingtheyak in fifth place.
The top five don’t look in the mood for moving, but if Christmas time is the death of many a fantasy football manager distracted by social commitments and neglecting to tend to their Fantasy team, then Paddy’s weekend may prove to be equally hazardous. And who knows, there could be a shift in momentum towards the top.
The fact that this Paddy’s Day falls on a Saturday and there are no special deadlines in place means that there are no real excuses, but don’t come crying to us with your beer-flavoured tears next week if it slips your mind between now and the weekend.
Champion J-League Top 5:
1. The Wet Bandits – Neil Kelly: 1,699 points
2. Mamelodi Sundowns – Matt Light: 1,679 points
3. Sure Now – Eoin Groarke: 1,675 points
4. A Great Bunch’a Lads – Conor Sheehy: 1,659 points
5. Stopfeedingtheyak – Joe Culloty: 1,658 points
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