Les Miserables would have been an appropriate term to describe Newcastle for most of the season, but the French revolution seems to be doing the trick for Alan Pardew’s side.
Gameweek 26 review
Given that they lost 5-0 to Liverpool it a surprise that it was Swansea of the two sides with double gameweeks that fared better last week, although that is only in terms of their representation on the Dream Team as opposed to most points accrued by both teams overall, which we didn’t and won’t go to the bother of calculating, thank you very much.
In the unlikely figure of Jose Enrique (19 points), Liverpool did have the highest scoring player of Gameweek 26, while Luis Suarez’s 15-point haul would have deeply satisfied the many managers who gave him the captain’s armband.
For Swansea, Michu’s return to goalscoring form was timely for a lot of managers as the Spaniard scored 18 points overall, three points better than man of the moment Gareth Bale and West Brom’s Gareth McAuley. Thanks to his goalkeeping heroics at Anfield, McAuley’s teammate Ben Foster also featured with 14 points, the same total as Aston Villa’s Charles N’Zogbia, with Chelsea’s Eden Hazard and Swansea’s Pablo Hernandez following closely behind with 13 points apiece.
Robin van Persie’s goal and assist against Everton equated to 12 points for the Dutchman, while Angel Rangel made up the Swansea contingent with 10 points in defence.
J-League
As we suspected, the double gameweek had a pretty drastic effect at the top of the J-League, with regular leaders Barry McCabe’s Breffni Blues dropping back to third place, where they now stand 20 points behind Darren McCann’s Dazzleros, who are sitting pretty in first.
Darren has only a very loose grip on top spot because Martin Hanway’s Marty’s Muppets are only three points behind in second, while Andy Twomey’s Athtrasna and Mickey Hanrahan’s Shawn Michaels Babes make up the top five in fourth and fifth place respectively.
J-League Top 5:
- Dazzleros – Darren McCann: 1,653 points
- Marty’s Muppets – Martin Hanway: 1,650 points
- Breffni Blues – Barry McCabe: 1,633 points
- Athtrasna – Andy Twomey: 1,629 points
- Shawn Michaels Babes – Mickey Hanrahan: 1,628 points
Talk of the Toon
Before we go on, we should point out that neither Liverpool or Swansea are in action – in the Premier League at least – this weekend, so all of you who went all in on both sides last week will be forced into a bit of a reshuffle.
If you’re looking for potential replacements, you could do a whole lot worse than look towards Newcastle, who might be languishing two places above the relegation zone but have looked a team transformed since the mini French revolution on Tyneside in January.
Sure, Alan Pardew might be one beret, one croissant and a curly moustache short of being an honorary Frenchman, but although there were some great jokes doing the rounds and we all had a decent giggle at his expense, some of his acquisitions have been very shrewd indeed.
The most obvious success story has been Moussa Sissoko (£6.2 million), who has two goals, two assists and three bonus points in his three games so far and although it’s very early days yet, he looks like he could have a major influence on Newcastle for a few years to come.
At the back, Mathieu Debuchy (£5.0 million) mightn’t have made the same impression in terms of points as Sissoko, but he has already cemented a permanent spot in the side having played 90 minutes in the last five games, during which Newcastle have kept only one clean sheet but have looked a lot more solid than they did earlier in the season.
Yohann Cabaye (£6.6 million) isn’t a new recruit, but one awful tackle on Moussa Dembele aside, he has been excellent in recent weeks after returning from injury, has scored two in four games and has looked capable of scoring or providing even more.
Finally, there wouldn’t have been many Newcastle fans happy to see the back of Demba Ba, but one who might have been, despite their friendship and the fact they’re from the same country, is Papiss Cisse (£8.8 million).
The pair of them patently couldn’t play together as a partnership in black and white and now that Ba is gone, he is spearheading the attack as opposed to filling in out wide as he had to when Ba was still at the club. Five goals for someone of his calibre is a terrible return but three of those have come since Stephen’s Day and with Newcastle improving as the season goes on, he would be expecting to hit double figures at least before the season’s out.
JOE’s Fantasy Football Picks
Top Dollar: Gareth Bale (£10.1 million). The Welshman has four goals and 34 points in his last three league games and is in the form of his life at the moment. West Ham will find him hard to stop on Monday night.
Mid-Range: Theo Walcott (£9.5 million). Arsenal could hardly lose three home games on the bounce could they? Villa have put up a fight of late but we would be surprised if the Gunners don’t come out on top and if Walcott doesn’t expose a very dodgy defence.
Bargain Basement: Jason Puncheon (£5.0 million). The leading scorer in players in his price range, Puncheon has been one of the most impressive performers in a very impressive Southampton side of late. Earns extra credit for taking the mick out of himself with the ‘wiping the arse’ celebration against Man City.
Irish Pick: Stephen Kelly (£4.0 million). We’re not exactly flush with Irish options, but Kelly has played 90 minutes in the last four games in a Reading defence that doesn’t look as porous now as it has for most of the season.
Captain’s Pick: Robin van Persie (£14.0 million). When in doubt, go with the Dutchman, who is the top scorer in the Fantasy standings by more than 20 points.
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