The Knee Jerk – Sunday

A goalscoring legend rolls back the years to put in a match winning shift that pockets him a double figure Fantasy haul. Elsewhere, West Ham’s resilience is on show to tempt our belated investment, while down at the Lane, Tottenham’s midfield personnel remain in flux as another popular target finds himself on the timber.

The Game Changer

In a season seemingly crowded by prolific, stand-out options in attack, it’s perhaps ironic that Fernando Torres should, at last, show a glimmer of former glories.

Today’s goal and assist returns in the dramatic win over City saw Torres deliver on the promise he had previously shown in recent matches. More significantly, his performance seemed to demonstrate a new hunger and confidence coursing through his veins as, time and time again, he took it upon himself to stretch the City backline with positive movement and surges between defenders. All this following a glaring miss that typified his previous displays at the Bridge.

It would be premature and foolish to announce that Torres is back but, having impressed in matches at Spurs and in the Champions League, the former Liverpool striker is beginning to chain together convincing performances. Today he capped it with Fantasy returns – a double figure haul no less.

As Chelsea’s expensive midfield options – Oscar and Eden Hazard – drew a blank, Torres is perhaps unlucky to find our forward lines so fully booked by other in-from options. It seems unlikely that Fantasy attention will come his way in the current landscape, but there’s little doubt that Torres’ form at least warrants our attention and recognition.

The Underused

Despite earning a fifth clean sheet of the season at the Liberty stadium today, West Ham’s defence remains largely ignored by Fantasy managers.

With under 6% ownership, keeper Jussi Jääskeläinen is the most popular member of Sam Allardyce’s resolute rearguard. While his 5.5 Fantasy Premier League (FPL) price tag is perhaps an obstacle given the value offered by Southampton’s Artur Boruc, in front of him we have a cast to choose from across the price brackets.

Winston Reid is perhaps the jewel in the crown – a dominant centre-back of some standing, he already has a league goal to his name and top scores for Bonus Point System (BPS) points with 52. Below him, we find James Tomkins, a relatively new option having earned a recall in place of former favourte James Collins. Priced at 4.7, Tomkins arguably has a greater goal threat than Reid and is just as capable of earning bonus points given his aerial presence.

At the lower end of the scale, Razvan Rat now looks assured of starts as Joey O’Brien and Guy Demel battle for the right-back role. The Romanian is installed on the left and offers a route to Big Sam’s defence for just 4.5. He’s now started the last five and looks set to earn significant interest following today’s returns given the Hammers forthcoming schedule.

The Selection Poser

The Spurs midfield continues to cause concern for Fantasy managers, with Andre Villas-Boas today introducing Aaron Lennon into the mix. Having dropped Christian Eriksen to the bench at Villa last weekend, today it was the turn of Gylfi Sigurdsson to make way as Lennon took up the left flank role.

With Eriksen benched again, only seeing action with thirty minutes remaining, it’s rapidly becoming clear that our options in Tottenham’s engine room are limited to Paulinho and the emerging Andros Townsend. Both saw 90 minutes in the win over the Tigers, although Townsend was fortunate to end the match having been knocked unconscious after falling into the White Hart Lane crowd.

With Eriksen’s ownership plummeting following his recent relegation, it now looks set to be Sigurdsson’s turn to suffer losses – the Icelandic international is owned by almost 10% of FPL managers, having enjoyed a spurt of investment following a 16-point haul in Gameweek 4.