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If you’re having trouble picking your fantasy football team, then I’ve got some good news for you. 11Kicks keeps a table of the best performing players in the Stats Center.
Below you’ll find the current top 10 (actually 12, because there’s a three-way-tie for 10th place) 11Kicks players by average fantasy football points total.
After taking a Platinum level beating in game week 24, the 11Kicks House Team was ready to step down a level. As luck would have it, I received a very kind invitation from Revvies to play in a private Gold level league. I’m in.
My XI for game week 25 is above. Pretty straightforward: 4-3-3, Joe Hart in goal, two big central defenders who I’m hoping to see get their head to corner kicks, two attacking fullbacks with potential for assists. My midfield is all about the goal threat, with Rafael van der Vaart, Cesc Fabregas and Clint Dempsey and my three man forward line can’t fail to produce. Unless I just gave Edin Dzeko, Dimitar Berbatov and Robin van Persie the kiss of death.
11Kicks has been nominated in the Best Niche Website category of the Soccerlens Awards. Well done us.
We’re up against some great websites like ZonalMarking, Kickette and Never Captain Nicky Butt, but 11 Kicks is the only site nominated that’s an actual fantasy football game.
So head on over there and vote for 11Kicks. The good karma you earn by doing so should help you pick a prize money winning team for game week 17.
Fahad Khalfan is now internet famous, thanks to the above bit of YouTube gold. It’s the first minute of extra time in the Qatar vs. Uzbekistan Asian Cup quarterfinal and 18 year-old Qatar striker Khalfan is gifted a golden chance to make it 1-0 after the Uzbek goalkeeper tries an ill-advised stepover.
But somehow Khalfan misses an open goal from inside the six yard box under no pressure, hitting the post instead of tapping the ball home. Every goal from a striker is worth three points in the 11 Kicks fantasy football game. But you get nothing for a miss, and you get double nothing for missing an open goal. Qatar went on to lose 1-0, and the Uzbek goalkeeper dodges his own internet infamy bullet.
Much like life, fantasy football is about timing. Didier Drogba has only scored one goal in his last four matches after slotting home five in the first six. In general, Chelsea seems to have lost their scoring touch. 21 goals in the first five matches followed by only four in the last four. That is why fantasy football turns people’s hair gray.
You are convinced that the floodgates are about to reopen so you keep going with Chelsea players. Away to Blackburn this week, could it be the moment that it happens? Blackburn have only allowed three goals in four games at Ewood Park. With players such as Michel Salgado, Ryan Nelsen, Morten Pedersen they can be a difficult nut to crack. Nelsen was New Zealand’s inspirational captain at the World Cup but he will most likely miss this game due to a thigh injury.
Not to say that Chelsea won’t win but don’t expect this to be the weekend that they score four or more. Last season they played at 1-1 draw at Ewood Park.
There is no doubt that Tottenham against Manchester United is the big match of the weekend. All eyes will be on Spurs to see if they can break their much-publicized poor away form to the Big 4. Javier Hernandez is certainly the man of the moment and who is to say his goal scoring form won’t continue. With a hat-trick against Liverpool, Dimitar Berbatov was the man but he hasn’t scored a goal since. A false dawn for the Bulgarian who finally thought he made it?
The Spurs playing look inviting for your fantasy football team. Gareth Bale, Rafael van der Vaart and Peter Crouch are all achieving good results for those who pick them.
The North East Derby is always a feisty encounter and the likes of Darren Bent, Andy Carroll and Kevin Nolan are worth inclusion. If Carroll keeps scoring goals he will demand to be picked ahead of someone like Fernando Torres who isn’t scoring as much.
Look for Everton to have a good win against Stoke. At home, the much-improved Blues should get all three points.
Looking at the statistics there are some interesting things to note. Chelsea has kept seven clean sheets. The next best is Sunderland and Manchester United with three. You are better off selecting Chelsea and United players for their firepower but it wouldn’t be a bad idea to take some Sunderland defenders.
Tottenham has only had one clean sheet this year. You would have thought a side that is doing as well as them would be doing better with regards to this. The crazy thing is that Spurs have conceded just eight goals but there has been one in every game bar one.
Are you familiar with the name Chris Brunt? He plays for WBA and has six assists. This is second in the whole league behind Nani. Peter Crouch of Tottenham hasn’t been scoring that many but has five assists as does Matthew Etherington of Stoke.
You just don’t want to be picking all the big names. 20 clubs means lots of players to choose from.
You could get away with selecting your fantasy football side from just four teams but what would the fun of that be?
You can be seduced by the names such as Drogba, Lampard, Berbatov and Tevez. Sure you would be crazy not to select these players just because they play for the big teams but there are many quality players with the lesser teams who get overlooked.
For instance, how many fantasy football players would have Bolton’s Johan Elmander in their side? He has five goals for the season. That is the same as Solomon Kalou.
While Wayne Rooney was cooling his heels, Javier Hernandez scored a winning double for Manchester United. Just when they were worried of losing more points, the Mexican stood up to claim all three for Manchester United? How many people had him in their fantasy football side?
