Fantasy Football

THOUSANDS of Dream Team managers are on the brink of a clanging error.At the time of writing, Trent Alexander-Arnold (£5.7m) is the most transferred-out player ahead of Gameweek 21.

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Dream Team’s reigning king of defendersCredit: Dream Team
This is a delayed reaction to the Liverpool star’s injury, which resulted in him being the most-ditched asset prior to the Gameweek 20.
However, Pep Lijnders, assistant manager to Jurgen Klopp, has revealed that the 25-year-old is in contention to play against Norwich in the FA Cup fourth round this coming Sunday.
As published on the club’s official website, the Dutchman said: “Trent is progressing well through his rehab, working hard. He will back in the end of the week for team training, so hopefully he will be available for the FA Cup.”
The visit of the Canaries to Anfield is the first of two fixtures in Gameweek 21 for the Reds.
Chelsea are also due in Merseyside on Wednesday night as arguably the standout match-up of the midweek Premier League action.
Safely assuming Lijnders is well informed on the matter, it seems likely that Alexander-Arnold will return in some capacity this coming Gameweek.
Surely plenty of gaffers will need to reverse their most recent transfers and think again.
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11 assists and counting this seasonCredit: Getty
Having to stick by Liverpool’s No66 throughout Gameweek 20 while he was sidelined only to then transfer him out just before his comeback would a bitter pill to swallow.
And this is Dream Team’s outright top defender we’re discussing.
Alexander-Arnold has 169 points to his name, seven more than his closest rival, Kieran Trippier (£5m).
He plundered 48 points across four Gameweeks prior to his injury and was fast becoming a must-have asset, if he wasn’t already.
The England international has been playing a hybrid role for the better part of the last year, part full-back, part deep-lying playmaker.
This freedom, combined with his natural creative talents, have resulted in 11 assists this season (all comps) – the highest tally among defenders by a comfortable margin.
He’s also created 14 big chances, again the most among players in his position.
And of course Alexander-Arnold benefits from any clean sheets kept by Jurgen Klopp’s table-toppers, so long as he contributes 60+ minutes.
He’s registered nine clean sheets this campaign so far, only four defenders boast a greater tally: William Saliba (£3.4m), Gabriel (£3.9m), Ben White (£3.5m) and James Tarkowski (£3m).
Alexander-Arnold is pretty much a ‘must-have’ when on songCredit: AP

It’s likely there will soon be a scramble among Dream Team’s top gaffers to get Alexander-Arnold back into the mix as soon as possible.
Those who suffered through Gameweek 20 with him in their XI have the chance to gain some compensation by retaining him now, saving a transfer that those who replaced him may have to use now he’s seemingly available again.
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Needless to say, that compensation goes up in smoke if he’s replaced ahead of Friday’s deadline only to then swagger about Anfield against Norwich on Sunday.
Dream Team bosses may be offered a further update on his condition closer to the Gameweek 21 deadline – we’ll endeavour to include it in Friday’s Injures & Suspensions article if that’s the case.

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DREAM TEAM gaffers should seriously be considering Brighton assets ahead of Gameweek 21.Evidence suggests many are doing just that as Joao Pedro (£3.8m) is currently the second-most popular recruit ahead of the deadline, behind only Kevin De Bruyne (£6.4m).
The Seagulls are due to face Sheffield United in the FA Cup before Tuesday night’s Premier League meeting with Luton.
Their 22-year-old Brazilian warmed up for this juicy double header with a seven-point return against Wolves on Monday night despite the fact Roberto De Zerbi’s side were unable to find the net.

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How it feels to be among Dream Team’s most-popular transfersCredit: AP
The 0-0 result at the Amex was thoroughly unexpected as Brighton had previously only kept one domestic clean sheet in 2023/24 – they had also scored in every single home fixture.
While the lack of goals came as a surprise, fans are all too familiar with draws as De Zerbi’s side have registered eight stalemates in the top flight alone – only two other teams have drawn more than five times this term.
Pedro earned three bonus points and notched two shots on target to satisfy his backers and his haul will only increase his popularity further.
The ex-Watford forward is currently the third-best performer in his position, behind only Mohamed Salah (£6.7m) and Erling Haaland (£7.9m).
He’s racked up 176 points in total, putting him just above the likes of Julian Alvarez (£4.3m), Darwin Nunez (£4.2m), Son Heung-min (£4.8m) and Ollie Watkins (£4.2m) in the rankings.
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Pedro has scored 15 goals in all competitions, a tally built on foundation of converted penalties, and he ranks third among strikers for bonus points.
One of Dream Team’s most in-form defendersCredit: Dream Team
But Pedro isn’t the only Brighton asset to evaluate ahead of Gameweek 21.
Pervis Estupinan (£3.2m) has returned from injury in fine form.
The Ecuador international has produced 36 points in four outings since his comeback with ten of those coming at Wolves’ expense last time out.
Naturally, he has benefited from some rare clean sheets but no Dream Team gaffer picks Estupinan for defensive returns, it’s his attacking contributions that make him such an appealing prospect.
Since the start of Gameweek 17, he’s scored twice and earned six bonus points.
Estupinan is the joint-top goalscorer among Dream Team defenders and he ranks in the top five in his position for shots in target and big chances created.
This is particularly impressive given he was sidelined for 15 fixtures with injury.
Brighton’s fixtures are set fair until mid-MarchCredit: PA

