Dream Team

A HEARTY round of applause for Andy Rogers, Dream Team’s top gaffer for Game Week 30.The Northampton Town fan amassed 115 points, nine more than his closest rival, when all was said and done.
Let’s take a closer look at how he did it…
Andy’s team ‘Beardster FC’Credit: DREAM TEAM
David de Gea (£3.9m) earned five points against Nottingham Forest at the weekend but had something of a howler against Sevilla on Thursday night to incur minus two points as Man United were eliminated from the Europa League.
Diogo Dalot (£4m) also lost two points to the La Liga outfit but he was still the best-performing defender of the Game Week because of his goal/clean sheet combination at the City Ground.
An 11-point Game Week has moved the Portuguese full-back onto 129 overall, putting him sixth among assets in his position.
Liverpool failed to keep a clean sheet against Leeds at Elland Road despite their domination but Trent Alexander-Arnold (£5.3m) and Virgil van Dijk (£4.7m) combined for ten points nonetheless, mostly thanks to the former’s brace of assists.
The 24-year-old has played his fair share of minutes in midfield of late and his Dream Team returns have increased as a result.
Bowen has made good use of his busy schedule this month
Dream Team’s top two midfielders, Kevin De Bruyne (8.1m) and Bruno Fernandes (£6.7m), combined for 15 points.
The pair have nine Star Man awards each, more than any of their rivals – what a duo.
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Here at Dream Team HQ we tipped Jarrod Bowen (£4.2m) for a prosperous April and the West Ham winger delivered this past week.
He scored against league leaders Arsenal for an eight-point return before adding five more to his tally via an assist and 7+ rating against Gent in the Europa Conference League.
Martin Odegaard (£4.1m) also produced 13 points for Andy with a goal and Star Man showing against the Hammers.
The Gunners’ captain is close to overtaking Phil Foden (£5.1m) to become Dream Team fourth-best midfielder this season.
Andy was among just 1.1% of gaffers who benefited from Gakpo’s double-digit haulCredit: GETTY
Another Game Week, another 20 points for Erling Haaland (£9.9m) – what else is there to say about Man City’s predatory No9?
He’s ever so close to costing £10m, which is simply obscene.
Full credit to Andy for his other forward picks as Ollie Watkins (£6.4m) features in just 2.5% of teams while Cody Gakpo’s (£3.7m) ownership is even lower at 1.1%.
Aston Villa’s main man made it 11 goals in 12 games with a masterclass at home to Newcastle for a 20-point return while Liverpool’s Dutchman helped himself to ten points against Leeds’ shambolic defence.
Love your work, Andy, best of luck to you and all other gaffers for Game Week 31. More

CHELSEA are the only team that won’t be pulling double duty in Game Week 31.That’s because of Manchester United, Brighton and Manchester City are all in action in the FA Cup semi-finals this weekend before a full allotment of Premier League fixtures in midweek.
Needless to say, it’s a bad week to own Stamford Bridge assets (a bad season if truth be told) but which players are well placed to bag plentiful points in GW31?
Allow us to suggest some short-term options…
Eberechi Eze (£3m)
Soaring EagleCredit: GETTY
Even experienced Dream Team gaffers can be caught out by how quickly things change in the world of football.
One moment Crystal Palace are a turgid outfit without a win in months and then suddenly they’re a swaggering side stringing wins together with artistic flourishes.
The Eagles’ No10 has been the primary beneficiary of the Roy Hodgson revolution having claimed two Star Man awards in three outings since the septuagenarian’s return to Selhurst Park.
Eze has taken 33 points from Leicester, Leeds and Southampton since Game Week 28 and this Saturday he’s got a home fixture against a struggling Everton side before a trip to Wolves on Tuesday night.
Palace have scored nine goals in their last three games with Eze and Michael Olise (£3.1m) being the chief threats – a double header against teams below them in the league should yield more healthy returns.
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The ex-QPR midfielder features in just 0.7% of teams so he’s an ultra differential, an appealing factor for those who can’t afford to have an identical team to their mate above them in the mini-league.
Trent Alexander-Arnold (£5m)
The key to Liverpool’s midfield rebuild?Credit: GETTY
Liverpool are finished. Liverpool are back! Liverpool are finished. And repeat.
That’s been the cycle in the recent months and Dream Team bosses will know by now not to get carried away by a convincing win for the Reds, like the one they registered at Elland Road on Monday night.
Saying that, Jurgen Klopp’s men outplayed Arsenal prior to their mauling of Leeds (albeit for in a 2-2 draw) and in both games fans were treated to lengthy glimpses of Alexander-Arnold the midfielder.
The 24-year-old has looked vulnerable defensively this season but his creative powers have never been in doubt and three assists in his last two outings have underlined his positive attributes.
And Game Week 31 looks ripe for points for those keen on Liverpool assets with a home game against Nottingham Forest followed by a trip to West Ham.
In fact, the Reds’ fixtures appear relatively friendly for the remainder of the campaign.
Alexander Isak (£4.1m)
EfficientCredit: GETTY
Most Dream Team managers will have a settled forward line at this late stage of the season but those in need of making a move could opt for someone in the mould of Newcastle’s record signing.
Isak averages a goal every 113.4 minutes in the Premier League this season and he’ll fancy his chances of maintaining that impressive record with Eddie Howe’s side set to take on a dejected Tottenham, Everton and Southampton before the end of the month.
Granted, the Magpies produced an uncharacteristically poor display away to Aston Villa last weekend but they had won five in a row before that in a run that featured 13 goals.
The Sweden international has been limited to just 14 league appearances this term because of injury setbacks but his strike rate when available makes him a viable option.
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For much of the campaign it made sense to back Newcastle defenders to the hilt while mostly staying clear of their forwards but there’s been something of a reversal in recent weeks.
Although Kieran Trippier (£5.8m) remains an immensely popular choice with good reason. More

