Our World Cup of FPL tournament asks you, the Fantasy Football Scout readers, to vote for the greatest Fantasy Premier League asset of all time.
We first invited you to submit your long-list nominations before sorting the 32 most popular players into eight groups of four.
Frank Lampard, Robin van Persie, Thierry Henry and Gareth Bale have already progressed from Groups A and B, with Steven Gerrard among those who have fallen by the wayside.
Voting for Group C and Group D has been taking place over the last couple of days and we can now reveal the next quartet of players who have made it through to the knockout stages.
GROUP C – FINAL STANDINGS
- Harry Kane | 42.5%
- Didier Drogba | 35.0%
Gylfi Sigurdsson| 12.8%Romelu Lukaku| 9.7%
Harry Kane and Didier Drogba both eased their way into the last 16 as Gylfi Sigurdsson and Romelu Lukaku fell at the first hurdle.
Kane and Drogba’s progression was in little doubt from early on in our poll and the only question was over who would top the group, with the former Chelsea striker initially edging ahead of Kane in the public vote.
The Tottenham Hotspur forward subsequently pulled in front of Drogba, however, finishing comfortably clear of the Ivorian.
Sigurdsson’s exploits at Swansea City, in which he scored 34 goals and registered 32 assists across two stints in South Wales, were enough to see him finish third in our Group C poll, although decidedly mixed spells at Tottenham Hotspur and Everton won’t have done him any favours.
Similarly, Lukaku’s more recent performances at Manchester United perhaps tainted his legacy.
It’s easy to forget that the Belgian hit double figures for Premier League goals every season from 2012/13 to 2018/19, recording at least 23 FPL attacking returns in five of those campaigns.
Drogba and Kane’s FPL royalty statuses meant that our two eliminated assets were always likely to be up against it, though, and there will be few eyebrows raised by the outcome of this particular vote.
GROUP D – FINAL STANDINGS
- Cristiano Ronaldo | 42.9%
- Trent Alexander-Arnold | 27.0%
Eden Hazard| 26.5%Andrew Robertson| 3.6%
While Group C had something of a formality feel about it, Group D looked tougher to call.
And so it transpired, with Trent Alexander-Arnold and Eden Hazard neck and neck for the second qualification spot from the moment our poll launched.
At one stage the pair were exactly level, with each having garnered a 26.5% share of the vote.
Alexander-Arnold ultimately pipped the Belgium international to second place, finishing just half a percentage point clear of Hazard in what was the narrowest margin of success in our tournament so far.
The Liverpool right-back’s career is still relatively embryonic but a barnstorming last two seasons, in which he has (so far) recorded 30 attacking returns and 27 clean sheets, were enough to see him through to the round of 16.
Hazard had delivered the goods over a longer period than Alexander-Arnold, scoring over 200 FPL points on four occasions, but the former Chelsea winger’s “troll” tag, undeserved or otherwise, may have been a damaging factor in our poll.
While one Liverpool full-back progressed to the knockout rounds, another bowed out.
Andrew Robertson was never in the race in this tricky-looking group, finishing bottom on 3.5% of the vote – only Patrice Evra has fared worse in this series to date.
Perhaps being drawn in the same group as Alexander-Arnold was to his disadvantage, given that the England right-back has had a more productive season and is by some distance the more popular FPL asset of the pair at present.
Cristiano Ronaldo breezed through to the next stage, despite not having graced the Premier League in over a decade.
His final three seasons at Manchester United were the most fondly remembered, with his 31-goal campaign in 2007/08 the pinnacle of his FPL career.
WHAT’S UP NEXT?
A rundown of Groups E and F will be launched soon so keep an eye out for the next articles in this series over the coming days.
4 years, 23 days ago
Yay