Fantasy Football By Numbers- This week could make or break you! A look at Midfielders

Unlike last week where we looked at forwards and determined that it may not be in one’s best interest to take on players solely for the sake of extra games, a strong argument can be made that this is NOT the case for GW 36 and our midfield choices.

In this first chart, you will see the top 10 fantasy football players overall filtered by form.  Simple calculations were then made to access their estimated “points per game” overall as well as over their past 5 matches.

The following chart includes players based on performance, popularity and double gameweek status:

Observations and Take-Aways based solely on the information reflected above:

• Dempsey, Cabaye, Pienaar, Ben Arfa and Petrov are the top five choices.
• Liverpool and Stoke are not represented on the charts above.
• Players such as Sigurdsson, Valencia and Nasri who only have one match are statistically set to produce fewer points.

While these numbers may prove to be insightful, other variables to consider are the following:

• I am not sure what all the hype is about Bale.  If I were to have a Tottenham midfielder it would be VDV as Bale has simply dropped off the radar as of late.
• Fulham are not great AWAY.  Will this impact Dempsey’s performance?
• Bolton are playing well and fighting off relegation.  Petrov picked up 17 points in Gameweek 35.  I wouldn’t write off Bolton just yet.
• Van der Vaart never plays a full 90 minutes.  Is he worth the gamble?
• When Maxi Rodriguez plays he does well but he has only made 2 appearances and for that reason alone may be too risky.
• Weary about picking up too many Everton players?  There’s a reason to keep them around as they play Wolves in Gameweek 37.

In reviewing the statistical data above, my following conclusions are the following:

• There is huge potential to pick up massive points if you have players with two games this week.  It probably makes sense that at least 3 or 4 of your midfielders are those with 2 matches.
• If you want Tottenham representation, VDV is the stronger option.
• There are a lot of great choices with Everton and Pienaar is your top pick although Fellani and Osman are good options too with great potential to move you forward due to low ownership.
• If you are looking for a Fulham player other than Dempsey, Duff may be your man.  With only 1.2% ownership and currently ranked #5 in form he may be that differential you’ve been looking for.
• Ben Arfa or Cabaye should seriously be considered for Newcastle and team representation.
• If you are looking for a Chelsea midfielder, Mata is your best option although Chelsea players are neither the cheapest nor top picks for this Gameweek

And finally,…if your goal is to move ahead or pass a certain opponent, take a good look at their team.  It might surprise you that they only may have 4 or 5 players with 2 matches in Gameweek 36.  And while you can’t necessarily see who they are transferring in, you can certainly see how many transfers they are making.  While I always encourage smart, calculated choices, this is the week in my opinion to go for broke (if you need to make significant gains).  I wouldn’t encourage a 16 or 20 point hit per se but last week I took a 8 point hit and gained 30 points on my biggest competitor and was able to jump up on all the charts.

Exciting times!  Best of luck to all of you in Gameweek 36!

Beka Hanousek @bekachan

Article by Beka Hanousek

Beka has written 41 awesome articles.

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