Fantasy Football

Fantasy Premier League midseason report

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Fantasy Premier League has hit the midseason point, or at least just a hair over it, and it is time for managers to take inventory of the term so far.

Twenty games have been played in the English Premier League, and as it has been for some time now, Alexis Sanchez leads all Fantasy Premier League players in points.

The midfielder’s 143 is 20 more than his nearest rival. Certainly, Sanchez gets into FantasySports.co.uk’s Fantasy Premier League midseason best XI.

But who else gets into the side along with the Arsenal top gun? There is plenty of Fantasy Premier League quality to go around in our midterm team.

We’ve selected our Fantasy Premier League best XI based on our favourite 3-4-3 formation. In addition, we’ve decided that only one player per team can be selected for a position.

Goalkeeper

Burnley’s Tom Heaton put up some big numbers in the season’s opening half. Unfortunately, he was far too inconsistent for many managers in Fantasy Premier League.

That is why Heaton just misses our best XI. Chelsea’s Thibaut Courtois has been far more consistent and that is the reason he makes our team.

Courtois currently leads goalkeepers with 85 points, five more than Heaton. The holiday period hasn’t been great for Courtois, but the same can be said for his Chelsea teammates.

Despite the dip in form, Courtois edges out the rest of the goalkeeper pack.

Defenders

It would be easy just to select the top points winners in Fantasy Premier League for each position. But that isn’t what we wanted to do. That is why we have limited ourselves to one Chelsea defender in our back three.

Gary Cahill wins our selection as he has not only been consistent, but he has been durable throughout the first half of the season.

The centre-half has collected 97 points, second most of any defender. He has also contributed to 11 clean sheets and has really come into his own under the stewardship of Antonio Conte; and that is why we love him.

Joining Cahill is Tottenham’s Kyle Walker. Yes, the defender has missed a little time due to injury and Spurs’ form hurt his points total. Yet, we love his ability to join the attack and gain points.

Four assists and eight clean sheets have powered the Englishman to fourth in total points for defenders.

Walker has only missed one match,  but he has failed to complete 90 minutes three times. He obtained three points those gameweeks. Think of what he could have done if fully fit and playing all 90.

Our final defender is Bournemouth’s Charlie Daniels. Okay, perhaps limiting ourselves to only one Chelsea defender gets Daniels in our Fantasy Premier League midseason best XI, but his numbers have been solid.

The defender has tallied 88 points, third most of any defender in Fantasy Premier League. The Bournemouth stopper has benefitted from some major points gameweeks.

Four times this term, Daniels has scored 10 points or more in a single match. Not bad for a defender plenty of Fantasy Premier League managers would have passed on in August.

Midfielders

To kick-off our best midfielders, we can look no further than Alexis Sanchez.

The leader in total points for Fantasy Premier League, Sanchez has not only been consistent; but he has turned in massive gameweeks.

Gameweek 14 saw the Chilean tally 23 points. It won’t happen every week, but Fantasy Premier League managers have been quite happy with Sanchez this season.

Eden Hazard joins Sanchez in our midfield. The Belgian hasn’t been as consistent as the Arsenal man, but has benefitted from big points totals.

Hazard is playing better than last season and his goal return of nine goals is proof of his turnaround. He is also in WhoScored.com’s team of the season.

The one thing that will most likely prevent our third choice Sadio Mane from being in our best XI come the end of the season is his Africa Cup of Nations commitments.

The Liverpool midfielder has been solid and has combined to make Liverpool a dangerous attacking side. Five times this term Mane has tallied 10 points or more.

Our last choice is based more on the last few weeks than on the entire first half of the season. Dele Alli has quickly become one of the hottest properties in Fantasy Premier League.

The last four matches have been outstanding from the Tottenham midfielder.

Still affordable at £8.5 million, it seems his price hasn’t risen much. Perhaps many are expecting him to crash back to Earth sooner than later.

Forwards

We’ve got to start with Diego Costa. The leader in Fantasy Premier League points for forwards, Costa has bulldozed his way to the top.

Although he only has three double digit gameweeks, Costa has been the definition of consistency. He has been well worth his price tag all season.

Level on points with Costa is Manchester United forward Zlatan Ibrahimovic. The Swede is on a tear and walks into our best XI.

At one point this term, we said we wouldn’t suggest his selection by Fantasy Premier League managers again. That was after a run of five games in which he averaged 1.6 points.

He is currently averaging nine points in his last eight fixtures. That has included nine goals and four assists. Everything Manchester United do currently is through the Swede. He is reliable.

To round out our Fantasy Premier League midseason best XI, we have selected Sunderland’s Jermain Defoe.

Okay, Defoe is an easy choice because he is third in total points for forwards. That’s a fair assessment.

But Defoe has blown other forwards on better teams away. In spite of Sunderland being third from bottom and the team scoring just 20 goals this term, Defoe has excelled.

The Englishman has scored 55% of the team’s goals and the Black Cats would be completely written off without him. If he is healthy, he’ll continue to score points; and keep Sunderland up.

Do you agree with our selections? Have your say in the comment box below and join in on the conversation.

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