The dialogue that surrounds Fantasy Premier League is often like an episode of Pointless. Your mini-league rivals probably shout the loudest when their obscure, under-the-radar players bag points and use this to boast smugly about how great their football knowledge is in comparison to your mainstream, bandwagon-hopping scraps of information.
It is advisable to precede moments like this with a financial wager, because there’s nothing better than seeing your sage/guru/Yoda friend come to the realisation that obscurity is the most overrated element to take into account when making fantasy decisions.
Let me tell you about a handful of players you may or may not have heard about. Their names are Cristiano Ronaldo, Gareth Bale and Luis Suarez (Google them, or ask your football trivia wizard mate about them).
If you failed to own any of these of these players for significant portions in the latter stages of their Premier League careers, your fantasy football life would be have been a miserable one.
Ronaldo, Bale and Suarez (a list that is not exhaustive) were all, at varying times, ‘essential’ in fantasy football. You structured your team around players like these, knowing that, if you did not have them in your side, your hard work on unearthing lesser-known gems would all be for nothing.
The word ‘essential’ has been thrown around this week in the wake of Jamie Vardy’s latest exploits, something that would have been scarcely believable at the start of last season.
For someone to be truly essential, they need to combine both excellent form and appealing fixtures. After eight goals in six matches, Vardy’s form is unquestionable, but he has also notched more penalty box touches and more shots on target than any other player so far this season. Put simply, Vardy is more dangerous and more accurate than anybody else in the league right now.
The fixtures? Home to Crystal Palace, West Brom away, Watford at home, and Newcastle away. Jamie Vardy will score goals in some of those fixtures, barring an unexpected curtailment of minutes up front. Such a guarantee renders any player essential.
The one counter-argument is than an ‘essential’ fantasy option should always be captain material. How many of you would feel comfortable giving Vardy the armband at home to Crystal Palace this weekend if you’ve got Alexis Sanchez in your team?
Not an overwhelming number, I would suspect.
That being said, the one thing that seals the deal for Vardy’s essential status is his price tag. Even if you’ve watched from afar as the bandwagon has stormed town, his value has risen to 7.0 and is, therefore, a must-buy.
A disclaimer here: essential status is temporary. Vardy’s next four games make him essential for that period. Dimitri Payet is the only other relatively cheap player who can match him for form but doesn’t have the fixtures to boost him beyond argument.
Alexis Sanchez is in a similar boat, but he is not fully-essential due to the realistic proposition that Mesut Ozil has now become. The same goes for all members of that dazzling City midfield.
So, for now, it is Jamie Vardy you unquestionably need in your team even if it takes the pride-diminishing action of transferring him in this week. Knock yourself out with crazy hipster choices on your other 14 squad positions but, unless you’ve got that spine of consistent points-getters in situ, boasting about how you watched Virgil van Dijk before he came to the Premier League really won’t impress many.
Vardy is the second most successful player in Fantasy Premier League this season. He has scored 65 points, just one behind West Ham's Dimitri Payet. Picture by: Steve Paston / PA Wire/Press Association Images
Gameweek 10
To keep the theme going, Jamie Vardy should be the captaincy option this week at home to Crystal Palace and it essentially comes down to a battle between him and Alexis Sanchez. In an odd way, Vardy appears to be the safer option, almost guaranteed of notching a goal. Sanchez, on the other hand, is more explosive, but will he be able to explode against Everton in the days after playing Bayern Munich? That call is up to each individual. Statistically, they are the two best options this week for the armband.
Riyad Mahrez should be back in the Leicester starting team this week after an impressive showing off the bench. Several managers have been flirting with the idea of selling him in the wake of being benched twice in a row. Good luck finding better value in midfield when Ranieri has him back in the first XI.
There’s something about Norwich this week. Martin Olsson, oddly, looks a great prospect despite conceding six goals last week. That is, of course, down to the fact that he also bagged a brace of assists and he’s facing the blunt sword of West Brom.
Nathan Redmond also comes into view this week as it appears that he has finally earned Alex Neil’s trust play full games. He comes into a competitive position, with the likes of Mahrez, Payet and Mane all, arguably, looking better options, though.
On a purely short-term basis, Wilfried Bony looks the optimum striker option. He’s racked up 23 points over his three starts and will continue to bang them in until Kun returns. If you’ve got a wildcard nestled up your sleeve, get Bony in and then wildcard to get him out of there when Aguero comes back to full fitness.
At the back, Toby Alderweireld looks to be the best Spurs defensive option in a rearguard that has kept four clean sheets in their last six.
Across North London, Hector Bellerin is firmly on everybody’s radars thanks to returns at both ends of the pitch in the recent run of games. Look across to left-back for the carbon-copy, 0.1 cheaper Nacho Monreal, though. Arsenal’s full-backs are causing chaos at the moment and nicely coasting to a handful of clean sheets.
Finally, Alberto Moreno is suddenly an outstanding option. Klopp appears to be keeping things nice and tight at the back, he doesn’t have a backup to Moreno due to Joe Gomez’s injury and the Spaniard has also been handed dead-ball duties. He’s a steal.
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