The Sun Dream Team Monthly Game – February

Saturday sees the Sun Dream Team Transfer Window 3 slam shut – the penultimate opportunity to tweak our lineups ahead of the season climax. The early lunchtime kick-offs at both St James’ Park and Upton Park also signal the beginning of another Dream Team month and another opportunity to claim a slice of the regular £10,000 monthly prize pot.

As always, there’s a cool £5,000 available to the month’s top manager. The Transfer Window enables us to tailor squads accordingly and, if you fancy boosting your chances of prize money further, you can also register two new teams for just a fiver via the Dream Team Premium-In-Play package.

As always, the key to taking on the monthly game is to analyse not only player form but, crucially, the fixtures at play in a given month. With the February game almost upon us and the Transfer Window still in play, let’s assess the fixtures that lie ahead in the next 30 days and the players best placed to exploit them.

The Fixtures

February looks like another hectic, points-packed month. There’s no international break to halt proceedings and, while the FA Cup fifth round will interrupt normal weekend service, another midweek programme ensures we still get our fill of four Premier League matches.

European football also makes a return, with Champions League and Europa League matches crowding the schedule and boosting the fixture count to significantly guide our selection process.

The fixtures are spread accordingly in February:

• 4 Premier League fixtures
• FA Cup fifth Round
• Champions League – Round of 16 First Legs
• Europa League – Round of 32 first and second legs

Given that, here’s how the 20 Premier League clubs have their fixtures distributed across the month:

7 Fixtures – Swansea & Tottenham (4 PL, 1 FAC, 2 EL)
6 Fixtures – Man City, Chelsea, Arsenal (4 PL, 1 FAC, 1 CL)
5 Fixtures – Man United (4 PL, 1 CL)
5 Fixtures – Liverpool, Hull, Cardiff, Everton, Sunderland, Southampton (4 PL, 1 FAC)
5 Fixtures (Pending FAC Replay) – Fulham (4 PL, 1 FAC)
4 Fixtures – Newcastle, Aston Villa, Norwich, Crystal Palace, West Brom, Stoke, West Ham

As we can see above, the Europa League fixtures make a significant difference to our thinking when it comes to February recruitment. While there is just a single Champions League tie falling in the month, both Swansea and Spurs will play out both their ties against Napoli and Dnipro respectively, handing them a frantic schedule of seven fixtures.

The Champions League pack of City, Chelsea and Arsenal come next – all three also have FA Cup ties to add to their fixture count. Then comes Man United and a string of clubs who have FA Cup fifth round ties on their agendas. Arguably, there’s really little worth in considering the clubs who have just four matches in the month, given the potential disparity in points available.

The Player Picks

Tottenham, somewhat revived under the stewardship of Tim Sherwood, look to be a decent source of targets for the monthly game. They will be expected to navigate past their Europa League opponents and, while the tie with the Ukrainians will likely prompt lineup rotation, there are still some key assets that leap out for our consideration. In defence, Danny Rose has regained fitness and his starting role at left-back and at just £1.0 million, offers exceptional value for the month and beyond. Jan Vertonghen will return to contention, possibly for the weekend, and is the luxury item if you’re willing to commit to Sherwood’s rearguard.

The real bargains are found further forward, with Christian Eriksen available for £3.5 million in midfield and Emmanuel Adebayor another option at the same price up front. Both look integral to Tottenham’s attacking ambitions and should be good for at least five of their seven February fixtures.

Swansea’s options are more limited. Ashley Williams (£3.5m) was a hugely popular pre-season target but his stock has been in rapid decline since. With fellow centre-back Chico available for £1.0 less and with a goal threat, there’s an obvious alternative for those looking to recruit from the Swans back four. While Michael Laudrup’s side have strong league fixtures and earned a first shutout in 10 matches across all competitions in Tuesday’s win over Fulham, it seems unlikely that they will keep Napoli at bay over their two-legged Europa League tie. The Welsh oufit also face three away league fixtures in the month, suggesting that clean sheets may be at a premium once again.

In attacking areas, it’s really only Wilfred Bony, a bargain at £3.0m, who tempts investment. The Swansea midfield remains in flux with no standout candidate on show. Jonjo Shelvey, at £2.0, would be the only real consideration but, in a 4-3-3, he would represent a real Dream Team gamble.

