Dream Team

LET’S preface this article with a simple statement: Kevin De Bruyne (£6.7m) is one of the best midfielders of his generation and one of the greatest players to ever grace the Premier League.It’s because of this reputation that Dream Team gaffers hold the Belgian to an immensely high standard.
All things considered, he is living up to lofty expectations this season having banked 135 points to date.
At the time of writing, Bruno Fernandes (£5.9m) is the only midfielder with a higher tally and his lead is a slender one at four points.
That being said, it can’t be denied that De Bruyne is enduring something of a lean spell of late.
Stick or twist?
He’s mustered 12 points in eight outings since the start of Game Week 16 – Manchester City have played ten fixtures in that time frame.
During this time, he’s averaged 1.5 points-per-game which is represents a significant drop-off from his healthy season average of 4.8.
The 31-year-old has provided two assists during this relatively barren patch so it’s not like his owners have been totally starved of goal involvements but, given his price, his recent returns are a cause for concern.
Contrast De Bruyne’s form with the aforementioned Fernandes and Riyad Mahrez (£5.7m).
Man United’s Portuguese playmaker has earned a whopping 72 points since the start of Game Week 16 while City’s Algerian winger has added 70 points to his total.
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Any Dream Team gaffers that replaced De Bruyne with either of these options last month would have been rewarded with massive gains.
Things haven’t gone De Bruyne’s way in recent weeks from a Dream Team perspectiveCredit: GETTY
It’s only natural that De Bruyne’s backers will now be debating the best course of action going forward.
A decent showing from the strawberry-blonde creator in tonight’s mouthwatering top-of-the-table clash at the Emirates between Pep Guardiola’s men and Arsenal would likely take him back to the top of the midfield rankings.
And history is on De Bruyne’s side – he’s rarely kept quiet for long.
His tally of 16 assists in all competitions so far in 2022/23 would be freakish for most players but it’s what fans have come to expect from a player whose crossing and eye for a killer pass is unparalleled.
He’s only scored three goals this season which represents a decline from last term when he scored 19, his best-ever campaign in that regard.
However, only Kieran Trippier (£6.6m) has earned more Star Man awards (seven) than De Bruyne’s six.
This conundrum is affecting 45.5% of Dream Team managers – only Trippier and Erling Haaland (£8.8m) are more popular currently.
Cue a classic De Bruyne masterclass this evening… More

IT would be naive to downplay the significance of tonight’s top-of-the-table Premier League clash.Having played one game fewer than Manchester City, Arsenal are currently three points ahead of Pep Guardiola’s side but defeat this evening would drop them down to second on goal difference.
The safety net of a game in hand means the Gunners’ fate will remain in their hands as long as they avoid a total thrashing but there’s no telling how a loss to their title rivals, and subsequent fall to second, would impact them psychologically.
Conversely, victory would likely provide a massive morale boost that may be enough to carry them over the line throughout the final third of the campaign.
Should the Citizens lose, they may well feel the Premier League is something of a lost cause and focus their attention entirely on their quest for European glory.
A pivotal showdown
Such decisive fixtures invariably provoke a torrent of combined XIs and we too shall oblige but only on the condition that we use this season’s Dream Team points to solely determine the selected players.
GOALKEEPER: Aaron Ramsdale (£4m)
Arsenal’s custodian edges out Ederson (£4.4m) by three points.
The England international’s overall total of 69 is bettered by five other assets in his position but Man City’s No1 is not among them.
Goals have flowed freely for the top two teams but clean sheets have been harder to come by then many would expect.
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Ramsdale narrowly edges out Ederson in the Dream Team rankings ahead of tonight’s gameCredit: GETTY
DEFENDERS: Ben White (£4.5m), Gabriel (£4m), Nathan Ake (£4.1m)
Neatly, this back three would function very well should they ever combine in reality.
Both White and Ake have played the majority of their minutes at full-back this season (right and left respectively) but are centre-backs by trade.
The former is four points off a century, something achieved by just eight defenders at this stage, while the latter sits on 76, one ahead of Ruben Dias (£5.9m), though the Portugal international boasts a superior points-per-game average.
Gabriel reigns supreme at the back among these teams with 101 points to his name.
It’s worth noting that Joao Cancelo would have been included in this XI had he not left the Etihad to join Bayern Munich on loan – he amassed 99 points before his unceremonious January exit.
MIDFIELDERS: Riyad Mahrez (£5.7m), Kevin De Bruyne (£6.7m), Martin Odegaard (£3.2m), Bukayo Saka (£4.2m)
The exuberance of youthCredit: GETTY
The real-world viability of this team takes a hit here but who cares, this is Dream Team and it’s an incredible quartet!
Bruno Fernandes (£5.9m) is king among midfielders right now but these four names make up the rest of the top five as the only other centurions.

