Fantasy Football

IN the past couple of weeks, we’ve made plenty of references to the fact Trent Alexander-Arnold (£5.6m) is averaging 2.5 points-per-game this season.Liverpool’s No66 rightfully started the campaign as Dream Team’s joint-most-expensive defender having racked up 298 points in 2021/22 – a tally only bettered by Mohamed Salah (£7.7m).
And while the England international current season total of 20 points isn’t a disgrace by any means but it’s below what gaffers have come to expect from him.
Rather than chew out Alexander-Arnold further, we thought it would be better to celebrate the other full-back who started the campaign at £6.5m and who has lived up expectations and more during the first seven Game Weeks of 2022/23.
The man in question is, of course, Joao Cancelo (£7.4m).
A reliably brilliant Dream Team assetCredit: getty
The Portugal international pocketed another eight points at the weekend as Manchester City beat Wolves 3-0 at Molineux.
He earned another 7+ rating on top of the clean sheet to take his overall tally for the season to 54 points.
At the time of writing, only Erling Haaland (£8.4m) has more points among all assets – City’s cyborg has a frankly obscene 121 points.
Similarly, only the Norwegian striker has earned more 7+ ratings than Cancelo so far this season and it’s this ability to tick along with bonus points that makes the full-back such an incredible asset.
Anyone who has watched even a handful of City’s games in recent seasons will know that Cancelo is a ‘defender’ in the loosest possible sense.
Technically sound and positionally ambitious, he often occupies areas more associated with centre-midfielders and wingers.
Cancelo is consistently among the players to register the most touches on any given weekend – in fact he’s had the third-most in the Premier League this season – and his possession isn’t stale either, he is a key cog in Pep Guardiola’s system.
And it’s his influence on City’s build-up play that helps him bag so many 7+ ratings, meaning he accumulates points even when his attacking threat doesn’t directly translate to goals or assists.
Man City enjoyed another routine win over Wolves on SaturdayCredit: getty
Not that the 28-year-old is lacking goal involvements, he has three assists and one goal in all competitions already.
Strangely, all his assists have occurred across City’s two Champions League fixtures – he set up two of his side’s four goals against Sevilla and memorably provided a glorious outside-of-the-boot cross for Haaland’s acrobatic winner against Borussia Dortmund.
Cancelo has racked up 41 points in his last five outings to propel himself up the rankings and he’ll sit proudly in second place throughout the international break.
His presence on the podium should serve as reminder of his enduring quality to Dream Team bosses, not that they should need it with him having finished as the best defender in 2020/21 and the runner-up in his position last season.
Dream Team’s top two performers this seasonCredit: getty
Cancelo’s ownership of 20.9% makes him the 13th-most popular player in the game but perhaps he should be even more widely selected?
The aforementioned Alexander-Arnold features in 28.5% of teams by way of a comparison.
However, Cancelo’s current price of £7.4m makes him a difficult player to recruit – only Salah and Haaland are more costly at this stage – but his returns suggest he’s worth the investment.
Value-for-money bargains are great but sometimes in the world of Dream Team, you have to cough up the budget for serious quality.

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THE latest Team of the Week is a strange edition as the best-performing XI is utterly dominated by Manchester United.Two managers achieved the exact same score by virtue of having the same team.
Even more confusing is the fact one of Game Week 6’s top gaffers, Simon Trubshaw, is an Arsenal fan!
Let’s take a closer look at the XI, also backed by Shaun Murphy, that racked up 83 points this past week.

It’s quite the sight, isn’t it?
Perhaps we should have anticipated a quirky Team of the Week given the Premier League fixture postponements last weekend following the death of Queen Elizabeth II.
With only the midweek European fixtures eligible (and not even a full complement) it stands to reason that a team such as this would come out on top.
Erik ten Hag’s side were the only side to keep a clean sheet this past week with David de Gea (£2.9m), Raphael Varane (£4.2m), Lisandro Martinez (£3.3m), Tyrell Malacia (£3m) and Diogo Dalot (£2.6m) combining for 36 points against Sheriff Tiraspol on Thursday night.
The latter banked ten points as he registered an assist and a 7+ rating as it was him who was fouled for the visitors’ penalty in Moldova.
Dalot is now the fifth-best defender Dream Team has to offer having moved onto 29 points overall – Simon and Shaun would do well to stick by the Portuguese right-back even if they move away from their ultra Man United focus.
Man United got the job done in MoldovaCredit: getty
Whisper it quietly but Jadon Sancho (£3.5m) is starting to show the Old Trafford faithful the kind of form his displayed at Borussia Dortmund.
The 22-year-old scored his third goal of the season on Thursday, a precise left-foot finish after some neat footwork in the box.
Sancho also swooped the Star Man award to take home 13 points.
Christian Eriksen (£2.8m) provided the assist for Man United’s opening goal and did enough to earn a 7+ rating, as did Bruno Fernandes (£4.9m), meaning Simon and Shaun earned 21 points from their midfield trio.
Cristiano Ronaldo (£5.5m) was the man who converted the spot-kick, pocketing his first points of the season, five of them to be exact, but that’s where the Man United monopoly finally ends as Mohamed Salah (£7.7m) and Erling Haaland (£8.4m) join the five-time Ballon d’Or winner in the front line.
Sancho has scored three goals in his last six games
Liverpool’s Egyptian King scored against Ajax on Tuesday night for an eight-point haul while Man City’s No9 scored a remarkably acrobatic effort to give his side the three points against Borussia Dortmund the following evening.
Haaland also claimed the Star Man award to add 13 points to his already mountainous tally.
The Norwegian poacher has plundered 113 points from just six Game Weeks and that’s even accounting for a postponed league fixture – extraordinary stuff.
Whether Simon and Shaun have an XI suited to long-term success remains to be seen but they’ll always have their Game Week 6 glory.
Good luck to all gaffers ahead of Game Week 7 – make sure you’ve got enough active players!