YES, it’s another article about Erling Haaland (£9.6m).But with good reason; the Norwegian poacher’s first season in English football has been truly extraordinary and nobody knows this better than Dream Team gaffers.
But how well do you really know the mind-blowing numbers propping up this historic campaign?
Time for a quiz…
Here we will present seven stats and all you have to do is separate the fact from the fiction before scrolling down a little further to find out the answer.
1. Haaland has scored more Premier League goals than Chelsea this season
Prolific doesn’t even do him justice
ANSWER: FACT
Manchester City’s No9 has bagged 32 in the top flight at this stage which is two more than the Blues have mustered as a collective.
This is truly incredible when consider how much Todd Boehly (and his predecessor) forked out to assemble the squad at Stamford Bridge which includes Raheem Sterling (£3.8m), Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang (£3.5m), Kai Havertz (£3.8m), Hakim Ziyech (£2.2m), Joao Felix (£3.5m) and several other highly-rated attackers.
2. Nobody has ever scored more goals in a Premier League season than Haaland has in 2022/23
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Records are tumblingCredit: GETTY
ANSWER: FICTION
When the 22-year-old notched his 32nd league goal he drew level with Mohamed Salah (£8.3m) for most goals in a 38-game campaign but he still needs two more to equal Alan Shearer and Andy Cole’s record of 34, both achieved when there were 22 teams in the division.
Of course, the key factor to consider here is that Haaland potentially has eight more fixtures at his disposal and so he’s likely to breeze past the legendary English strikers of old and break new ground in the coming weeks.
3. Haaland has earned more points from his last five games than Aleksandar Mitrovic (£3.8m) has produced all season
True or false?
ANSWER: FACT
Barring disciplinary issues, it’s generally accepted that Fulham’s No9 has been an effective target man for the Cottagers during their impressive return to the top flight.
Mitrovic averages a league goal every 165.5 minutes this term and his performances, particularly in the first half of the season, are a big reason Marco Silva’s side look set for a top half finish.
And yet his overall Dream Team tally of 96 points fails to match the 101 Haaland has plundered since March 14th!
4. Haaland averages over twice as many points-per-game as the next-best Dream Team’s asset this season
Part man, part machineCredit: GETTY
ANSWER: FICTION
The Etihad’s resident cyborg averages 9.8 points-per-game which is remarkable when you consider a goal and a 7+ rating returns eight points.
This average puts him in a league of his own but it’s not quite double that of Marcus Rashford (£7.1m) who has ticked along at 5.8 points-per-game to amass 274 overall, a massive total by non-Haaland standards.
However, Haaland’s average is comfortably double that of Bruno Fernandes (£6.4m, 4.4 points-per-game) which is saying something given the Portugal international is the best midfielder in the game right now.
5. Haaland is on track to post the highest season points tally in Dream Team history
Haaland is still active in three competitionsCredit: GETTY
ANSWER: FACT
Assuming Man City are able to convert their 3-0 first leg lead over Bayern Munich into an aggregate victory then Haaland will have at least two more Champions League fixtures on top of eight league games and whatever minutes he’ll get in the FA Cup semi-final/final.
If he maintains his current average of 9.8 points-per-game then he will go past Cristiano Ronaldo’s record of 477, achieved in 2007/08, a campaign that won the Portuguese superstar his first Ballon d’Or.
93 points is a tough ask in the given time frame but given he’s added a century across the last five Game Weeks, it’s well within Haaland’s grasp.
6. Haaland has more points than Harry Kane (£8.5m) and Ollie Watkins (£6.1m) combined
Kane has played brilliantly for 222 points but Haaland’s on another planet
ANSWER: FACT
This stats underlines just how far the Norway international has ventured into the realms of the absurd because by normal standards both Kane and Watkins have been excellent.
The two Englishmen have 37 goals between them in the Premier League alone (23 for Kane, 14 for Watkins) and are fourth and seventh in the Dream Team forward rankings respectively.
And yet somehow their combined points tally of 376 is eight short of Haaland’s at this late juncture.
7. Right now, Haaland is the most-popular player in Dream Team history
When the hair goes up, the goals go inCredit: GETTY
ANSWER: FICTION
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While his ownership of 74% is gargantuan, it falls just short of the peak Bruno Fernandes achieved a couple of seasons back.
We’re guessing that those who went without Haaland at the start of the season gave up hope pretty quickly… More

