The Sun Dream Team – Monthly Game – September

The beauty of The Sun Dream Team is that, even if your season is gradually sliding into oblivion, with £10,000 of prize money available every month, there’s every incentive to enter teams to compete for the monthly prize. A princely £5,000 goes to the monthly winner and, with the Dream Team Premium-In-Play package, you get two shots at that prize for just £5.

The monthly game is also very easy to play and, if you’re selecting purely with the monthly prize in mind, you can get yourself a clear advantage over teams already entered for the season long game.

Each month, we’ll be taking a look at our options with The Sun Dream Team monthly game, assessing the strategies involved and picking out some key targets along the way.

With the September monthly game closing for entry on Sunday at 1:30pm, let’s dive in and examine our options.

The Fixtures

Firstly, it’s vital to realise that not all teams are equal when it comes to the fixture list. September’s fixtures start on Sunday, giving six teams an extra game in the month immediately. United, Liverpool, West Brom, Swansea, Tottenham and Arsenal all have an additional league game, then, with the remaining 14 teams playing just three league fixtures in the month.

Straight away, that has us looking to those six teams for our squad selection. However, when you factor in European ties, the field narrows further. The Champions League and Europa League qualifiers all play their first group stage match in September. This gives United, City, Chelsea, Arsenal, Tottenham and Swansea another fixture over the other Premier League sides.

With third round Capital One Cup ties also a factor before the month end, the final break-up of potential fixtures looks like this.

United, Tottenham, Arsenal, Swansea – six fixtures (four PL, one CL/EL, one C1C)
Chelsea, City – five fixtures (three PL, one CL, one C1C)
West Brom – five fixtures (four PL, one C1C)
Crystal Palace – three fixtures (three PL)
The rest – four fixtures (three PL, one C1C)

From the numbers above then, it’s pretty clear that, to have the best opportunity of scoring heavily in September, we should focus our efforts on recruiting from those sides with six fixtures in the month – at all costs, we should certainly avoid Crystal Palace (just in case you didn’t already have that policy).

The Transfer Window

Transfer Window 1 is also in play during September – this arrives on September 3 and runs right through to September 14. This effectively means that we can have three transfers to spend on our monthly lineup to help us maximise the points available and tweak our lineups.

We can therefore load up on those six teams who play on Sunday, safe in the knowledge that we can make three changes somewhere within the September window. While there are no matches in this spell, having the trades at our disposal means we can react to any injuries that may occur when on international duty. We can make our changes before the Premier League resumes and the European and Capital One Cup ties kick-in.

The Player Picks

With the extra fixtures and strong league encounters during the month (sun STO swa), Arsenal look an essential source for our September squad.

There are some clear candidates on offer, not least Aaron Ramsey who has earned three goals and three Star Man awards thus far, on his way to ranking as the top midfielder in the game. Even with slight injury concerns and perhaps a threat to his starting role looming, Ramsey, at just £2.5 million, looks an essential acquisition. Arguably, there’s a strong case for both Theo Walcott (£5.5m) and Santi Cazorla (£6m). The pair look set to figure in at least five of Arsenal’s six fixtures, with the Capital One Cup tie at West Brom perhaps their only likely risk of rest and rotation. Up front, Olivier Giroud (£4m) is another worthy target, given his start to the season, although, again, Arsenal’s activity in the window could threaten his September starts. Whilst at the back, the likes of Laurent Koscielny (£5.5m) and Kieran Gibbs (£3.5m) are amongst the potential targets on offer.

Across North London, Spurs also have plenty to offer the September Dream Team manager. Roberto Soldado is perhaps a shoo-in up front with a price of just £4.5 million, whilst in midfield, Paulinho (£3.5m) is rapidly emerging as a force with the promise of goals and Star Man awards. With Andre Villas-Boas recruiting in the window and the likes of Erik Lamela (£4m) and Christian Eriksen (also £4m) potentially arriving in the squad, there could even be new targets in attacking areas to consider with our three Transfer Window 1 trades. In defence, Jan Vertonghen (£5.5m) looks the most assured option, with Danny Rose (£2.5m), currently the top ranked defender in the game, offering value at left-back and Hugo Lloris (£4m) a clear contender for our keeper’s jersey. The Frenchman is already the top ranked Dream Team stopper.

United’s David De Gea (£5.5m) could be a rival to Lloris, however. The Spaniard looks the most likely to turn out for all six of United’s September fixtures given the possible rotation in David Moyes’ defence so, if you’re looking to cover their clean sheet potential, De Gea looks an option. Rotation dents the prospects elsewhere in the United squad, although Robin van Persie (£8.0m) looks essential given the likelihood that he’ll figure in five of United’s six fixtures – he may even get the full set if selected for the Champions League opener and the Capital One Cup tie with Liverpool. Wayne Rooney (£7.0m) is the wildcard option – it’s debatable whether it’s wise to use up a precious forward slot with a player likely to be prone to rotation but there’s little doubt that Rooney has the explosive qualities to pay back such a risk.

Swansea are perhaps the least attractive source of the four sides treated to six fixtures in the month. Nonetheless, in Michu (£4.5m) they have a striker who could tempt investment as a potential differential – again, though, the forward slots are treasured and with Van Persie, Soldado and Giroud all looking strong, it would be a gamble to opt for the Spaniard.

Finding a Swans player assured of six starts looks tricky, with perhaps five the best we can hope to achieve given Michael Laudrup’s penchant for rotation this season. Home league encounters with Liverpool and Arsenal suggest that the Swans could struggle for clean sheets, although a trip to Palace in the league and the Capital One Cup tie at Birmingham could balance that out. Given the recent injury sustained by Ashley Williams, Chico, at just £2.5 million, looks the preferred option at the back, although Michel Vorm (£3.0m) in goal is perhaps the more secure option with Laudrup recently acquiring Dwight Tiendalli (£1.0m) to ensure he has plenty of rotation options across his back four.

While these four sides will form the nucleus of our September lineups, it’s likely you’ll need to take one or two punts to put yourself up amongst the top ranks and in with a shout of prize money. Targeting the right players amongst the City and Chelsea squads also looks vital – although in both cases, reading the rotation risk looks a sizeable task. Chelsea’s Capital One Cup tie at Swindon could be a key fixture – if you can acquire a starter and heavy points scorer from that game, it could make the difference between a good month and perhaps a prize-winning one.

You can enter teams for The Sun Dream Team monthly prize via the Premium-In-Play package which gets you two teams for just £5.

Teams must be entered by 1:30 on Sunday September 1.

The Sun Dream Team Scout League

A reminder that we also have our own Fantasy Football Scout League with a £1000 top prize on offer to the winner.

Simply use the following PIN and password to enter your teams into the running:

League Name: Fantasy Football Scout
Password: ReWOZhn1T1
PIN: 8061654

Next week we’ll bring your our first Transfer Window article, with the first window opening on September 4.