De Bruyne – 135 points
Mahrez – 113 points
Saka – 108 points
Odegaard – 104 points

City’s brilliant Belgian has endured something of a lean streak of late (by his standards) but 16 assists in all competitions is a formidable tally at this stage of the season.
As for the Algerian winger, he’s been on a tear of late, posting 70 points across the last seven Game Weeks.
Arsenal’s captain has scored eight goals and provided five assists in 20 league appearances so far while the Gunners’ homegrown No7 has 16 goal involvements in all competitions.
Phil Foden (£4.7m) is unlucky to miss out here given that he’s Dream Team’s seventh-best midfielder at the time of writing with 96 points to his name.
FORWARDS: Erling Haaland (£8.8m), Gabriel Jesus (£5.3m), Gabriel Martinelli (£3.2m)
InevitableCredit: GETTY
Norway’s apex predator is the first name on the team sheet in this hypothetical exercise.
With 31 goals under his belt already, it’s not inconceivable that Haaland may reach 50 before the end of term; hence his obscene Dream Team points tally of 261, which is 55 better off than that of his nearest rival among assets from all teams.
Jesus makes the cut despite his lengthy injury lay-off having plundered 88 points before the World Cup break.
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His team-mate and compatriot Martinelli is three points further back having endured something of a slump in recent weeks.
However, the 21-year-old’s contribution of seven goals and two assists has helped put Mikel Arteta’s side in pole position. More

KELECHI IHEANACHO (£2.9m) averages a goal or assist every 111.6 minutes in the Premier League.This is a significant statistic because the 26-year-old is midway through his eighth season in England’s top flight, it’s by no means a small sample size.
Given his potency, it’s remarkable that the striker has rarely been a first-choice starter for a prolonged spell of games.
Iheanacho has made 184 appearances in the Premier League of which he’s started 72 – he has played the full 90 minutes just 22 times.
A name to considerCredit: GETTY
One of the few times he was cemented as a certain starter was during the second half of the 2020/21 season.
With Jamie Vardy (£3.5m) sidelined through injury, Iheanacho stepped up for Leicester in a big way, scoring 12 goals in 15 league games at the back end of the campaign.
Add in four goals in what proved to be a successful FA Cup campaign and a sprinkling of other strikes across all competitions and the Nigeria international finished the season with 19 goals and seven assists to his name.
Dream Team managers will remember the huge swathes of points he provided during that time – he was a popular recruit ahead of a meeting with Sheffield United and instantly delivered a hat-trick at the Blades’ expense to underline his viability.
32 points in two games speaks volumes
More than a few gaffers will have been reminded of those prosperous weeks in the wake of Iheanacho’s masterclass at home to Spurs om Saturday.
The Foxes’ No14 scored one goal and assisted another to claim the Star Man award and bank 15 points.
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And he achieved something similar the previous Game Week when he scored one and assisted two more as Leicester beat Aston Villa 4-2.
Back-to-back Star Man awards and an influx of 32 points in two games is more than enough to put Dream Team bosses on alert, especially those who remember his 2020/21 exploits.
Iheanacho is dirt-cheap at £2.9m and his current ownership of 0.2% makes him a massive differential.
A fruitful Dream Team combination
One potential drawback to this transfer suggestion is his upcoming fixtures.
Brendan Rodgers’ side travel to Old Trafford this Sunday before hosting league leaders Arsenal the following weekend.
Saying that, Villa were unbeaten in four league games before they succumbed to Leicester’s onslaught and Champions League hopefuls Spurs came off the back of a win over Manchester City when they were thrashed at the King Power.
2022/23 has been an underwhelming season for the Foxes so far but they’re steadily moving out of the relegation dogfight and towards the relative safety of mid table.
Keeping clean sheets has been a problem for them under Rodgers but scoring goals has rarely been an issue.
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Only Southampton and Bournemouth have conceded more goals this term but only five teams have scored more at this stage.
Keep an eye on Iheanacho’s returns, if he embarks on 2020/21-esque spree then you probably can’t afford to miss out. More

