Determined not to exit the title race without a fight, Manchester City are goal hungry at the moment and up against the leakiest defence in the league this weekend.
Gameweek 34 review
Many Manchester City fans might be called fickle for giving Carlos Tevez a fairly warm reception on his return to the Etihad after he basically refused to play for half a season, but in their defence, we’re sure there aren’t many Fantasy managers overlooking him on a point of principle after he scored 19 points at the weekend.
That was Tevez’s lot after a hat-trick, an assist and three bonus points against the Canaries, overshadowing the contribution of his compatriot Sergio Aguero, who had only 12 points to show for his two spectacular efforts.
Sandwiched between those two up front in the Dream Team was Wayne Rooney, who somehow managed to acquire three bonus points for a 13-point total despite a shocking performance against Aston Villa – by his own and his manager’s admission.
Prolific points grabber Gylfi Sigurdsson went one better than that after a goal and an assist against Blackburn, while perhaps surprisingly, Jordi Gomez was the only Wigan man to feature after a goal, an assist and three bonus points for his contribution to the fantastic victory over Arsenal at the Emirates.
Patrice Evra (11), Nathan Dyer (11) and Graham Dorrans (10) also showed well on a weekend where there were loads of points on offer even though eight teams weren’t even playing.
J-League:
To illustrate that point, there were a lot of very good scores posted in the J-League this week, with none of the top five registering a score below the 60-point mark. As a result, it’s as you were at the top, with Eoin Groarke’s Sure Now increasing his lead over Conor Sheehy’s A Great Bunch’a Lads to 13 points after 75 points this week.
Matt Light’s Mamelodi Sundowns, Brian Duffy’s Fergie’s Fledglings and Conell Cashell’s Cashmachines continue to occupy positions third, fourth and fifth respectively, while the previously untouchable Neil Kelly continues to drop back, to the extent that his Wet Bandits are in danger of being usurped by our own JOE’s Journeymen in sixth place.
Chin up Neil, it might never happen.
J-League Top 5:
- Sure Now – Eoin Groarke: 2,055 points
- A Great Bunch’a Lads – Conor Sheehy: 2,041 points
- Mamelodi Sundowns – Matt Light: 2,037 points
- Fergie’s Fledglings – Brian Duffy: 2,016 points
- Cashmachines – Conell Cashell: 2,011 points
Hot in the City tonight
If you’re not already planning how to rearrange your strikeforce to accommodate either Carlos Tevez or Sergio Aguero, or even the pair of them, then be sure that you do before the weekend deadline. We know that football is unpredictable and that Fantasy Football in particular can be a cruel mistress, but we can nigh on guarantee that those two will have an impact this weekend.
Why? Just have a look at the havoc they wreaked in their last two games for a start, but more importantly, check the fixture list and you’ll see that it is Wolves who will be attempting to put an end to their recent resurgence on Sunday afternoon.
Terry’s Connor’s side are relegated men walking at the moment and have looked ripe for hammerings in the majority of their recent encounters, apart from when they managed to keep a clean sheet against Sunderland at the weekend. Prior to that, they had a disastrous spell where they conceded 29 goals in nine games, including five on three occasions against Wolves, Fulham and Manchester United.
If City get an early goal on Sunday it could be a rout and we fancy exactly that to happen. No better men to get that early goal than Tevez and Aguero, who between them have eight goals, three assists, nine bonus points and 57 points in total between them in their last two games, a truly phenomenal return.
At £11.1 million (Aguero) and £11.9 million (Tevez) respectively they’re not exactly cheap, but we’ve a feeling the end will justify the means on this occasion.
Incidentally, both Aston Villa and Bolton have a double gameweek this week, but that shouldn’t be enough reason to prompt wholesale changes. We would advise waiting until next week, when eight teams have double gameweeks and things really get interesting.
JOE’s Fantasy Football Picks:
Top Dollar: Sergio Aguero (£11.1 million). Back to his scintillating best in recent games and should be good for more goals against a Wayne Hennessey-less Wolves on Sunday.
Mid Range: Papiss Cisse (£7.8 million). We’re dusting down an old chestnut here, but he’s scored eight goals in his last five games, a record we think he’ll improve on at home to Stoke on Saturday.
Bargain Basement: Victor Moses (£5.1 million). James McCarthy has been excellent, but Victor Moses has arguably been the driving force behind Wigan’s good run of late. He hasn’t actually scored in his last three, but he’s been incredibly dangerous and already has four goals and six assists in the bag this season.
Irish Pick: Shay Given (£4.7 million). Villa have two games in this gameweek and both of them are at home, so there should be a good chance of at least one clean sheet.
Captain’s Pick: Carlos Tevez (£11.9 million). Never thought we’d be advocating the selection of a ‘martyr’ like Tevez before the season’s end, but it’s hard to argue with 26 points from his last two games. And, he’s playing Wolves, of course.
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