In this week’s insider, we turn our attention away from the league’s glamour men for a moment and take a look at some of the boys doing the business at the back.
Fantasy Football (In association with Champion)
Free-scoring Manchester United and Manchester City have rightly attracted the headlines at the start of the Premier League season, and accordingly it is attacking players from those sides that dominate the fantasy football charts thus far.
Take a quick glance past the two Manchester sides in the upper half and you will notice the unlikely figures of Newcastle in fourth, Stoke in fifth and Wolves in seventh place. Granted, we’re only four games into the season and the table will probably adopt a more familiar look before too long, but those sides deserve credit for their achievement so far, which has largely been based on being miserly in defence.
Newcastle and Stoke, for instance, have conceded one goal apiece so far. The Magpies have been helped by a settled backline of Ryan and Stephen Taylor, Danny Simpson and Fabricio Collocini and all four are £5 million or less and easily affordable.
Ryan Taylor (£4.3 million) is an attractive option because of his set-piece ability, while at £4.0 million, Danny Simpson is the cheapest, but starts nearly every game and is a good option to have in the squad.
Picking Stoke defenders is a little bit trickier. Only Robert Huth and Ryan Shawcross could be described as certain regulars and are a tad pricier at £5.1 million and £6.0 million respectively, but with that little bit of extra investment, you get due reward. Shawcross is a regular bonus-point grabber and Huth was one of Stoke’s top scorers last season with six in the league.
A defender priced at the higher end of the market used to be a must for any team; the likes of John Terry, Ashley Cole, Nemanja Vidic or Leighton Baines, defenders who scored or provided assists on a regular basis. So far this season, it’s wise to save the money for where it’s needed in midfield and attack.
That shouldn’t deter you from staying away from the bigger teams in your search for defenders, however, as there is plenty of value to be had if you steer clear from the really big guns.
At Manchester United, for example, with Nemanja Vidic on the sidelines and constant uncertainty over the fitness of Rio Ferdinand, Phil Jones (£5.6 million) and Chris Smalling (£5.5 million) are likely to get plenty of games and have already made a big impression so far.
At Chelsea, Jose Bosingwa (£6.0 million) is £1.5 million cheaper than John Terry and Ashley Cole, but has outscored both so far. For the same price at Manchester City, you can afford Micah Richards and Vincent Kompany, while at Liverpool, Jose Enrique (£5.1 million) has already established himself as first choice left back and showed his capacity to provide assists at Newcastle last season.
JOE’s Fantasy Football picks:
Top Dollar: Sergio Aguero (£11.0 million). We thought that the man with the famous father-in-law might need time to bed into English football, but he rubbished those concerns in his first cameo performance against Swansea.
He struck twice in that game, and has added four more since, with only Wayne Rooney having scored more than the Argentine this season. Take our advice with a pinch of salt, however. Last week, we tipped Edin Dzeko as captain only for the Bosnian to be kept on the bench. Mancini could hardly drop Aguero in this form though, could he?
Mid-range: Leon Osman (£6.9 million). It says a lot about Everton’s forwards that they have accounted for three points between them so far. Midfielders like Osman and Tim Cahill often pick up the slack and the impish Osman is always good for a goal and might nick one against Wigan this weekend.
Bargain Basement: Ryan Shawcross: (£5.1 million). Ex Man-United man Shawcross proved to be an astute purchase for many managers in the last few seasons, and he has picked up where he left off in this campaign. The Potters have kept three clean sheets and conceded only one goal so far, and the lanky centre half has chipped in with five bonus points for good measure.
Irish Pick: Shay Given (£5.0 million). Given takes on his old club Newcastle this weekend and although the Magpies have been extremely stingy at the back so far this season, they haven’t exactly been banging them in at the other end, drawing blanks in two games and scoring only three goals in total. It probably won’t be free-scoring fare at Villa Park, increasing Given’s chances of keeping a clean sheet.
Captain’s Pick: Wayne Rooney (£12.4 million). How can we ignore a man with two hat-tricks in his last two games? We can’t see him repeating that trick against Chelsea, but in this form and at home, he’s bound to have some sort of influence.
LISTEN: You Must Be Jokin’ podcast – listen to the latest episode now!