The City, Chelsea and Arsenal squads are filled with talent to occupy our February selections. The regular candidates stand out again: Yaya Toure and Sergio Aguero at City, Eden Hazard at Chelsea and the Arsenal back four are all hard to ignore given their consistency and the promise of six fixtures in the month.

With three home league matches in the month, Aguero looks almost essential. We also need to consider Manuel Pellegrini’s midfield and perhaps take a punt away from Toure, with David Silva and Jesus Navas available as alternatives. Aleks Kolarov should be a major consideration for a back four spot – his attacking intent remains unabated and, with seven starts in the last nine league matches, he seems to have cemented a regular starting role.

The Chelsea back four also demands attention. Jose Mourinho has clearly tightened up of late, recording six clean sheets in the last eight matches in across all competitions to bring the likes of John Terry and Branislav Ivanovic to prominence again. Cesar Azpilicueta, at just £4.0m, also deserves a look given that he appears to have ousted Ashley Cole to almost permanent residence on the Chelsea bench. Going forward, Hazard still dominates, with Oscar’s notable cameo appearances on the scoresheet warranting the tactic of doubling on Mourinho’s midfield assets, particularly when there is no obvious option up top.

The picture at Arsenal is less clear. While the defence remains a key source of Dream Team talent, the midfield area is crowded and blighted by injury. Aaron Ramsey’s latest set-back could well keep him out of February’s action, while Jack Wilshere’s ankle continues to blight his season. That leaves Mesut Ozil and Santi Cazorla as the major considerations, with the latter the man in form. The Spaniard has struck five goals in his last five Dream Team outings and has to be a target at £6.0 million. Up front, Olivier Giroud (£4.0m) continues to tempt us – the doubts remain but four goals in his last five matches indicates he’s rediscovered some form and, barring any major signings on Friday, his starting role remains assured.

David Moyes’ armoury is suddenly bristling with a potent weapons in the form of fit-again Wayne Rooney (£7.0m) and Robin van Persie (£8.0m) and both have to be vying for spots in our two or three-man forward lines for the month ahead. Juan Mata (£7.0m) is, of course, the other major consideration in the United squad. The top scoring Dream Team asset last season, while Mata will take time to bed in, already his quality was apparent on debut against Cardiff last night and a constant flow of points looks guaranteed from here on in.

United’s back four has been shaky but Phil Jones, at £4.0m, offers the most viable option and has the benefit of a more advanced role as Moyes continues to be troubled by midfield casualties. Beyond him, Patrice Evra and Jonny Evans seem assured of starts throughout the month, while David De Gea is likely to be another ever-present.

Liverpool remain a potent force and, with five fixtures guaranteed this month, both Luis Suarez (£7.5m) and Daniel Sturridge (£5.0m) have to remain in our thinking for one or two of the precious striker slots. Brendan Rodgers’ side also offers a number of budget options with Jon Flanagan (£2.5m) in defence and Raheem Sterling (£2.5m) in midfield presenting attractive fillers to free up funds elsewhere.

Elsewhere, while Everton were spanked on Tuesday night and are currently nursing key injuries at the back and up front, their fixtures throughout the month suggest an upturn in fortunes and, in Kevin Mirallas, they have a £3.5 million midfield asset in form and potentially pushed up front in the absence of the injured Romelu Lukaku. Seamus Coleman’s situation also needs monitoring: if he returns to the fray against Stoke on Saturday, he will remain a key asset at just £3.0 million ahead of a run of fixtures that should see the Toffees return to their resolute best.

If you’re looking beyond the obvious candidates and hunting some further fillers, it’s worth noting that both Cardiff and West Ham have three home fixtures in four over the month, with the former also offering an FA Cup tie at home to holders Wigan. Targets in Ole Gunnar Solskjaer’s squad are far from obvious with squad changes afoot, although both Jordan Mutch and Craig Noone could offer midfield bargains, while Steven Caulker is a mainstay at the back.

THE SUN DREAM TEAM SCOUT LEAGUE

There’s £1,000 at stake for the winner of this season’s Fantasy Football Scout league. Geoff Pryor remains at top after last night’s action – having chalked up 1,330 points, he’s increased his advantage over second-placed Charles Mouzon (1,291 points), whilst Dan Ward completes the top three on 1,275 points. Geoff has moved up from 60th to 49th overall in the race for the top prize.