Cesc Fabregas doesn’t score many goals but he is a model of consistency and an assists machine and he should be in your team if he isn’t already.
Gameweek 7 Review
It’s not every week you’ll see Sunderland strikers – both in double figures – in the Dream Team attack but that’s exactly where Steven Fletcher and Connor Wickham find themselves after particularly productive outings against Stoke last time out.
With two goals, an assist, three bonus points and 15 in total, Steven Fletcher was the top scorer last time out and strike partner Wickham wasn’t too far behind with a goal, an assist and 11 points for himself.
Papiss Cisse ensured that it was an all north-eastern affair up front having scored twice against Swansea and earned 13 points, the same total as Manchester United’s Angel di Maria, Liverpool’s Jordan Henderson and Leicester City’s Riyad Mahrez.
Spurs’ Christian Eriksen makes up the midfield quartet with 11 points after his goal against Southampton, while at the back, West Ham’s James Tomkins and Winston Reid both featured with 11 and eight points respectively, with Hull’s Andrew Robertson (12) and Hugo Lloris (9) making up the XI.
J-League
A solid 67 points was enough for Terry O’Rourke’s Sporting Kilbeggan to maintain what is turning into a healthy lead at the top of the J-League table and the same total was enough to propel (with gas?) Martin Desmond’s Brain Fart into second place.
John Quirke’s profanity-disguising outfit Furcoughseanyajinx held onto third place after a decent haul of 62 points, although both David Kiely’s Detch is love and Roughan O’Neill’s Sons of pitches are hot on his heels only two points further back.
J-League Top 5:
- Sporting Kilbeggan – Terry O’Rourke: 448 points
- BrainFart – Martin Desmond: 435 points
- Furcoughseanyajinx – John Quirke: 433 points
- Detch is love – David Kiely: 431 points
- Sons of pitches – Roughan O’Neill: 431 points
The joy of Cesc
Cesc Fabregas is currently a part of a little over 50% of Fantasy Football teams and the only thing we can say about that statistic is that a little under 50% of Fantasy Football managers are doing something wrong.
Obviously there are Arsenal fans still too bitter to select a man they once loved and there are some managers who didn’t pick him at the start of the season and haven’t changed their team since, but the long and the short of it is that Fabregas should be in every team and with good reason too.
Accuse us of stating the obvious if you must but the great thing about Cesc is his consistency.
Some players of similar value currently have more points than the Spaniard and there are some that will probably have a higher tally than him come the end of the season, but those players are likely to blow hot and cold over the next seven or eight months. Fabregas, on the other hand, like a good thermos flask, will maintain a steady temperature throughout.
Apart from the 2009/10 season, when he struck 15 times, goal-scoring is not a trait strongly associated with Fabregas, his strength is as a provider and there have been few better than him in the history of the Premier League.
In just five and a bit seasons in the league, Fabregas has already elevated himself to sixth in the list of the all-time assist providers with 79 and the five ahead of him (Ryan Giggs, Steven Gerrard, Frank Lampard, Wayne Rooney and Thierry Henry) have all played far more games.
Already this season, he’s on seven – averaging out at an assist per game – and given the way Chelsea are going and the telepathic relationship he’s developed with compatriot Diego Costa, there’s going to be plenty more of where they came from before the season’s end.
Arsene Wenger had his reasons for not signing his former protégé in the summer but his form so far would suggest that even he might be thinking that it was a mistake. Wenger can’t correct the error at this stage but, if you somehow haven’t got him into your team yet, you still can.
You won’t regret it.
JOE’s Fantasy Football Picks
Top Dollar: Sergio Aguero (£12.2 million). We remain to be convinced by Spurs and have a feeling that they could come unstuck against City at the Etihad on Saturday. With two goals in his last two games, Aguero is in the form to do damage.
Mid-Range: Danny Welbeck (£7.3 million). Likely to be leading the line at home for Arsenal against a Hull defence that have conceded 11 league goals already. There’s a more than decent chance he’ll get goals.
Bargain Basement: Winston Reid (£5.0 million). West Ham are ahead of Arsenal and Liverpool in the table at the moment and while that’s probably not going to last, they’ve looked solid enough at the back, where Reid never misses a minute.
Irish Pick: John O’Shea (£4.5 million). On this week of all weeks, how could it be anyone else? In all seriousness though, Sunderland looked half-decent against Stoke and the Waterford man is Sunderland’s highest scoring defender so far.
Captain’s Pick: Cesc Fabregas (£9.6 million). It’s a difficult enough choice this week and in times like that you go with what you know and this week, with Chelsea away to Crystal Palace, we’re plumping for a man we’ve eulogised about in great detail above.
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