Pascal Gross (£4.2m) is also worth a mention.
The experienced German averages 5.8 points-per-game this season, a better rate than Martin Odegaard (£4.6m), Anthony Gordon (£3.8m), Bruno Fernandes (£4.9m) and several other popular midfielders.
Brighton players aren’t just viable for Gameweek 21 either, their fixtures appear favourable for the next few weeks.
After Sheffield United and Luton, they face an out-of-form Crystal Palace before a harder test away to Tottenham.
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Their next four league games after that read: Sheffield United, Everton, Fulham, Nottingham Forest.
They may also have additional FA Cup fixtures if they progress past the fourth round and it won’t be long before they resume their Europe League campaign having topped a tricky group on paper.

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WHO needs Mohamed Salah (£6.7m)?It took a long while for Liverpool to stamp their authority on Gameweek 20 but it was worth the wait.
Dream Team managers everywhere were dealt a timely reminder that the Reds are so much more than a one-man team as Diogo Jota (£3.9m) and Darwin Nunez (£4.2m) inspired them to a 4-0 win away to Bournemouth.
Jota flourished on the south coastCredit: Dream Team
In the absence of the Egyptian superstar, who remains Dream Team’s overall top scorer, two of Jurgen Klopp’s other forwards stepped up with a brace each.
The Portugal international was the star of the show, as evidenced by his 18-point return.
Jota played through the middle and from the right during the course of his 89 minutes on the pitch and gave the Cherries all manner of problems.
The 27-year-old scored twice, provided an assist (which was also a big chance created) and chipped in with three tackles to claim his biggest haul of the campaign.
Nunez was at his best at the weekendCredit: AFP
Nunez’s ownership has increased steadily across the last fortnight and he was a relatively popular captain for this Gameweek too.
Liverpool’s No9 satisfied his backers with a 15-point return free of the frustrating misses that often undermine his efforts.
Prior to his departure to the Africa Cup of Nations, Salah appeared in most competitive Dream Teams but Jota currently features in just 7.2% of teams.
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Nunez is considerably more popular but his ownership of 24.3% is still less than half of Salah’s pre-AFCON peak.
Klopp’s side remain a fantastic team for gaffers to back despite their top scorer’s absence and Trent Alexander-Arnold’s (£5.7m) injury setback.
There’s still time for their assets to build upon their Gameweek 20 tallies thanks to Wednesday night’s Carabao Cup semi-final second leg against Fulham.
Liverpool assets are providing plentiful points this seasonCredit: PA
Looking forward, Gameweek 21 looks appealing as well.
Liverpool host Norwich in the FA Cup fourth round before welcoming Chelsea to Merseyside for a midweek Premier League encounter.
A double header at Anfield has to be considered a favourable prospect given the Reds’ record this season – they’ve won all but two games (both draws) on home soil in all competitions.
And they average 2.94 goals per home game in 2023/24.
As for the specific forwards, Jota averages a goal or assist every 84 minutes this season while Nunez lags behind only a fraction behind with a goal involvement every 88 minutes.
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All signs point toward further returns for Jota and Nunez but how many Dream Team bosses will feel comfortable donating two thirds of their forward line to assets who may only be short-term punts.
The landscape will change when both Salah and Erling Haaland (£7.9m) are available for selection again.

