Daniel Sturridge continues to prosper in spite of Chelsea’s DW Stadium stumble. Stoke’s record-breaking run brings their assets to the fore, while injuries are already beginning to bite for certain key Fantasy performers, making strong benches a must over the festive period.
The Player
While other captain candidates faltered, Chelsea’s Daniel Sturridge returned on his recent form with another superb strike in Chelsea’s stalemate with Wigan. Released by a sublime Ashley Cole pass, Sturridge controlled and fired home in two touches to hand Chelsea a lead they relinquished thanks to woeful hesitancy from Petr Cech. Fantasy managers won’t care too much about that, however, it’s Sturridge’s form that is of interest.
Four goals in five games for the England U21 has seen him earn extra recognition from Fantasy managers and, with a Fantasy Premier League (FPL) price of 7.1 and rising, that seems certain to continue. Chelsea travel to White Hart Lane on Thursday night with Sturridge primed to test Benoit Assou-Ekotto and continue his goal streak.
Regardless of his fortunes in that one, with his starting role surely assured, Sturridge’s potential for future returns looks strong. Chelsea’s fixtures run into a spell of three home games in four from gameweek 18, with Fulham, Villa and Sunderland all at the Bridge. The Sturridge stock goes on rising.
The Team
Stoke’s 2-1 victory at Molineux was their fourth straight league win, lifting them to the heights of eighth place. The run has seen several of Tony Pulis’ players edge their way onto our radars.
Having notched six league goals last season, Robert Huth’s deflected free-kick against Wolves offered a reminder of his goal-getting abilities. While Kevin Doyle’s deflection reduced Huth’s contribution to an assist on Saturday, his substantial threat at set-plays had already seen him score a vital winner against Everton back in gameweek 14. Huth is clearly in favour once again and back as a key figure in the Stoke unit.
The same can be said for Matt Ehterington, who earned the assist for Peter Crouch’s winner – arriving off the back of his two goals in the win over Spurs in gameweek 15. The winger has earned back-to-back bonus point maximums as a result. Crouch himself has also come to the fore, with two goals and an assist, coupled with five bonus points, arriving in Stoke’s four-match streak.
All three must now be considerations, alongside this season’s big Fantasy success story – Jon Walters. In comparison, Walters has taken a back seat of late, earning just a couple of assists in Stoke’s winning run.
With games against Villa, Wigan and Blackburn to come in consecutive gameweeks, once the trip to City is disposed of, Stoke’s assets look well worthy of further consideration.
The Talking Point
Unexpected injuries to a couple of prime Fantasy assets tested the strength of many a manager’s bench over the weekend. Both Gareth Bale and Ryan Taylor picked up knocks in training last Friday but neither Harry Redknapp or Alan Pardew mentioned these respective this in the pre-weekend press conferences.
With the games coming thick and fast, recovery time is at a minimum and managers are rightly reluctant to take risks with their players’ fitness. Only this afternoon we heard the news that Jamie O’Hara is out of Wolves’ game with Norwich tomorrow night, meaning he has missed home clashes with both Stoke and the Canaries- both were potentially profitable encounters for his Fantasy owners.
Ryan Taylor’s 35% Fantasy owners will be anxiously awaiting any update tomorrow – with Newcastle not playing until Wednesday, though, and Gameweek 17’s deadline at 7.30 tomorrow evening, a strong back-up choice looks essential if he misses out again. Davide Santon impressed at left-back in Taylor’s absence, picking up the 3 bonus points against Swansea and Alan Pardew knows he has an able replacement at hand if he chooses not to risk Taylor.
Bale’s 33% owners will be hoping his omission from yesterday’s win over Sunderland was merely an exercise in caution, with a huge match against Chelsea on the horizon this Thursday evening. The Welshman had played every minute of Tottenham’s season up until the game against the Black Cats, but it’s clear they lacked a cutting edge in his absence. Aaron Lennon’s hamstring injury merely adds to Redknapp’s woes and may even continue to have a knock-on effect on Rafael Van der Vaart, with the Dutchman shifted out wide right upon his withdrawal.
