Arsenology: Three Gunners Wide
|For most, Fantasy Football is a study in the methods used to reap the biggest points return for ample use of funds allotted. Supporting a particular club sees a conflict of interest arise as most fans subconsciously pick players from their clubs as the building blocks of their fantasy squad. But some fans must learn to remove themselves form such methods of team selection as hoards of Wolves, West Ham and Liverpool fans long to pick players from their respective clubs. But the fact that their sides are absolute shite this season make doing so rather difficult and, mellow-dramatically, heartbreaking.
Here at The Gaffer’s Corner, we revel in exercises like these. As for Gooner Talk, supporting Arsenal makes including some Gunners in your fantasy squad less of a challenge. Rules limit the selection to just three players from each club. But picking the best three can often be troublesome, while maximising the value for money can be a headache in itself.
To begin we’ll start by evaluating the productivity of each position. We needn’t go far into looking at how risky selecting one of Arsenal’s goalkeepers can be at this point. Manuel Almunia has rightfully been rubbished, but Fabianski is making a case for Arsene Wenger not buying another ‘keeper in January. His performances of late have been mildly impressive, but his decision-making isn’t the best as reward seems to often outweigh the risk for the Polish stopper.
Defense has been another inconsistent realm for The Gunners. The loss of Thomas Vermaelen has certainly been felt, but that shouldn’t take away from the fact that Sebastian Squillaci has managed to kind of impress in Vermaelen’s absence, kind of. The enigma that is the Arsenal defense should be enough to turn even the most diehard Gooner away from selecting any of the Arsenal defense for their side. Consistency is the main problem while clean-sheets have been hard to come by, though three in the last five matches isn’t a poor return.
You don’t need to look far to see that Arsenal’s strong point is in both strikers and attacking-midfielders.
Andrei Arshavin is the top midfielder for The Gunners at the moment, but his £9.4M price-tag is mildly excessive. Case in point, there are eleven midfielders who have accumulated higher points-totals than The Pixie, but are also valued at a lower price, some up to £3.8M less.
Samir Nasri is perhaps more enigmatic, having accumulated fifty-one points after making ten appearances this season. He earns 5.10 points-per-appearance while having a value of 6.71 points-per-£M. Compared to Arshavin’s 4.31 points-per-appearance and 5.96 points-per-£M, Nasri is not greatly better, but slightly and just enough. Plus, signing Nasri will leave you with £1.8M left in your pocket and that can be more valuable down the line than having Arshavin’s extra five points.
Surprisingly, Alex Song is probably the other better midfield player for Arsenal. Earning forty-seven total-points this season to date means he has a 3.92 point-per-appearance return with a value of 8.54 points-per-£M. His low price and moderate return is exacerbated by the fact that talismanic midfielder Cesc Fabregas has recorded just forty-four points this season, while being valued at nearly twice the price of Song.
When it comes to Arsenal’s most productive player, it’s really no surprise that Marouane Chamakh is in a league of his own. The Gunners’ top goal-scorer–with five–has featured in all of Arsenal’s matches this season, and sees a point return of 4.77 points-per-appearance. His value hasn’t risen too much since the start of the season thanks to some mildly inconsistent performances, but that’s likely a good thing as he’s more affordable despite his positive outings. His £8.4M price-tag is justified when his value (7.38 points-per-£M) is compared other strikers above him, Dimitar Berbatov comes in at 7.11 and Carlos Tevez with 6.27.
The given trio of Arsenal players have managed twelve goals between them and have created six others. Their total price tag of £21.5M isn’t horrendously expensive and a fairly reasonable amount to pay for three players who have earned a collective 160-points this season. Compare that to a side built on the back of Dider Drogba (£13.0M) or Carlos Tevez (£11.0M) and you’d be lucky to even find comparable returns as a unit.
Article by Thomas Walker, Co-editor at Gaffer’s Corner.
For more information and analysis on Arsenal and fantasy football please visit Gaffer’s Corner or follow us on Twitter
Love this article
nice one! im currently 19th in your league.
what do the winners get? any prizes?
btw, sagna isnt a bad buy in fantasy for our defence.
Hi Jason, winners get a $50 gift card to SoccerPro.com and there are similar prizes for 2nd and 3rd. In order to be eligible we need your primary e-mail address you can send it via our website or by e-mail at calebcousens(at)hotmail.com
Cheers
@jason: You’re correct in saying that Sagna isn’t a bad pick, but the inconsistency in Arsenal’s defensive performances make him (and them) more of a risk than picking a player like Nasri or Song. That said, Sagna is quite obviously the best Arsenal defender at the moment, though he’d be only two points better than Clichy had he not scored last week.