THE job Unai Emery has done at Aston Villa really can’t be underestimated.When Steven Gerrard was dismissed back in October, the club were 17th in the Premier League – they’re now sixth.
The ex-Villarreal coach has improved the Villains from back to front but his biggest success story has to be the reinvention of Ollie Watkins (£6.1m).
Previously deployed on the right wing or as one half of a strike partnership, the 27-year-old is now leading the line solo, as he did successfully at Brentford, with immense results.
A man in the form of his life
And Watkins produced his best performance of the campaign this past Saturday when he dismantled a usually resolute Newcastle defence.
Eddie Howe’s side have conceded the fewest goals in the top flight this season but Fabian Schar (£3.8m) and Sven Botman (£3.1m) were run ragged by Villa’s No11, who assisted the hosts opener before scoring two of his own in a 3-0 win.
It wasn’t just the direct goal contributions that reflected well on Watkins but the nature of his overall performance too.
His knock down for Jacob Ramsey (£2.3m) was high class and his penetrating runs in behind Newcastle’s back four made him a persistent threat as the visitors wilted in the Midlands.
Naturally, Watkins claimed the Star Man award for his masterclass and with it, 20 Dream Team points, his biggest single-game haul of 2022/23.
He’s also the joint-best performer of Game Week 30 so far, level with Diogo Jota (£3.9m) who took Leeds for 20 points on Monday night.
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Only a tight offside call denied Watkins a hat-trickCredit: GETTY
Watkins has been one of the league’s most in-form players since the mid-season break for the World Cup in Qatar, as best evidenced by his Dream Team returns.
In fact, only Erling Haaland has produced more points among forwards across the last nine Game Weeks.
DREAM TEAM POINTS SINCE GAME WEEK 21:

Erling Haaland – 128
OLLIE WATKINS – 95
Marcus Rashford – 84
Gabriel Martinelli – 81
Mohamed Salah – 76
Harry Kane – 64

These numbers are particularly impressive considering Villa have not had additional European fixtures to bolster their schedule.
That seems likely to change next season though as Emery’s men look set to qualify for either the Europa League or the Europa Conference League.
Dream Team bosses should focus on the task in hand but it’s difficult not to think about Watkins’ starting price for 2023/24 already.
Emery is doing a fantastic job at Villa
The ex-Brentford striker has scored 15 goals and provided seven assists in all competitions this season with 11 of those goals coming in his last 12 games!
At the time of writing, he appears in just 2.5% of teams and that wise minority of gaffers will be hopeful of more points in Game Week 31 when Watkins takes on Brentford and Fulham, two teams increasingly “on the beach”. More

