Bizarrely, it has taken till the end of February, but this gameweeek 28, for the first time this season, it finally happened; Steven Gerrard, Cesc Fabregas and Frank Lampard all found the net in the same weekend.
At the start of the season with fantasy football managers everywhere mourning the loss of the points-machine that was Cristiano Ronaldo, the majority of us had our hopes resting on Stevie G, Lamps and Cesc as the new “holy trinity” to drive our teams on.
However, as this season has unwound, the outstanding form of the likes of Wayne Rooney and Didier Drogba, coupled with Liverpool’s stuttering form, has seen many manager’s priorities shift elsewhere. It would, indeed, be a rarity for any team to have all three right now.
With Gameweek 29 seeing many squads considering major restructuring due to the upcoming FA Cup games and our own Fantasy Football Scout Cup, and with the season reaching the “business end” when the big performers tend to step up to the plate, is it worth bringing in missing members of the trio to our squads? Let’s take a look at how they all performed this weekend…
Gerrard
The Liverpool captain has been arguably the biggest FPL disappointment this season; despite only missing five league games, Gerrard has continually failed to produce the goods, and yesterday’s goal was just his second in the league since the 9th November.
However, the return to first-team action of Fernando Torres makes Gerrard, and Liverpool, an altogether more dangerous opponent. Yesterday’s match with Blackburn was a hard-fought battle, and mainly due to Torres’ injuries, was only the third league match they have both found the net together this season.
As this chalkboard shows, Gerrard mainly stayed in the middle third of the pitch (36 passes and 2 shots at goal), but nevertheless made enough of a contribution to help edge the game his team’s way. With Rafa Benitez showing caution with Torres’ fitness, an injury-free run for the striker from now till the end of the season will only be beneficial to his captain, too.
With his next five fixtures being: wig, POR, mun, SUN, bir, Gerrard could well start to rack up the points in the run-in and help Liverpool achieve their manager‘s prmoise of fourth place; he is currently on 108 points, half of last year’s total.
Easily the best differential of the three, Gerrard, at £12.4m, is owned by just 16.9% of FPL managers.
Fabregas
From the first game of the season, Cesc laid down the gauntlet; bagging 2 goals and 2 assists in a 6-1 away mauling of Everton, and, apart from a quiet last month, has not stopped amassing the points.
Saturday was an emphatic return to form as Arsenal admirably put aside the shock of Aaron Ramsay’s injury to win at Stoke in a show of considerable resilience. Cesc picked up two assists and 3 Bonus Points in addition to finding the net, meaning Arsenal are firmly on the tails of Chelsea and Man Utd in a chase for the title. Given their fixtures, the Gunners could easily be perceived as favourites.
Interestingly, Fabregas now also seems to be penalty taker in the absence of Robin van Persie, taking the spot kick that gave his side the lead despite Eduardo being on the pitch. As this chalkboard shows, he bossed the game at the weekend (71 passes and 5 shots at goal), playing almost entirely in the Stoke half, as Arsenal gained revenge for their recent FA Cup dismissal at the same venue.
Arsenal’s next five fixtures read: BUR, hul, WHM, bir, WLV, a sequence of games in which they could easily run riot. Cesc is already on 196 FPL points, only 9 short of his season-best 205, a figure he will easily surpass given his outstanding form.
Having risen from £10.5m to £12.1m, Fabregas is currently owned by 39.9% of FPL owners.
Lampard
To an extent, the exploits of Didier Drogba this season have kept him out of the limelight, but on the back of his brace in the home defeat to Man City, Lampard has now already equalled last season’s number of league goals and assists. Five more league goals from Frank, and he’ll break his best ever total of sixteen.
Whilst Chelsea performed poorly at the weekend, Lampard still managed to pick up thirteen points, with a FPL Bonus Point added for his goal double. Many a time, it seems, his goals from penalties have swayed the Bonus Point judges to award him extra, when perhaps his performances have not merited such reward.
This chalkboard shows his performance in the defeat; for as much as Lampard’s passing was mainly in the middle third of the pitch, the timing of his runs forward meant he was a continual threat to the Man City goal (44 passes and 7 shots at goal).
Chelsea’s participation in the FA Cup means they have no GW29, but if they manage to beat Stoke at the first attempt, the Blues will then have a double in GW31, meaning their next five fixtures will read: (blank), WHM, bla & por, AVL, mun.
At £13.0m, Lampard is the priciest player in FPL and has 22.8% of owners, but as the weekend proved, he is still worth having if budgets can accommodate him.