Sky Sports Fantasy Football stat file: Alisson and Eden Hazard top the charts

Heading into game week 31, we take the time to brush up on the stats from Sky Sports Fantasy Football so far this term.

Here, we take a look at the top five performers in each position week by week - defenders and goalkeepers are arguably as important as your attacking players, and can earn valuable points from clean sheets and bonuses for passing and tackling, not to mention saves in the goalkeeping department.

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Virgil van Dijk epitomises the argument for defenders being as important as attackers, so much so that he is the highest points scorer in Fantasy Football this campaign, with 236 so far. This comes from 16 clean sheets, three goals and four Sky Sports Man of the Match awards.

The top five goalkeepers:

1. Alisson (Liverpool): £7.3m - 183 points
2. Ederson Moraes (Manchester City): £7.9m - 156 points
3. Hugo Lloris (Tottenham): £7.5m - 136 points
4. Kepa Arrizabalaga (Chelsea): £7.6m - 120 points
5. Jordan Pickford (Everton): £7.2m - 118 points

The top five defenders:

1. Virgil van Dijk (Liverpool): £9.9m - 236 points
2. Andrew Robertson (Liverpool): £9m - 193 points
3. Aymeric Laporte (Manchester City): £8.8m - 189 points
4. David Luiz (Chelsea): £8.8m - 174 points
5. Cesar Azpilicueta (Chelsea): £10.3m - 173 points

The attacking players do provide more excitement when selecting your Fantasy Football XI, not to mention the in-play factors when checking the scores to see if your players have notched or provided an assist.

It is coming into the latter stages of the season, so it is important to try and find that cutting edge over your mini-league rivals, to either advance up the leaderboard or cement your grip on the league title. Check out the relative standings in each of the midfielders and forwards section to see if any of your mainstays have made the cut:

The top five midfielders:

1. Eden Hazard (Chelsea): £11.8m - 197 points
2. Paul Pogba (Manchester United): £10.6m - 188 points
3. Raheem Sterling (Manchester City): £11.5m - 171 points
4. Sadio Mane (Liverpool): £11m - 155 points
5. Gylfi Sigurdsson (Everton): £9.1m - 149 points

Paul Pogba has cut the deficit between him and Eden Hazard to just eight points due to his upturn in form under Ole Gunnar Solskjaer. In the 12 Premier League games he has been in charge of, Pogba has directly contributed to 14 goals, with his eight strikes and six assists, boasting an impressive 122 of his 188 Fantasy Football points in this period, proving his worth to Manchester United and the mere 10.6 per cent of managers who have selected him in their side.

The top five strikers:

1. Mohamed Salah (Liverpool): £12.9m - 191 points
2. Sergio Aguero (Manchester City): £12.8m - 177 points
3. Raul Jimenez (Wolves): £7.9m - 154 points
4. Harry Kane (Tottenham): £13m - 154 points
5. Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang (Arsenal): £12.5m - 150 points

Despite Aguero currently leading the race for the Premier League Golden Boot, Mohamed Salah has had a hand in more goals for Liverpool (25 - 17 goals, eight assists), which puts him 14 points ahead of the Argentine.

Raul Jimenez is continuing his fine form for Wolves and finds himself making up third spot. His 11 goals and eight assists have made Jimenez great value-for-money for Fantasy Football players, He is earning 19.49 points per million, which is more than any other striker in Fantasy Football.