DREAM TEAM managers should always expect the unexpected.When news broke of Roy Hodgson’s return to Crystal Palace following Patrick Vieira’s dismissal, few would have predicted that the Eagles would be instantly transformed into one of the most dynamic attacking teams in the Premier League.
But that’s exactly what has happened.
An unlikely friendship but one blossoming nonetheless
The 75-year-old tactician has a wealth of knowledge but his managerial tenures at the back end of his career have generally been defined by pragmatism.
Even the most optimistic season ticket holders at Selhurst Park would merely have shrugged and declared: “Well, it might not be pretty but Roy will probably get the job.”
Not only is the ex-England coach getting the job done with three consecutive victories having all but saved the south Londoners from relegation already, the football is no less than beautiful.
Hodgson’s second stint began with a 2-1 win over Leicester, continued with a swaggering 5-1 victory at Elland Road, and extended with a comfortable 2-0 win away to Southampton on Saturday.
Eberechi Eze (£3m) scored both the visitors’ goals at St Mary’s to claim the Star Man award and bank 18 points in one fell swoop.
It was the 24-year-old’s biggest haul of the Dream Team campaign and confirmation of the midfielder’s uplift since the change in dugout personnel.
Eze has 92 points overall
Eze has now produced 33 points in three games under Hodgson, whereas he mustered just nine from his last 13 appearances for Vieira.
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This prosperous little run has featured three goals and two Star Man awards, making him one of the most in-form assets in the game over the last three Game Weeks.
At the time of writing, the ex-QPR man is the best-performing midfielder of Game Week 30 – he’s five points clear of Martin Odegaard (£3.8m) and Harry Wilson (£1.7m).
A talented dribbler, Eze has registered over a third of his total points since Hodgson’s return and if Palace are going to keep playing their way to mid-table safety will such panache then more than a few Dream Team bosses may feel he’s worth a punt.
A man in sparkling formCredit: GETTY
Eze features in just 0.7% of teams right now and is therefore a massive differential option.
And he can’t have asked for more friendly fixtures, he faces Everton, Wolves and West Ham before the end of the month which will make it six consecutive games against teams below Palace in the table. More

A ROUND of applause for Alistair Woodward, Dream Team’s outright most prosperous gaffer of Game Week 29.The Notts County supporters racked up 124 points this past week thanks to a host of Manchester-based players.
Let’s take a closer look at how he topped the pile…
Harry Kane will have to work on his Mancunian accentCredit: DREAM TEAM
Ederson (£4.8m), Nathan Ake (£4.9m) and Ruben Dias (£6.6m) all registered eight points each against Bayern Munich having missed out against Southampton because of Sekou Mara’s (£1.5m) consolation goal.
Tuesday night’s Champions League quarter-final first leg at the Etihad was just the second time the Bundesliga champions have failed to score in a game this season – an indication that it’s a good time to back Manchester City defenders.
Their Portuguese centre-back has been in particularly great form of late and now finds himself eighth in the rankings among assets in his position.
Dias’ quality comes at a price though, at £6.6m he’s far by and away the most-expensive defender in the game.
Lisandro Martinez (£4.7m) is now joint-second among defenders having taken Everton for eight points, despite taking a minus one hit at home to Sevilla on Thursday night.
However, the World Cup winner’s hopes of maintaining the silver medal were dealt a blow when he was carried off the pitch (by opposition players for some reason) with what could be a significant injury.
A commanding presenceCredit: GETTY
Alistair has correctly identified that Jack Grealish (£4.7m) is currently the best City midfielder to accompany Kevin De Bruyne (£8.1m).
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Now providing regular goals and assists, the England international was the joint-best performer in his position this week having registered 18 points.
Grealish has now amassed 61 points across the last eight Game Weeks – Alistair is among the 8.4% of gaffers who have benefited from this fruitful spree.
As for KDB, he notched ten points to become just the second double centurion midfielder this term.
Bruno Fernandes (£6.4m) was the first and he moved onto 209 overall thanks to a seven-point haul in Game Week 29.
Alistair’s ace up the sleeve was undoubtedly Marcel Sabitzer (£3m) – a man who appears in just 0.2% of teams!
The Austrian delivered by far his best performance in a Manchester United shirt yet when he bagged a brace against Sevilla in midweek.
Limited in some technical aspects, the loanee 29-year-old is a good runner and shooter – attributes he used to great effect against the La Liga outfit to bank 18 points.
An ownership of just 0.2%
Up front, it’s a familiar trio and quite possibly the most-popular combination in the game currently.
Although that may change now Marcus Rashford (£7.1m) is likely to miss some games (how many is not yet known) having picked up an injury – he added five points to his tally in Game Week 29.
Harry Kane (£8.5m) scored his 25th goal of the season last weekend against Brighton – a tally that would be mightily impressive if it wasn’t for Erling Haaland’s (£9.6m) freakish figure of 45 – and he picked up the Star Man award too for lovely 13-point haul against difficult opposition.
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Man City’s No9 now has 366 points to his name after taking Southampton and Bayern for 22, which would be the biggest Game Week haul of the campaign for the vast majority of players but is almost par for the course for the Norwegian, such is his pedigree.
Great work, Alistair, that Sabizter shout has to go down as one of the great masterstrokes of the season! More