I am looking forward to seeing how he deals with Gareth Bale when Spuds go to the Emirates. Hope you can knock Chelsea off the top, even if might be for only a few hours.
the most painful home loss since i started watching.
Anyone here who would wish the most deredfull captain of all times back to spain!!? I would!! Two years ago I said ( not that I am smarter than anyone else) just because its so obviouse. Cesc is dull players and i hope he quits. He always complain that we do silly mistakes, but he causes most of them. He ripped off his shirts after the game, he is a loser and since wenger builds his team around him, we are looseres. His not a defencive mf, not quick enoughe to be a att mid, not a winger and not a striker. and causes the worst home defeat since god knows when. I hate him, unless he kisses the fans feet for his lack of judgment and decisions and commitment….. Nevermind just f.. leave already. He did nothing today one throughball which i would have made. He is a loser and so is arsenal. I know he won the world cup, but only because he limited playing time. I am sick of him, neverminf the defence, Cesc is arsenal Cancer!!!
ole, dude don`t be so harsh on him, he wasn`t that bad. chamakh should have killed the game when there was a chance, but if you look at the whole team as a unit, they thought the game was over at half time … clichy was great, one of his best performances, denilson … koscielny had a chance-blew it, walcott als-blew it … second succesive loss at home, but it`s ok, i keep the faith,they`ll get better in future
I don`t feel harsh, i just think he sucks. Chelsea are loosing, but that don`t help one bit. Kos is poor 10 mill for him is the worst afc signing ever. Wenger and Cesc goodbye. Would rather see arsenal in the championship than the two og them at Emirate(what a joke) next year,
The problem with this team is lack of discipline, consistency, and leadership. And it starts right at the top positions First from the manager, when he got to Arsenal he changed the team phylosofy and instilled a winning spirit into it. Now he is way short of accomplishing that again. This team has no leadership whatsoever since Vieira left. The captain himself (fabregas) showed his lack of discipline by throwing his arm up in the air inside the box (did exactly the same thing against liverpool and got away with it).
Unfortunately this team is a group of losers who have no hunger nor desire, with the exception of a few of course.
@Helio: Who? don`t say Vermalen. If you do watch the barca away game;) He is a joke along with the rest of the money grabbing whores who wear red and white. F… i miss 1992-93 season arsenal scored maybe 36 goals, but at least they needed a shower after the game, today they jumped straight in the suits and the first one was Cesc!! He is a looser who needs his moms tits to suck!!
Get adebayor back, he cared more for this teame than Cescianskey has ever done.
@ole: Bring Adebarndoor back? What a joke !!
@ole: That’s why I said with the exception of a few. I have no complains regarding Song, Nasri(you can see how fiery he is now), Vermaelen was rock solid last season; it is a shame he is still injured. From the midfielders Rosicky is the only one who takes shots on a consistent basis. If you even look at Eboue on the sidelines… that is what you call commitment. He knows he isnt going to play yet he has a positive attitude. That’s what we need every weekend
damn. im sad to say but fabregas lost passion for Arsenal. Remember this time last year when he was firing on all cyclinders. maybe he was trying to impress pep but the deal stalled and so did his passion.
btw arsenal will be charging £100 for match day starting next year to watch this bullshit!
btw arsenal will be charging £100 for match day starting next year to watch this bulls*it!
@Ken: I was being IRONIC, to state how little passion Cesc and others has for Arsenal!! Ok Nasri has passion I agree and maybe Song, but it stops there! But I belive every club has the same problem because everybody looses to everybody, Some say its because of the levelle is higher than ever. I don`t think so, I think its because few of the big names at the big clubs care much about the clubs/fans and therefore they do not give 100% against “lesser” teams like newcastle, west brom etc. Arsenal fans should join up and boicott the next four home games, then there wount be any salleries comming in, maybe than the players will break sweat. F…. I`m so sick og these C….s
did wenger not realise that the defence was not good enough when we let in 5 goals to that shitty polish team?
i was shocked that, after keeping 2 clean sheets on the trot that Djourou was dropped for that scrawny piece of shite. Also, it never looks good having song and denilson
WENGER OUT………. FOLLOWED BY CECS…. BOTH USELESS AND DONT CARE ABOUT US ANYMORE.
ffs so annoying!!!!!!!!!! who the f is braga never heard of them before this season and lose 2-0 on the bright side we could win the europa cup.
hmm wonder when these shit displays will ends … btw the ref is pure shit :@
Cesc is arsenal cancer and needs to be removed together with wenger!
Wenger needs to do the right thing & walk away come the end of this season.. I see no reason why he should stay any longer as he’s taken us as far as possible with he’s way of thinking.
The longer he stays the closer it gets to a decade without any throphies which could very likely happen.