Danny Ings steals third place
Friday 10 January 2020 15:57, UK
With Sky Sports Fantasy Football returning following FA Cup action, we take a look at the top three performers over the festive period of Premier League action.
From Saturday 21 December until Thursday 2 January, there were plenty of Fantasy Football points up for grabs, but which players excelled and earned the valuables for Fantasy Teams up and down the country?
Leicester (A) - 25 points
Wolves (H) - 10 points
Sheffield United (H) - 10 points
This is perhaps even more impressive with the fact Liverpool had their clash with West Ham rearranged due to being in Club World Cup action, so Trent Alexander-Arnold only played three times as opposed to the four that other players were involved in. His remarkable display in their top-of-the-table clash at Leicester was the key points driver in this run over the Christmas period.
Alexander-Arnold was crowned the man of the match at the King Power, leaving little reason why with his performance. He made two of the four Liverpool goals on the night, while striking past Kasper Schmeichel for one of the other two. On top of this, the Englishman earned clean sheet bonus points, tallying 25 on an outstanding evening.
Two more solid displays ensued, as Liverpool proceeded to record five clean sheets in succession, those coming against Wolves and Sheffield United. Alexander-Arnold was the man of the match for the second game in a row against Wolves, and he then racked up over 70 passes to earn tier two bonus points against Sheffield United.
He moves onto 131 points for the campaign, averaging 15 points per game over this timescale. The right back is in 66.2 per cent of the top 1,000 Fantasy Football teams, which does the talking for you.
Leicester (H) - 11 points
Wolves (A) - 5 points
Sheffield United (H) - 16 points
Everton (H) - 5 points
Kevin De Bruyne is the highest scoring player in Fantasy Football with 162 points. When you put that alongside him being one of the top performers over this period, it is even less surprising.
The Belgian claimed two man-of-the-match awards from these four games, the first of which coming in the pivotal clash against Leicester. He only got the one assist, but accrued his points from reaching tier one bonus points from tackles and shots respectively.
His second came against Sheffield United, in which he contributed to both goals by scoring and assisting in Manchester City's 2-0 win at the Etihad. He reached tier one shot bonus points once more, recording his eighth double-figure haul of the campaign.
In either side of both of these matches De Bruyne recorded five Fantasy Football points, registering an assist in City's defeat to Wolves, while hitting over 70 passes against Everton to make tier two bonus points from that field. The midfielder is in a staggering 94 per cent of the top 1,000 Fantasy Football teams, and he shows no signs of letting those players down.
Aston Villa (A) - 18 points
Chelsea (A) - 1 point
Crystal Palace (H) - 9 points
Tottenham (H) - 7 points
Danny Ings only started three of these matches, coming off the bench in Southampton's win at Chelsea, meaning he has essentially clocked up 34 points from three matches, averaging just over 11 in that spell. Of Southampton's seven goals, Ings scored four of them in that time.
His performance against Aston Villa was enough to see him earn the man-of-the-match award, while tallying tier two shot bonus points in the process. His brace sent Southampton on their way to a 3-1 victory at Villa Park.
Ings also scored the only goals for Southampton in their draw with Crystal Palace and crucial 1-0 win over Tottenham, placing him second in the race for the Premier League Golden Boot on 13 goals, only bettered by Leicester's Jamie Vardy.
Somehow, someway, the frontman is only selected by 3.77 per cent of Fantasy Football teams. Although Southampton play Leicester, Wolves and Liverpool in their next four games, they do not play a top six side for five matches afterwards, proving that he could be a valuable pick post-overhaul.
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All you need to do is select who you feel will be the game week's highest-scoring players in a 3-4-3 formation.
This will consist of the players from each position who have accrued the most points in game week one, powered by the Sky Sports Fantasy Football scoring system.
When picking your Ultimate XI, you usually have a £100m budget to work alongside, making it hard to include all of your potential match-winners and point-pullers, leaving you with a headache and a side which you could change over and over until the start of the campaign.
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Make your Ultimate XI by 8:00pm on Friday 10th January to be in with a chance of winning £50,000.
