Friday, November 25, 2011

Fantasy Football bosses continue to ditch Wayne Rooney in favour of Robin van Persie













Rooney's goalless run was extended to six games last weekend as he failed to net in Manchester United's 1-0 win at Swansea.

Rooney remains the game's most popular player with a place in 41% of teams, but was the most transferred out player this week following his drought.

Fantasy managers seem unconvinced that Rooney can end his wretched run when Newcastle visit, but the England striker boasts an impressive record against the Magpies, netting nine times in 12 Premier League clashes.

However, the overriding stat resounding around the Premier League surrounds Van Persie's remarkable scoring rate, having netted 10 times in his last five league games.

The Dutchman added to that run with a brace in the Champions League midweek, unsurprisingly prompting Fantasy bosses to make him the most transferred in player for a fourth successive week.

The Arsenal captain's recent popularity has seen him finally break in to the game's top 10 most popular players, but still remains some distance behind the top three; Rooney, Luis Suarez and Joe Hart.

While Rooney's poor form has been stated above, it is also worth mentioning Suarez is without a goal in five while Hart has conceded successively in the same amount of game.

The latter two go head-to-head in Sunday's headline game, making both seem somewhat unappealing to sign up.

City's trip to Anfield is not their only tricky upcoming fixture with clashes with Chelsea and Arsenal following the slightly less concerning visit of Norwich.

But that is unlikely to deter the 30% and 28% of bosses who have City's next most popular players Sergio Aguero and David Silva on board, with the duo racking up 95 and 78 points respectively so far.

Their contributions have seen the league leaders score two goals or more in each of their Premier League games this season, so it seems wise to use up your quota of City players in the attacking department.

Looking to the bankers for the weekend and Chelsea are the shortest price in Sky Bet's markets to triumph over Wolves.

However, as we've covered in previous previews, it is a tough task picking out a consistent performer from the Blues line-up with Andre Villas-Boas struggling to find a winning formula.

Daniel Sturridge was the man who netted in their 2-1 and is their second top scorer with five league goals, but Frank Lampard looks the man to back with one goal more to his name.

But the Blues backline, which has conceded as many goals at home as basement side Wigan, seems worth staying clear of with a trip to Newcastle and a visit from Manchester City to follow.

So with Rooney and Suarez out of form, City facing a tough trip to Liverpool and Chelsea's frontline inconsistent at best, who should we be turning to lead the line?

Well, Van Persie should certainly be occupying a spot with the Gunners captain the favourite to top score in Sky Bet's Fantasy Specials when Fulham visit, but it might be looking across north London for a suitable strike partner.

Emmanuel Adebayor helped himself to a brace on Monday night against Aston Villa while Rafael van der Vaart, who is registered as a midfielder but plays just off the Togo striker, scored six goals in five games before failing to net in Spurs' last two.

Both look good to back with Harry Redknapp's side in free-scoring form, bagging two or more in each game of their nine-match unbeaten run.

Gareth Bale has actually been their most impressive performer of late with three goals and three assists in three games - but he's a winger so let's not get distracted.

Jonathan Walters is a relatively cheap option at £5.8m having scored in his last game from Stoke on the back of opening his account for Republic of Ireland.

He also boasts a three-out-of-three record from to spot for the Potters ahead of the visit of Blackburn, who have conceded seven goals in their last three games.

Another cheap option is Scott Sinclair, who has a point to prove following his embarrassing miss against United last week when winless of the road Aston Villa visit

Alex McLeish's men have also conceded two or more goals in each of their last five games making their backline well worth avoiding.

On the subject of backlines, United's looks best to back following three successive 1-0 wins, with Phil Jones comfortably the cheapest of their regular starters at £5.7m.

Newcastle also have a wretched record at Old Trafford, scoring just once in their last five visits.



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