Fantasy Spotlight – the Standout Performers from Gameweek 30
Gameweek 30 was a strange week for fantasy managers as there were only five Premier League games, spread across three days, due to a clash with the FA Cup quarter-finals.
Tottenham Hotspur and Leicester City kept up their title battle with victories over relegation-threatened sides, while Manchester City slipped up with a 0-0 draw at Norwich City.
Here is the Fantasy Football Portal team of the week for this mini gameweek.
Kasper Schmeichel
Kasper Schmeichel retains his team of the week place after another clean sheet as Claudio Ranieri’s Leicester battled to a 1-0 win over Newcastle United in Rafa Benítez’s first game in charge of the Magpies.
Schmeichel, who earned 14 points on DraftKings UK for his night’s work, has now kept three clean sheets in his last four matches as the Foxes close in on a potentially historic Premier League title. They have a five-point lead with just eight games to go.
Vincent Kompany
A 0-0 draw at Carrow Road was not a good result for Manchester City, but their captain Vincent Kompany was in strong form and that is one positive Manuel Pellegrini can take from the game, although it was marred somewhat by a subsequent injury in the Champions League tie with Kiev.
Kompany has helped City to keep successive clean sheets but they are now 12 points off the top of the table and even though they have a game in hand it looks like their title challenge is over.
Danny Rose
Tottenham’s rotation of their full-backs continues to work well, with Danny Rose excelling in a 2-0 win at Villa Park for his side on Sunday.
Rose alternates with Ben Davies at left-back but he has been so impressive this season he would be unfortunate to miss out on a place in England’s Euro 2016 squad for this summer’s tournament in France.
Davies is likely to play against Dortmund in the Europa League on Thursday, so Rose should keep his place for Tottenham’s next Premier League match, at home to Bournemouth, in GW31.
Timm Klose
Norwich City’s winless run stretched to 11 games but a draw against City at Carrow Road will give Alex Neil’s side some confidence as the Premier League relegation battle takes shape.
Klose was a January signing who has struggled to settle into life in English football, but a first clean sheet will make him feel a lot better with eight games left to preserve Norwich’s Premier League status for another year.
Max Gradel
Max Gradel’s comeback from six months out with a knee injury could hardly have gone better.
The winger made his return in a 0-0 draw at Watford last month, but it was his starring role in Bournemouth’s 3-2 win against Swansea City that announced him in the Premier League.
With Eddie Howe’s Cherries virtually guaranteed to stay up after their third straight win, Gradel – who scored a goal and recorded an assist against the Swans – will be looking forward to showing what he can do next season.
Dele Alli
Dele Alli’s stunning season continued with a pair of assists in his side’s 2-0 win at Aston Villa.
Alli, 19, has recorded 11 assists already this season and the teenager has played a key role in Spurs’ push for a first Premier League title.
The partnership between Alli and fellow England international Harry Kane has been particularly crucial for Mauricio Pochettino’s side, with Alli setting Kane up for both of his goals during GW30.
Marko Arnautović
Stoke City were beaten 2-1 at home by Southampton on Saturday, but Marko Arnautović continued to shine by grabbing yet another goal for his side.
The Austria international now has 10 goals for the season and he continues to be a highly reliable budget pick for daily fantasy football players.
Gylfi Sigurdsson
Gylfi Sigurdsson is another player to retain their place from our team of the week on GE29 after the midfielder was on the scoresheet again for Swansea City.
Sigurdsson has hit seven goals in his last 11 Premier League appearances, making him comfortably one of the most in-form players in the division.
The Iceland international’s performances have helped the Swans to ease away from relegation danger and they are eight points clear of the bottom three despite losing to Bournemouth.
Graziano Pellè
Graziano Pellè had not scored since November but he hit a beautiful brace in Southampton’s 2-1 win at the Britannia Stadium, keeping his side’s continental qualification hopes in good shape.
Pellè headed in a corner to get his team up and running before combining well with Dušan Tadić and bending a low shot beyond Stoke’s goalkeeper Jack Butland.
The Italy international earned a WhoScored rating of 9.1 for his efforts. He now has eight goals this season and is on track to match last year’s 12.
Modou Barrow
Modou Barrow is the second Swansea player to make this week’s team of the week after he scored one goal and made another for his side at the Vitality Stadium.
Barrow became the first Gambian to score a Premier League goal and his frightening pace is increasingly being used as a crucial asset by the Swans.
Harry Kane
Kane struck both goals as Spurs won 2-0 at Villa to keep up the pace with league leaders Leicester, joining Jamie Vardy on 19 goals at the top of the Premier League’s Golden Boot chart. The pair are one goal clear of Everton’s Romelu Lukaku.
The 22-year-old striker has scored eight goals in his last 10 league matches, a hot streak of form that might just fire his side to Premier League glory if he can keep hitting the net.
In-form goalkeeper Kasper Schmeichel is $4,000 on DraftKings (vs Crystal Palace, $50K Budget,Gameweek 31)