What about Fernando Torres? Was anyone brave enough to include him? It would have been justified and your faith rewarded after he scored the winner against Blackburn. Just his second goal of the season but you have to get going sometime.
Samir Nasri was on song for Arsenal as was Alex Song. It was Nasri’s fourth goal for the season and more importantly, Arsenal kept a clean sheet.
A comfortable win for Chelsea but Didier Drogba wasn’t to be found on the goalscorer’s sheet. This time it was Florent Malouda and Solomon Kalou. The two now have seven and five goals respectively.
As predicted, Rafael Van der Vaart was the man for Tottenham. His goal levelled things up for Spurs against Everton.
If you are going to choose anyone from Newcastle then Kevin Nolan and Andy Carroll look to be the guys. Both scored on the weekend against West Ham to take their goal tally to four and five goals respectively.
All in all it was a reasonably entertaining weekend of football. Looking ahead the pick of the games would be Manchester United hosting Tottenham. It will be a great test to see where Spurs are. They are currently just outside the top four and are playing well enough to beat United.
What a crazy turn of events with Wayne Rooney returning to Old Trafford. I guess this means he has left the doghouse and is now firmly entrenched in Sir Alex’s good books. That in turn means Wayne Rooney becomes a viable fantasy football option.
Expect him to get more minutes on the pitch and that combined with his increased confidence means you can expect him to start scoring more.
What are the odds on him scoring this Sunday at Britannia Stadium? Worth including him for it?
It is still only October but Manchester City look to be the real deal. They are playing good football both domestically and in Europe. They are sitting in second place on the Premiership, just two behind Chelsea.
Their game against Arsenal this weekend is an intriguing clash of the old versus the new. Arsenal are still in the top four so won’t be a pushover but instead of playing like an upstart, Manchester City are filling the role of the established side.
Clearly the man of the moment is Carlos Tevez. He has seven goals in the league and is the form of his career. Emmanuel Adebayor hasn’t yet scored in the Premier League this season but after his hat-trick last night in the Europa League has he refound his goal scoring touch?
The defence is also in good form and has only conceded two goals in league matches at home.
For Arsenal, Cesc Fabregas still has a way before returning to the stellar heights he hit last year. For now, it’s the new names for Arsenal that are doing the job. Samir Nasri and Marouane Chamakh have three goals each. Of course Theo Walcott had scored four from three games until injury struck.
Away from home this year, Arsenal have a record of five points from four games with four scored and five against. In terms of personnel, Arsenal will be without the suspended Jack Wilshere while Bacary Sagna, Thomas Vermaelen, Robin van Persie and Aaron Ramsey are all injured .
Elsewhere Tottenham vs Everton looms as an entertaining match. Even though Spurs lost 4-3 to Inter Milan they came back from a man down and a four goal deficit. So they will be on a high of sorts while Everton have won their last two after a very sluggish start.
Tim Cahill, Mikel Arteta and Gareth Bale are all worth inclusion in your fantasy football side. Rafael van der Vaart didn’t play midweek and is definitely worth including. He is a major part of the reason why Spurs are doing so well.
Manchester United, Chelsea and Liverpool are all playing in lower-profile matches. Against Stoke, Wolves and Blackburn respectively. The games are all important for their own reasons. United as they need to make a statement of the Wayne Rooney drama of the week.
Liverpool would love Rooney for taking the limelight off them that they hogged this week. They host Blackburn and obviously the points are critical to them. Then there is Chelsea who are trying to stay ahead of the pack.
Back to City, when they hosted Arsenal last year, the man of the moment was Adebayor. Will it be that way again?
Sir Alex Ferguson is used to getting his own way. Typically players will do anything to play for Manchester United. Very rarely will someone want to leave when they are a first-team player in the prime of their career. Truth be told, United haven’t really recovered from the departure of Cristiano Ronaldo and this latest news is sure to rock the team. Then again, they have probably known about it for a while and most likely it has been one of the reasons for their poor form.
It has been an incredibly intense 3-4 months for Wayne Rooney. First there was all the drama of the World Cup and his poor performances there. Following that were the revelations of his infidelities and now comes the announcement that he wants to leave Old Trafford. Who knows how long he will still be a Manchester United player for? Till then, is he worth picking for your fantasy football side?
To date he only has one league goal and that was a penalty against West Ham. Nothing from open play. This time last year he already has six goals and was on his way to a 26 goal season.
If Rooney goes and join former team-mate Carlos Tevez at Manchester City, not only will Ferguson’s blood boil but City will have an unbelievable strike force. Tevez is already in rare form and in combination with Rooney would be quite the offensive power. The two sides meet on November 10 which isn’t that far away. It will be an even more explosive game than normal.
And what of United? Currently they have three players with more than one goal. Dimitar Berbatov has six, Nani has three and Darren Fletcher has two. United’s woes in front of goal is why they have dropped so many points. Chelsea have five players with two or more goals and Arsenal has four. Apart from Nani and Berbatov, you might think twice about selecting any United players for your fantasy football team. They just aren’t the side they used to be.
Is Rooney in the future capable of matching the feats of Rooney in the past. Can he be as good as this player?
