Sunderland players are oh so hot right now thanks to Martin O’Neill’s magnificent resurrection of the Black Cats’ fortunes.
Most people expected Martin O’Neill to be a success at Sunderland, but there would have been few who would have predicted the extraordinary turnaround in fortunes that he has instigated since taking over the Black Cats at the start of December.
Sunderland have picked up 19 points from a possible 27 since he started maniacally parading the touchline as only he can and to put that into some sort of perspective, they had a measly 11 points from 14 games before Steve Bruce and his incredibly disfigured nose were shown the door.
The mini-revival has seen Sunderland rocket up to the heady heights of eighth in the table (only one place below Arsenal, don’t you know) and the fortunes of some of their players in the Fantasy Football standings have massively improved.
What’s more, they represent excellent value for money. At £7.0 million, Stephane Sessegnon is the most expensive player in the squad, but he’s more than justified his fee with 57 points in his last seven games, during which period his price has gone up by almost a million quid. For £0.1 million cheaper you can get Sebastian Larsson, but unlike the rest of the squad, his performance levels have tailed off slightly since O’Neill’s arrival, as he hasn’t registered above three points since the middle of last month.
Staying with midfielders, we’re huge fans of James McClean in JOE towers and although Trap mightn’t give him an Irish call up in time for the Euros, there’s nothing stopping fantasy managers calling him up for their own teams (sorry).
The Derryman is an absolute snip at £4.6 million and seems to have established himself in the first XI having started the last five games. In that time, he’s delivered a goal, two assists, nine bonus points and 33 points in total. Not bad for a guy who was playing League of Ireland football last year.
Elsewhere, although they’re not exactly miserly at the back, Sunderland have kept two clean sheets in the last two games and the likes of ‘keeper Simon Mignolet (£4.3 million) and our own John O’Shea (£5 million) are good value, while Wayne Bridge (£4.5 million) could be worth a punt if he actually remembers how to play football, having been inactive for so long.
Because they’re labelled the Black Cats, it may or not be luck that’s prompting their good run of form at the moment, but jumping on the O’Neill bandwagon seems a good idea as far as Fantasy Football is concerned, for the time being at least.
P.S. Just so you know, this is the last weekend you can avail of the special winter wildcard, so if you haven’t used it yet and plan to make a lot of transfers this weekend, it will come in handy. Or you could just take a big points hit just for the hell of it, whatever floats your boat.
JOE’s Fantasy Football Picks:
Top Dollar: Gareth Bale (£9.5 million). He’s the second highest scoring Fantasy Football player in the whole league following his two-goal salvo against Wigan and although Liverpool seem to be back on the right track, seemingly nothing can faze the flying Welshman at the moment.
Mid-Range: Djibril Cisse (£6.5 million). The eccentric Frenchman had very little trouble adapting to the Premier League on his QPR debut during the week and the Lord of the Manor of Frodsham will be eager to endear himself to the home supporters against struggling Wolves at Loftus Road.
Bargain Basement: James McClean (£4.6 million). As elaborated upon above, the winger is on a hot streak at the moment and could frighten the life out of some of his compatriots (Wilson, Walters, Whelan and Delap) at the Brittania on Saturday afternoon.
Irish Pick: Darron Gibson (£5.3 million). It’s amazing what a winning goal against your old club’s bitter rivals can do. Gibson has gone from zero to cult hero in no time and will be walking on air ahead of the trip to Wigan this weekend.
Captain’s Pick: Robin van Persie (£13.2 million). Arsenal are struggling badly at the moment, yet RVP still manages to maintain his consistent excellence. Including the FA Cup tie win over Villa, he’s bagged four goals in his last four games and you’d back him to continue that run against Blackburn at the Emirates.
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