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HERE’S the scenario.You’ve locked in your transfers ahead of the upcoming Gameweek and your Dream Team is looking good.
There’s just one final decision to make: which of your players to captain?
It’s not a matter to take lightly either as too many wrong selections could conceivably cost you well over a hundred points over the course of a season.
In the spirit of generosity, we’ve created a handy guide to follow when choosing your skipper.
Dream Team captains earn double pointsCredit: Dream Team
Availability
First things first, it’s always best to ensure you’re clued up on all your players’ availability as possible.
At the most basic level, we’re talking about injuries and suspensions (Dream Team publish an article containing all the latest news prior to each Gameweek deadline) but there are other aspects to consider.
It may be that a manager hints at the need to rest one of his top stars with a view to ensuring their availability for tougher tests to follow.
Opting to double this player’s points would be sub-optimal to say the least.
Generally speaking, your captain should be someone who is almost completely immune to rotation – at least in the context of the relevant Gameweek.
Sometimes it’s worth rolling the dice on an availability risk as captain; if Erling Haaland is only a minor doubt ahead of a juicy home fixture against weakened opposition then the potential rewards may be sufficient to justify such a gamble.
However, most the time you’ll want to guarantee your skipper’s minutes before considering anything else.
Captaining a player who doesn’t even make it onto the pitch can be a real hammer blow – avoid this misfortune at all costs.
A popular captain and with good reasonCredit: Getty
Fixtures
Next up, check how many fixtures your potential captains are set to fulfil that Gameweek.
A good player with two games at his disposal will often outscore a great player with just one fixture.
One particularly useful statistic to check in this regard is points-per-game average – displayed in the Stats Centre at all times.
For example, say you’re debating between Bukayo Saka (7.5 points-per-game average) and Pascal Gross (5.5 points-per-game average).
On a level playing field, Arsenal’s No7 is surely the superior option but if the Gunners had just one fixture in the same time Brighton had two, the German midfielder would deliver more points if the pair both performed in line with expectations.
This logic isn’t foolproof by any means as there are several other factors to consider.
In our hypothetical scenario, if Saka scored a hat-trick and Gross produced a below-par performance in their respective league games, the latter would have to pull something truly special out of the bag in his second fixture of the Gameweek to justify his status as captain.
Weighing up such probabilities is all part of the game but it pays to remember that Dream Team is often a numbers game – more fixtures usually equals more points.
Saka is usually among the most-popular captain optionsCredit: Getty
It’s not just the number of fixtures you need to consider when dishing out the armband, the difficulty of your candidates’ match-ups should also be examined.
It goes without saying that a player set to face Sheffield United is more likely to bag a double-digit haul than a player of similar quality who faces a daunting trip to Anfield.
But there are levels to such analysis.
For example, say you’ve narrowed it down to Son Heung-min and Jarrod Bowen for captaincy.
Tottenham are set to host Bournemouth while West Ham are due to face Arsenal at the Emirates – surely an easy decision in favour of the South Korean forward, right?
But hang on, what if the Cherries were on a run of five games undefeated at the same time the Gunners were suffering a dip in form?
What if Bournemouth had kept three consecutive clean sheets on the road and Spurs actually boasted a better record away from North London?
What if Arsenal’s three best defenders were injured for the Hammers’ visit?
Suddenly Bowen’s match-up looks more favourable than Son’s and so perhaps the former would be more worthy of the armband.

We also advise you judge each team on their own merit.
It’s easy to group all bottom-half teams into one under the general umbrella of “favourable opponents” but dig a little deeper and the outlook changes.
Some teams are struggling because they have trouble scoring goals but such sides may boast a relatively tight defence.
Other bottom-half clubs might be conceding loads of goals but scoring a fair few of their own as well.
You may feel it’s a no-brainer to captain one of your superstar forwards when they’re up against the team 16th in the table but what if that team had the fourth-best defensive record in the league at the time?
Furthermore, some match-ups have interesting recent histories.
It’s not that uncommon for a brilliant player to have a bogey team that they consistently struggle against for whatever reason.
Applying this level of fixture analysis will lead to more captaincy points over the course of a season.
Keep an eye on players’ points-per-game averagesCredit: Alamy
Form
It sounds obvious but many Dream Team bosses fail to fully consider form when selecting their captain.
The Stats Centre is your friend again here as it helpfully displays each player’s average point-per-game across their three most recent outings.
This will give you a strong idea of which individuals have been thriving of late without having to trawl through each player profile.
Say a fully-fit Phil Foden was about to face an relegation-threatened team with a leaky defence.
That ticks a lot of boxes in regards availability and fixture difficulty but if the Manchester City starlet had mustered just nine points from his previous four appearances that might suggest he’s not adequately prepared to take advantage of the friendly match-up.
Conversely, Foden might be on a hot scoring streak having impressed against several supposedly difficult opponents.
In this case, form should probably take preference over his fixture(s) and he would therefore make an excellent captain regards of his upcoming schedule.
Some players are capable of tapping into a degree of form that means there’s essentially no such thing as “bad fixtures” – Haaland being a prime example.
Another popular captain among gaffersCredit: AFP
Conclusion
We understand that you may not have the time to research form guides and underlying statistics – we try to do as much of that for you as we can on a weekly basis.
Plus, there are always exceptions and freak outcomes that bamboozle even the most prepared gaffers.
If you’ve got a strong gut feeling when it comes to captaincy selection then by all means go for it – it’s just a bit of fun after all.
And the truth is it’s impossible to select the best possible captain every single Gameweek – if football was that predictable it would be boring – but hopefully you’ve picked up something useful from this guide that will increase your returns in the long run.

