When picking your team for week six of the Soccerlens Fantasy Football Game, then anyone planning to win the weekly prize money (available to the top three teams in each 11 team mini-league) should have only one question: Who’s hot? If you have a second question, it should be: Who’s not? Who’s likely to put points on the board for you, and who would be a waste of a spot in your starting XI? Read on to find out.
Hot:
Dimitar Berbatov – Mancheter United’s Bulgarian striker is on a roll. It’s not just last week’s hat-trick vs Liverpool. Berbatov has also managed to contribute either a goal or an assist in every game he’s played this season. Manchester United have another north-west derby this Sunday when they face Bolton at the Reebok. I’d back Berba to strike again.
Not:
Fernando Torres – Maybe it’s the post World Cup hangover, maybe it’s the slow recovery from injury, maybe it’s all the boardroom business at Liverpool. So far it’s just not happening for Fernando Torres. One goal and one assist in five appearances leaves El Nino averaging just three points per game. Torres will turn it around eventually, but until that happens don’t let him take up any space in your fantasy football team.
Hot:
Florent Malouda – Pretty much every Chelsea player is hot at this point. Six of them made our list of 10 best performing fantasy football players earlier this week. Four of those six were defensive players whose points tallies were collectively benefiting from Chelsea’s succession of clean sheets against easy opposition. But Chelsea face Manchester City away this weekend, so any Blue value probably lies further forward. Malouda has six goals from his first five games, which is really only four games because he played only six minutes against West Ham. That’s an incredible return from a midfielder, including two vs. Blackpool last week.
Not:
Lee Cattermole – Malouda and Cattermole highlight one of the golden rules of fantasy football: Avoid defensive midfielders at all costs. Both players are correctly listed as midfielders, but Malouda gets forward and registers four points for every Chelsea goal, while Sunderland captain Cattermole hangs back and registers zero points for every tough tackle. Actually he gets one solitary point for every Sunderland clean sheet, but there’s no value in that. Worse, it’s minus three points for every red card received, and Cattermole has seen red twice already. He’s available for selection again this weekend, and Steve Bruce could very well use him. You should avoid at all costs.
Hot:
Alan Hutton – No fantasy football defender is hotter than Hutton right now. He’s only played just over 45 minutes for Spurs, but in that time he registered nine points (goal, assist, appearance). Chelsea defenders might be more consistent, but Hutton was magnficent last week against Wolves, and Harry Redknapp will surely give his Scottish right back the chance to continue that form against West Ham.
Not:
Matt Upson – Speaking of West Ham… you might think highly of Matty Upson, England international center back that he is. But Upson has started in every single West Ham games this season, and so far his scores have been 0, 0, -1, 0, and 2. West Ham are at home to Tottenham this weekend, and that’s no reason to expect a clean sheet.
So that’s six players. Three you should pick, and three you certainly shouldn’t. The rest you’ll have to work our for yourself. Pick your Soccerlens Fantasy Football team and play at the Silver level to compete for $40 in prize money, Gold for $80 in prize money and Platinum for $200 in prize money.
Add Sportslens to your Google News Feed!
