DREAM TEAM gaffers will be hopeful of plentiful points from their European players this week.Arsenal, Manchester United, Newcastle and Manchester City will fulfil their final Champions League group fixtures across Tuesday and Wednesday before West Ham, Brighton and Liverpool dot the i’s and cross t’s in the Europa League on Thursday.
Aston Villa will also complete their Europa Conference League group stage campaign against Zrinjski Mostar on Thursday.
But once this week’s European fixtures are over, the landscape of Dream Team will change dramatically.
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Broaden your horizons this festive periodCredit: Dream Team
The knockout stages of the three continental competitions are schedule to begin in mid-February.
During this two month hiatus, gaffers should be more open to successful players who represent clubs without European commitments this season.
A quick look at the rankings highlights the importance of the European games in the world of Dream Team to date.
At the time of writing, Son Heung-min (£4.4m) is the only player in the top 20 who hasn’t been active in either the Champions League, Europa League or the Europa Conference League this term.
More playing time equals it’s more points – the logic is simple.
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However, with the European competitions essentially paused for two months, there’s nothing to perturb Dream Team bosses from shopping around the other 12 Premier League clubs.
Tottenham’s captain is a prime example.
Son averages 7.3 points-per-game this season compared to Ollie Watkins (£4.7m) and Julian Alvarez’s (£4.2m) shared average of 6.2 points-per-game.
The only reason the South Korean superstar is below those two strikers in the overall rankings is because of Aston Villa and Man City’s European commitments.
With that factor removed, it wouldn’t be a surprise if Son surged up the rankings – at least until he departs for the Asian Cup.
124 points and countingCredit: Reuters
Dream Team managers should now prioritise domestic form above all else, bringing teams like Everton and Bournemouth firmly into the conversation.
Liverpool are the only team to have earned more points than the Toffees across their last six league games.
In fact, Sean Dyche’s side have won three games on the bounce this month without conceding a goal.
As for the Cherries, no team has generated more xG in the top flight across the last five games, with Dominic Solanke (£3.6m) leading the way for non-penalty xG among individuals in the same period.
Bournemouth’s No9 has banked 39 points across the last four Gameweeks via four goals with Andoni Iraola’s men having suddenly clicked.
Not to be underestimatedCredit: Getty
Then there’s players like Hwang Hee-chan (£3.2m), who has scored more goals than the aforementioned Alvarez and Darwin Nunez (£4.3m) this season.
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The domestic cups will still create a certain degree of schedule variance but, historically, this hasn’t had as much impact on Dream Team as the European competitions.
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This is because most Premier League managers opt to rotate their squad in the Carabao Cup and the FA Cup.
Gaffers won’t want to be caught out by the return of the European competitions in February and so they will need to plan ahead at some stage but for the next few Gameweeks at least, domestic form is everything.
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