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TODD BOEHLY is determined to become a main character in the Premier League landscape.Having already spent over £250million on reinforcements at Chelsea, sacked Thomas Tuchel and bought Graham Potter from Brighton, the Blues’ chairman has caused a stir by suggesting an All-Star Game as an annual showpiece fixture for English football’s top flight.
The American businessman proposed that one team would be made up of players from the south and the other from players based in the north.
This is not the first time an American-style All-Star Game has been put forward in regards to the Premier League though many fans are dismissive of the idea.
While the practicalities make it an unlikely reality (imagine Jurgen Klopp’s reaction if one of his players gets injured) it’s a fun notion to speculate on.
Here we’ve combined last season’s Dream Team points with those earned this campaign to create a sample large enough to determine the starting XIs of Team North and Team South should such a fixture materialise.
Chelsea’s chairman is making a splash on these shores
Before we get into it, just a quick note to say that since exactly half of the Premier League teams are based in London or on the south coast, we’ve categorised those in the midlands as being from the north for a preferred balance.
SOUTH: Arsenal, Tottenham, Chelsea, Brighton, Brentford, Fulham, Southampton, Bournemouth, Crystal Palace, West Ham.
NORTH: Manchester City, Manchester United, Liverpool, Leeds, Newcastle, Everton, Aston Villa, Nottingham Forest, Leicester, Wolves.
We set out both sides in a 4-3-3 formation and have attempted to maintain a realistic balance – each team has a player capable of playing as a holding midfielder, etc.
Maddison infiltrates the Liverpool/Man City duopoly
TEAM NORTH

Trent Alexander-Arnold
Joel Matip
Virgil van Dijk
Joao Cancelo

Ilkay Gundogan
Kevin De Bruyne
James Maddison

Riyad Mahrez
Diogo Jota
Mohamed Salah

As you would expect, the northern XI is dominated by players from Man City and Liverpool with Maddison being the only asset to crash the party.
Leicester’s No10 amassed 228 points last season and has 16 to his name this term.
Ruben Dias would probably have slotted nicely alongside Van Dijk had he not missed out a sizeable portion of 2021/22 through injury.
As far as purely hypothetical scenarios go, the thought of Alexander-Arnold attacking down the right while Cancelo supports the left flank is a satisfying one.
Salah was the only player to achieve 300+ points last season
Cristiano Ronaldo racked up an impressive 225 points last season but his reduced role at the start of the current term means he’s just edged out by Jota for the centre-forward role.
Wingers Mahrez and Salah have combined for 600 points across the one and a bit seasons.
TEAM SOUTH

Edouard Mendy

Reece James
Eric Dier
Thiago Silva
Cesar Azpilicueta

Jorginho
James Ward-Prowse
Mason Mount

Jarrod Bowen
Harry Kane
Son Heung-min

Six Chelsea players make the cut which makes sense given the west Londoners finished third behind City and Liverpool last season as well as making both domestic finals.
James has produced 227 points since the start of 2021/22 which is a remarkable return given he’s missed 19 games through injury since Christmas.
It has to be said that Team South’s midfield doesn’t compare favourably to their northern rivals – this trio is a full 195 points behind the trident of De Bruyne, Gundogan and Maddison.
However, the southern contingent pack a punch up front as Spurs duo Kane and Son were both among the top three assets in their position last season.
While the South Korea international is struggling for form currently, his spell of form after the turn of the year to capture the Golden Boot was incredibly profitable in terms of Dream Team points.
A familiar double act
And last but certainly not least, Bowen is deservedly included having been the breakout star of 2021/22 – he’s amassed 231 points since the start of last season.
West Ham’s No20 has 28 goal involvements in that time frame.
Instinctively it feels as if Team North have the stronger outfit, largely because Man City and Liverpool have been the two standout teams of recent times.
It may be interesting to revisit this discussion at the end of the current season given the Reds’ wobbling form and strong starts from Arsenal and Brighton, two sides that would have representation in Team South if we only counted points from 2022/23.
So there you have it, Mr Boehly, is that what you had in mind?

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