When proceedings reach this stage in the season, the point when gongs and awards are being buffed up and handed out, most would have have predicted that the name of Steven Gerrard would be amongst the front-runners to receive one. That’s not going to be the case.

By his high standards, the Liverpool skipper has had a lacklustre season. Fantasy returns of seven goals and six assists tell the tale; just eleven Fantasy Premier League bonus points compound it further. He has undoubtedly disappointed and failed to live up to his sizeable price tag – in many ways epitomising Liverpool’s season.

Last weekend’s goal at Birmingham did at least issue us a reminder as to his qualities. Gerrard swivelled and stroked home, the opening goal in Saturday’s encounter and was his side’s outstanding performer – the best of a bad bunch in another tepid Liverpool attacking display.

Gerrard now takes that performance into two consecutive Anfield encounters with Fulham and West Ham – sides that struggle away from home and who won’t be encouraged by statistics that show nine goals in their last three Anfield league matches for Liverpool.

Gerrard scored just one goal in those games against Blackburn, Portsmouth and Sunderland. That’s a stat that will perhaps worry would-be investors but may have some pondering the fact that Gerrard is surely due to wake from his slumber and contribute significantly at some point…

Maybe that’s a naive expectation. So far this season he has recorded double figure returns in the Fantasy Premier League just twice – against Stoke and Wolves – both at Anfield. A double point display in one or both of the next two games would provide a huge differential at a key stage in the fantasy season; that potential is enough to give him a boost high in my Watchlist rankings (see your right-hand column) and warrant a closer at look at just why Gerrard has struggled to reproduce the returns of season’s past.

Gerrard’s influence depends so much on Rafa’s team selection with regards to his starting position. Should Benitez go with a Mascherano/Lucas or Mascherano/Aqualani combination in front of the back four, then Gerrard should be pitched in support of Torres with Kuyt deployed wide right. With Rodriguez, Babel and Benayoun available in the wide roles however, Rafa’s looks set to prefer Kuyt in a central support role for Torres, leaving Gerrard deeper, alongside an anchoring midfield player. Unfortunately for us Fantasy Managers, Rafa has options, as the Liverpool boss has recently acknowledged…

“It has been Lucas-Mascherano, Lucas-Aquilani, Lucas-Gerrard, Mascherano-Aquilani – we can mix and match…It gives us more options.”

We’ve seen the importance of Gerrard’s position on his attacking potential in Liverpool’s last two home league matches. In the 3-0 win over Sunderland Rafa kept Gerrard shackled alongside Mascherano. The heat map below shows the position of Gerrard’s touches in that game, (Liverpool are playing left to right) and highlights that Gerrard produced the majority of his touches in a central midfield area, well away from the Sunderland box.

Contrast this to a second heat map below. This one was taken from the previous home game against Portsmouth which Liverpool won 4-1. Gerrard started this match in the Dirk Kuyt role with the Dutchman left out of the starting eleven and Aquilani and Mascherano starters in central midfield. That pairing in front of the Liverpool back defence afforded Gerrard much more freedom to get forward and threaten the Portsmouth box. Gerrard had four efforts on goal in this game compared to just a couple in the Sunderland win.

Liverpool face Benfica in the Europa League on Thursday, going into the Anfield encounter with a 2-1 lead. Gerrard played in front of Lucas and Mascherano in the first leg with Kuyt wide right and that could well be the combination that Benitez opts for again. It’s the Fulham team selection on Sunday and the lineup against West Ham a week later, that’s crucial to Fantasy Managers though. Should Gerrard be pitched into his role behind Torres then he would be handed a great platform with which to improve on his disappointing returns to this point. If Rafa shackles him again, then his owners may need to turn Gerrard’s abilities from set-plays and penalties to reward their investment.

It feels uncomfortable to risk your fantasy fortunes of the whims of Rafa Benitez, particularly after his bewildering decision to remove Fernando Torres when his side were in search of a winner at St Andrews on Saturday. Even so, with two consecutive Anfield encounters and at a stage in the season where differential gambles could make or break a mini-league campaign, Gerrard is at least a thoroughbred who has the potential to offer “explosive” returns. Thursday may give us another indication as to just how incendiary Gerard is feeling.