While Luis Suarez failed to match the performance and points tally of his devastating midweek showing, the Uruguayan did more than enough to justify the Fantasy armband as his dragged Liverpool to another four goals and three points at Anfield. Elsewhere, Norwich City’s rollercoaster season continued, with a Dutch raider coming to the fore to emerge as the latest midfield differential to consider.
The Game Changer
He’s making it look easy. Just as Robin van Persie threatened to kill off the art of the Fantasy Football captaincy in previous seasons, Luis Suarez is doing all he can to remove the skill and insight required to make that crucial decision each week.
Quite frankly, it’s a brave Fantasy manager that overlooks Suarez. Even on an off-day, his threat to the opposition is so substantial, Suarez almost accumulates points almost through force of will. Today, against West Ham, the Liverpool striker produced a far from vintage display – missing opportunities and being phased out of the match by some disciplined early defending from the visitors.
However, a fortuitous own goal, from which Suarez earned one of two assists, handed Liverpool their opener and that paved the way for another comfortable Anfield victory and another double figure Fantasy Premier League (FPL) points haul for Suarez.
While Aguero, the nearest rival to Suarez’s claim for the armband, notched once again, Suarez is set to outscore him with a sixth double figure points tally in ten league starts. Fourteen league goals and seven assists, over those matches underlines the fact that Suarez is as near to an essential Fantasy asset as any player is likely to become this season.
The Underused
Leroy Fer’s third league goal in five starts must surely bring him to the attention of the Fantasy masses. While we’ve long been acquainted with the erratic returns of team-mate Robert Snodgrass and the budget potential of the tricky Nathan Redmond, it’s Fer who appears to carry the greatest potential for points amongst Chris Hughton’s inconsistent charges.
Owned by less than 1% of FPL managers, the Dutchman’s raids from midfield have been a recent feature of the Canaries play – a benefit of a formation change from Hughton that has fielded Bradley Johnson and Jonny Howson in central midfield, allowing Fer the freedom to support the lone striker. That’s brought three goals for and, even with a price tag of 5.8 in the FPL, it’s surely time to consider Fer as a credible short-term option as Norwich embark on a run of three home fixtures in four: Swansea, Fulham and a beleaguered United due at Carrow Road before the turn of the year.
André Schürrle was the day’s other big points scorer, although his brace at Stoke was not enough to prevent Jose Mourinho’s side slipping to a damaging 3-2 setback. At just 7.1 in the FPL, we’ve long looked upon the German as a potential differential who could offer value as the season progresses. While today’s haul was his biggest of the season, it was also his first league start in six as Mourinho’s midfield continues to tease and toy with Fantasy managers attempting to identify alternatives to the established targets – Oscar and Eden Hazard. In truth, it seems unlikely that we will ever get assurance of a third candidate, even Frank Lampard was rested back to the bench today to frustrate his recent investors.
