Burnley’s Consistent Performers are a Handy Addition to any Fantasy Team

Every fantasy football manager will have his or her preferred strategy, and many choose to stick rigidly to it. However, savvy operators have raised the question of whether it is preferable to assemble a team of consistent 7/10 performers or opt for streaky players who may score a hat-trick one week before embarking on a barren run. If you’re partial to the former, Burnley could be the team for you.

Source: Burnley Express via Twitter

At the beginning of the season, the Independent produced a list of 20 players to consider for fantasy football squads with the likes of Antonio Valencia, Kevin De Bruyne and Romelu Lukaku all featuring. Only one Burnley player was included in that article, with Tom Heaton sitting alongside Ben Foster and David De Gea in the goalkeeper section.

Tom Heaton kept ten clean sheets last season and amassed 149 points for fantasy football players, but is currently on the sidelines. Sean Dyche’s side are far from a fashionable outfit but they are tremendously effective and rarely embark on bad runs of form, which is always handy for fantasy squads.

The gravel-voiced coach doesn’t have a particularly large pool of players to choose from and regularly names the same line-up for successive games. The Clarets aren’t in the Champions League and rarely progress to the latter stages of domestic cup competitions, so deliberate squad rotation is not necessarily a regular occurrence at Turf Moor.

If you require an additional defender to add steel to your fantasy team, Burnley could provide the answer. Stephen Ward may not be getting any younger but the left-back has already accrued 41 points so far this season and scored against Chelsea on the opening weekend. Ward is a terrific crosser of the ball and enjoys getting forward and has already claimed an assist against Everton at the beginning of October. Only three Premier League defenders can boast more FF points from their opening seven games.

Source: Burnley FC News via Twitter

Ward is ahead of his team-mates by quite some distance, however, fellow full-back Matt Lowton has already garnered 27 points (the same as Jan Vertonghen and Toby Alderweireld), whilst centre-backs James Tarkowski and Ben Mee have acquired 24 and 25 points, respectively. These figures are higher than the likes of David Luiz, Antonio Rudiger, Davinson Sanchez and Aaron Cresswell.

In midfield, Robbie Brady has 25 points so far, which brings him level with Riyad Mahrez, Phillipe Coutinho and Granit Xhaka. Meanwhile, Scott Arfield, Jeff Hendrick, Jack Cork and Stephen Defour have all amassed at least 16 points. It isn’t permitted to include all of these Burnley players in one team, but before you plump for a player in a top six side, it’s certainly worth considering a Clarets regular. It is also likely to prove significantly cheaper, too.

Dyche’s men went into the second International Break in good form and have conceded just three goals since their opening day victory at Chelsea. They’ve held both Liverpool and Spurs to draws and are sitting pretty in 6th place. They have been priced at 11/4 in the football betting markets to finish in the top half and they still have both Jon Walters and Tom Heaton to return from injury.

The East Lancashire outfit may not the first team who spring to mind when you think about fantasy football, but many of their players are certainly worth considering. Very few of their players go missing during games and they have made a wonderful start to the Premier League season. It could pay dividends to bolster your squad with a few of their regular starters.