Is it time to celebrate Yaya Toure’s return to form with a place in your Fantasy team? It’s certainly better than cake.
Gameweek 14 review
The history of Fantasy Football is littered with examples of players who you could give the captain’s armband to on a permanent basis and who was nigh on guaranteed to deliver the goods.
Luis Suarez last season, Robin van Persie the season before and Cristiano Ronaldo in his last two seasons at Manchester United come to mind and this season that man is undoubtedly Sergio Aguero.
The in-form Argentine was top scorer again this week with 16 points after his brace against Sunderland and was partnered in attack by Stevan Jovetic, who grabbed a goal and an assist for ten points.
Sandwiched in between them was veteran Chelsea striker Didier Drogba with 11 points and he was joined by Blues teammate Cesar Azpilicueta, who went one better with a dozen points this week.
Swansea’s Sung-Yueng Ki was the pick of the midfielders with 11 points after his goal against QPR and he was joined in the mixer by Liverpool’s Jordan Henderson, Kevin Nolan of West Ham and Stoke’s Steven Nzonzi, all of whom managed 10 points.
Per Mertesacker and Aly Cissokho also earned a Dream Team place at the back with nine points each, ahead of Brad Guzan in between the sticks, who scored seven points for his clean sheet against Crystal Palace.
J-League
We would expect nothing less, of course, but there was a pretty high standard at the top of the J-League this week, so much so that Enda McGearty’s Coin Men plummeted six places in the table after managing 50 points.
Terry O’ Rourke’s Sporting Kilbeggan maintained top spot with a solid score of 74, which is enough to earn him a 20-point cushion over Stephen Mullett’s wecouldwinitsixtimes in second.
Dan Kelly’s Heroes are a further two points back in third, two points clear of Sean Kelly’s The Honey Badgers and John Hurley’s Club Orange, who can’t be separated in fourth and fifth place.
J-League Top 5
- Sporting Kilbeggan – Terry O’Rourke: 892 points
- Wecouldwinitsixtimes – Stephen Mullett: 872 points
- Kelly’s Heroes – Dan Kelly: 865 points
- The Honey Badgers – Sean Kelly: 863 points
- Club Orange – John Hurley: 863 points
Time to go Gaga for Yaya?
Last season, Yaya Toure, along with Luis Suarez, was a fixture in most people’s Fantasy Football teams. At times he appeared to be single-handedly driving City towards the title and his frankly ridiculous tally of 20 league goals would have won him the Golden Boot in previous Premier League years.
As well as the goals, Toure registered nine assists and 34 bonus points – almost a point a game – and looked for all the world like the best midfielders in the Premier League.
A lot has happened since then, of course. Through plenty of fault of his own Toure had to put up with a lot of grief over the birthday cake farce while he also lost his brother during the summer.
The Ivory Coast did not enjoy a good World Cup in Brazil, but even if they had, it was going to be asking an awful lot of 31-year old Toure to maintain the standards he had set for himself the season before.
Besides, last season was a bit of a freak one as far as Toure was concerned. In the three seasons before last season, Toure never managed more than six league goals in a single campaign so to exceed that total by 14 last season was some achievement.
He’s not going to score 20 goals this season but he has shown encouraging signs of a return to form which might persuade many a manager to select him for the Christmas period. He didn’t score or set-up any of the four goals Manchester City scored against Sunderland on Wednesday but before that he had notched two goals and an assist in three games for 25 points in total.
Anyone who has seen the Champions play this week will know that they’re finally hitting a groove in what has been a stop-start season so far and Toure will be determined to make his mark before heading off to the African Cup of Nations next month.
At £10.7 million he’s not cheap, but what Manchester City didn’t recognise with an old Black Forest Gateau or something similar in the summer is that he’s probably worth it.
JOE’s Fantasy Football Picks
Top Dollar: Alexis Sanchez (£11.1 million). One of the few players rivalling Aguero for the captaincy right now, the Chilean has seven goals in his last seven games.
Mid-Range: Christian Benteke (£7.9 million). Scored a delightful goal on his return to the starting line-up in midweek; could this be the start of a goal rush for the big Belgian?
Bargain Basement: Harry Kane (£5.0 million). Could well have scored against Chelsea before the Blues went on to dominate at Stamford Bridge on Wednesday, but for that price and considering he’s now practically a fixture in the Spurs starting line-up, he’s a great option to have in your squad.
Irish Pick: Shane Long (£5.5 million). Started against Arsenal and we’ve a feeling he’ll get the nod against Manchester United on Monday too. Besides, with so many Irish players either injured or struggling for regular places, unfortunately there aren’t many options in this category at present.
Captain’s Pick: Sergio Aguero (£12.9 million). The captaincy should barely be an issue this weekend. Give it to the man with 38 points in his last four games.
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