NOT all prolific goalscorers at Championship level are able to transfer their skills successfully to the Premier League.Ivan Toney (£5.4m), however, has proven to be a centre-back’s nightmare at top-flight level since Brentford’s promotion.
Last season, the Bees’ No17 scored 12 goals and provided five assists in 33 league appearances – a superb effort for a newly-promoted side.
This campaign, he’s already scored 14 goals (and provided three assists) with only Harry Kane (£8.2m) and runaway leader Erling Haaland (£8.8m) ahead of him in the Golden Boot race.
A well-earned slice of luckCredit: GETTY
Granted, Toney latest strike was served with a sizeable slice of luck given the PGMOL have issued an apology to Arsenal for video assistant Lee Mason’s mistake in incorrectly checking for an offside in the build-up.
Had VAR been properly employed, Brentford’s equaliser would have been chalked off although Toney certainly won’t be breaking out the violins for the Gunners over the matter.
What matters to Thomas Frank’s side is that they’re now unbeaten in ten league fixtures and a point earned at the home of the leaders may well prove to be hugely valuable in their quest for European qualification this season.
It goes without saying that if they are to maintain their pursuit of the Europa Conference League/Europa League then their top scorer will need to keep leading the line in the effective manner to which opposition defenders have become accustomed, much to their chagrin.
Poor William Saliba (£3.1m) was given a ragged time by Toney at the weekend with the latter winning all but one of his 13 aerial duels, a freakish statistical achievement.
From a Dream Team perspective, it was the 26-year-old’s all-round performance that contributed to him bagging the Star Man award just as much as his goal.
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Mixing it with the big boysCredit: GETTY
A 13-point haul in north London has taken Toney’s total for the campaign to 133.
Mohamed Salah (£7.7m), Kane, Marcus Rashford (£6.1m) and Haaland are the only forwards with more points to their name at the time of writing.
Even more impressively, Toney averages six points-per-game in 2022/23 – Haaland and Rashford are the only assets in his position who boast a superior rate.
Barring injury setbacks or suspensions, he should register 20+ Premier League goals this season and, more importantly, 200+ Dream Team points.
Double centurions are relatively rare, last season just six forwards reached the milestone.
Premier League is the Bees sole focus for the rest of the seasonCredit: GETTY
One potential issue for Toney (and his backers) is that Brentford’s calendar contains their remaining 16 league fixtures and nothing more.
Without European or FA Cup commitments, the streetwise target man may find it difficult to keep pace with busier assets in the final third of the campaign but he’s not to be underestimated.
Toney’s current ownership of 8.1% makes him the ninth-most selected forward in the game but the fact he’s less popular than Darwin Nunez (£4.8m), Gabriel Martinelli (£3.1m) and Son Heung-min (£5.2m) should raise a few eyebrows. More

NO Dream Team manager achieved a century of points in Game Week 21 but Gareth Powell came very close.The Tottenham fan racked up 98 points and was comfortably the top gaffer of the week, which also means he’s in pole position to claim the PlayStation 5 that’s up for grabs in February’s Monthly competition!
Let’s take a closer look at how he did it…
What a week!Credit: DREAM TEAM
Chelsea have kept three clean sheets in a row and the likes of Kepa Arrizabalaga (£3.7m) and Marc Cucurella (£3.6m) have reaped the benefits.
The pair combined for 16 points by the end of the Blues’ stalemate with west London neighbours Fulham.
The Spanish goalkeeper is up to third in the rankings among assets in his position and currently features in just 2% of teams – a masterstroke from Gareth!
And the same could be said of his decision to back Ben Mee (£3.7m).
The 33-year-old is only marginally more popular than Arrizabalaga with an ownership of 2.5% and he provided a whopping 18 points by virtue of a goal, clean sheet and a Star Man award at Southampton’s expense.
Thomas Frank’s side are pushing for European qualification this season and Mee’s experience at the back has certainly contributed to their continued improvement.
The ex-Burnley centre-back was Game Week 21’s joint-top defender alongside James Tarkowski (£2.4m).
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Mee has offered excellent value for money this seasonCredit: GETTY
Mee is accompanied in Gareth’s XI by his team-mate Ethan Pinnock (£3.4m), who banked eight point of his own against Saints.
In midfield, the disappointment of a Riyad Mahrez (£5.7m) blank was offset by a pleasantly surprising ten-point haul from Pierre-Emile Hojbjerg (£3.6m).
The Denmark international provided the assist for Spurs’ winner against Manchester City (more on that in a moment) and battled hard to deny the likes of Rodri (£3.7m) and Bernardo Silva (£2.8m) freedom in the middle of the park.
Hojbjerg edged the match ratings to bag the Star Man award and, incredibly, he’s now just four points shy of a century.
Dream Team’s current third-best midfielder Bukayo Saka (£4.2m) had to settle for three points as Arsenal were upset by Sean Dyche’s Everton but the Gunners’ No7 will be hopeful of a decent haul in Game Week 22 with two fixtures to fulfil.
Bruno Fernandes (£5.9m) has been on a tear lately and this past week he overtook Kevin De Bruyne (£6.7m) to become Dream Team’s leading asset in his position.
The Portuguese playmaker took Crystal Palace for 13 points at the weekend and topped up his total with three more in midweek against Leeds – he’s now got 136 overall.
A turn up for the booksCredit: GETTY
Up front, Cody Gakpo (£3.3m) has to be considered something of a rogue choice.
The Dutchman chipped in with three points this past week but that’s all he’s mustered since signing for Liverpool and it’s clear he needs some time to settle.
What’s notable is that Gareth went without Dream Team’s best performer Erling Haaland (£8.8m) in Game Week 21.
The prolific Norwegian failed to register a shot on target against Spurs while his counterpart, Harry Kane (£8.2m), grabbed headlines with a winning goal that moved him clear of Jimmy Greaves at the top of the Lilywhites’ all-time top scorers list.
England’s skipper notched his 200th Premier League goal in the process, something previously achieved by just two men: Wayne Rooney and Alan Shearer.
And last but by no means least, the man with the hot hand right now, Marcus Rashford (£6.1m).
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Manchester United’s No10 scored against Palace and Leeds to continue his sensational form – he’s amassed 116 points in the last seven Game Weeks!
Superbly played, Gareth, good luck to you and everyone else ahead of Game Week 22! More