The Fantasy Football Watch List: Kurt Zouma, Ruben Dias, Rodrigo
Chelsea defender Kurt Zouma, Manchester City's Ruben Dias, Leeds United forward Rodrigo, Southampton captain James Ward-Prowse and Burnley striker Ashley Barnes all make the list
Thursday 10 December 2020 18:39, UK
Which players are on this week's Fantasy Football watch list? Will you bring any of them into your starting XI for the weekend?
There are six, SIX, days to navigate through in what is the most wonderful time of the year… in Sky Sports Fantasy Football. It is of course the first double gameweek of the season and a chance to optimise your points via all-important captaincy choices.
Above all, the month of December is full of fixtures that could be the difference between being at the top or the bottom of the ladder.
With that in mind, it may be worth monitoring some of the following players and, perhaps, getting them into your starting XI sooner rather than later...
Kurt Zouma - £7.8m
I never thought I would be saying this, but I think I may have given Kurt Zouma a rough time. Defensively I think you can get at him, but he is a Sky Sports Fantasy Football dream right now. Selected by 18.44 per cent, the Frenchman finds himself in 46.8 per cent of the top 1,000 teams, and with good reason.
Zouma has racked up 78 of his 88 points in his last eight Premier League matches for Chelsea, averaging just under 10 per game in that period. He has contributed to five clean sheets, while scoring four, yes, four goals already this season. He tops the Sky Sports Fantasy Football defender charts.
Staggeringly, Zouma tops the value-for-money charts in Sky Sports Fantasy Football, bringing in 11.28 points per £m so far this term. It amplifies how valuable the central defender could be as an asset, but also how much of a bargain he could be for the Christmas period, allowing you to reinvest elsewhere. Could Christmas come early?
James Ward-Prowse - £8m
Like Santa, another person who keeps delivering is James Ward-Prowse, who is fourth in the midfield list and sitting pretty on 72 points. Over 10 per cent of Sky Sports Fantasy Football managers brought the Englishman into their side last weekend ahead of Southampton's trip to Brighton on Monday Night Football.
They will not have been disappointed as his whipped ball for Jannik Vestergaard's header handed teams 10 points if they captained him. It is his keen eye from set-pieces that has attracted Sky Sports Fantasy Football owners, including 42.9 per cent of the top 1,000, with Ward-Prowse netting four goals and assisting three during 2020/21.
Southampton welcome Sheffield United, before facing Fulham and West Ham after tough clashes with Arsenal and Manchester City. None of these matches are ones in which you would expect the midfielder to blank, while Southampton are in a rich vein of form currently, capable of beating any team. Perhaps the most desirable fact about Ward-Prowse is that he is only £8m, so will you bring him into your side?
Ruben Dias - £9.1m
For this price, you may not get your hands on a better asset than Ruben Dias. The new Manchester City recruit from Benfica has been a firm favourite in the game, picking up 53 Sky Sports Fantasy Football points from his last seven matches.
Of those seven games, he has attained passing bonus points in, you guessed it, all of them (5 T2, 2 T1). The 'law of averages' has never been clearer with the nonchalant centre back who is now owned by 28 per cent of the top 1,000 Sky Sports Fantasy Football managers.
An eagerly-anticipated Manchester derby awaits the Portuguese international on Saturday, his first in a City shirt, but following this he will face West Brom, Southampton and Newcastle, a prime opportunity to extend his total and reward Sky Sports Fantasy Football players who have recruited his services.
Rodrigo - £8.8m
Rodrigo has scored and assisted from his three starts for Leeds this season, although he has come off the bench in three successive matches after recovering from coronavirus. He has not had much time to put his stamp on the game in the latter two, though he hit the post against Arsenal and should really have got on the scoresheet from his three efforts at goal.
The Spanish international is highly-priced in comparison to his team-mate Patrick Bamford, but Marcelo Bielsa, much like the opposite of 'Pep Roulette', has named his starting line-up for Friday's clash with West Ham, in which Rodrigo was named.
It is the way in which he gets in between the lines and links up with Bamford that excites me and a lot of Leeds fans, and Declan Rice and Tomasz Soucek could have a torrid time if he is on song. Only 1.11 per cent of managers are on board, with Leeds facing Newcastle, Manchester United, Burnley and West Brom thereafter. Could he be a shrewd differential option?
Ashley Barnes - £8.4m
You are normally told to start as you mean to go on, but not in this case. Ashley Barnes has only scored more than two points on one occasion this season. He has been injured in spells, but started against Manchester City and came on from the bench against Everton, so will he be in line to start at Arsenal?
Sean Dyche's first cash signing was Ashley Barnes, and how it paid off for both parties. His partnership with Chris Wood has been pivotal, and the fact that a mere 0.08 per cent of managers have him in their side amplifies the need for a potential differential to have in your starting XI.
Aston Villa, Wolves, Leeds and Sheffield United are to come for Burnley, who have been much improved either side of the Manchester City drubbing. If Barnes is to return to the side once more, could he really kick on and propel Burnley out of the relegation zone?
Have your say and make your decisions before the deadline on Friday 8pm, or alternatively Saturday 12:30pm, good luck!