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HERE at Dream Team HQ it’s our duty to highlight players who are unfairly overlooked.We’ve assembled a list of five brilliant assets who should be far more popular they than are right now.

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Overlooked by 97.8% of Dream Team gaffersCredit: Dream Team
Vitaliy Mykolenko (£3.5m)

130 points
2.2% ownership

Everton’s defence has been genuinely excellent this season.
Only the current top four of Liverpool, Manchester City, Aston Villa and Arsenal have conceded fewer league goals than Sean Dyche’s troops.
The Toffees’ intense left-back has been the main beneficiary, as evidenced by back-to-back clean sheets in Gameweek 20.
Mykolenko is now the fourth-best defender in the game, behind only Pedro Porro (£3.7m), Kieran Trippier (£5m) and top dog Trent Alexander-Arnold (£5.7m).
The Ukraine international has contributed to nine clean sheets this season and he racks up plenty of tackles.
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See also: James Tarkowski (£3m), 122 points and 2% ownership.
A Dream Team darling of lateCredit: Reuters
Matheus Cunha (£3.6m)

149 points
2.1% ownership

We pushed the Wolves forward hard ahead of Gameweek 20 and he repaid our faith with a goal and an assist against Brentford in the FA Cup – fingers crossed for more returns against Brighton on Monday night.
The Brazilian’s tally of seven goals in all competitions may seem modest but he’s a well-rounded forward who dictates a lot of his side’s build-up play as well as letting off his fair share of shots.
Cunha has provided six assists and his impressive dribbling stats have helped him claim 22 bonus points – the joint-most among assets in his position.
The former Atletico Madrid man averages 6.5 points-per-game in 2023/24, only Julian Alvarez (£4.3m) boasts a better rate among forwards currently available for selection.
England’s No1Credit: Getty
Jordan Pickford (£3m)

100 points
4.6% ownership

This one links back to Everton’s parsimonious defence but it’s worth repeating as their No1 recently became just the third goalkeeper to reach three figures in terms of total season points.
In an unexpected reversal, Pickford is now underrated having historically been a Dream Team asset with a bloated ownership – usually as a knock-on effect of him being England’s regular between the sticks.
Andre Onana (£3.6m) is the only keeper with more points at the time of writing and he’s currently away on Cameroon duty.
Pickford has made 68 saves in total, the seventh-highest tally, which works out at 2.72 per game.
He’s earned 29 points through saves to date.

A criminally underrated footballerCredit: Reuters
Pascal Gross (£4.2m)

146 points
2.3% ownership

The 32-year-old is never going to be among the most trendy Premier League players but it would be a mistake to underestimate him.
Now a full Germany international, his adaptability and technical skills have made him a key cog in Roberto De Zerbi’s machine at Brighton.
Whether he’s playing as a deep midfielder, more advanced, or even as a full-back, Gross contributes both in and out of possession, hence his tally of 25 bonus points.
Only Bukayo Saka (£5.9m) and James Ward-Prowse (£3.9m) have registered more assists than Gross’ nine this term.
The Seagulls’ midfielders is currently eighth in his position, just ahead of Cole Palmer (£3.9m) who features in 21.1% of teams.
Goals are finally flowing for Richarlison at SpursCredit: PA
Richarlison (£3.1m)

102 points
2.4% ownership

This final suggestion is all about form.
Just over a hundred points is nothing more than respectable for a striker at this stage of the campaign but over half of them have come from his last seven games – that’s the rub.
The Brazil international has scored six goals in his last six league games and has the luxury of spearheading one of the most attacking sides in the top flight right now.
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After a disastrous first season at Tottenham, Richarlison now has seven goals and three assists to his name in 18 league outings in 2023/24.
Dig deeper and that works out at a goal involvement every 101 minutes!

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