Grad who dominated fantasy football gives his tips for the new season
He came ninth in the world last year
A plucky graduate who finished in the top 10 in the world for Fantasy Football has revealed his top tips for your team this year.
Legendary Jack Wain, who studied at Nottingham, reached the dizzy heights of second last year, and ended the season in ninth out of over three and half million players.
Having racked up a whopping 2,415 points, the Law and American Studies graduate has unveiled his secret picks he thinks will boost you to glory.
Sport fanatic Jack said: “I spend a lot of time researching stats and we constantly talk about it in the house.
“The girlfriend doesn’t mind too much, she’s liking the WAG lifestyle.
“I’m not settled on my actual team so if none of these players appear when we start I apologise.
“I’ve gone for a few solid choices and a pretty rogue one. I’m not giving away my whole team.”
Petr Cech (Arsenal)
Cech is a cheap way into a defence with great fixtures. He kept lots of clean sheets last year and Arsenal will surely improve with a better keeper.
He is the premium option which you’d combine with a cheaper keeper at £5.5m.
Kasper Schmeichel (Leicester)
Combine Cech with Schmeichel. Perfect rotation for most the season and you want a second keeper who plays, not just a benchwarmer. That’s £10m in total, so affordable.
Leicester were good defensively at the end of the season, but it may be a bit of a gamble as they have a new manager.
Branislav Ivanovic (Chelsea)
Ivanovic is costly but he usually starts the season well. He’s an attacking player – he had two attempts on goal in the Community Shield.
Chelsea always good for a clean sheet, they had the most in the league last year.
If you can’t afford the £7m, then Azpilicueta will do a job at £6m but he poses much less of a threat going forward.
Patrick van Aanholt (Sunderland)
We want an attacking threat in our defence and he has it in abundance, and at £5m he’s good value.
There’s a great chance of an assist with his crosses and now with Lens in the team they will be more attacking than in the past.
Joe Gomez (Liverpool)
This is the gamble and may not be worth taking but £4.5m for a defender from a top six team is great.
From pre-season, it looks like he may have taken the left back spot off of Moreno.
There’s no guarantees he’ll start, so don’t blame me when he is benched. He does have great home fixtures though.
Eden Hazard (Chelsea)
Not always a quick starter to a season, but £11.5m is easy to downgrade to another player if he fails.
There’s huge ownership of Hazard, half of people have him in their team. This means if he succeeds you’re in trouble without him.
He also takes penalties and has a reputation as a goalscoring midfielder.
Memphis Depay (Manchester United)
He had a great record in Holland, and although not the best league, he looks to have huge potential.
He should take some free kicks which he is known to score. He’ll most likely play in the hole behind Rooney or on the wing and this season he’ll have great midfielders behind to assist him.
Dusan Tadic (Southampton)
Southampton have great fixtures to start the season and really impressed last time round.
Tadic takes penalties and some free kicks. He’s match fit after the Europa League, but this could work against him as they play Europa on a Thursday.
Jordan Henderson (Liverpool)
Now he’s out of Gerrard’s shadow, Henderson will perform. He took penalties last year when Gerrard wasn’t there too, so there could well be goals.
He looked good in pre-season with great rabona assists and he’s nailed on to play as is captain too.
Liverpool’s attack is better than last year so there are plenty of goals to be had. With the amount available, Henderson is likely to be involved with assists and scoring some himself.
Harry Kane (Tottenham)
If you played last year then his record speaks for itself.
Kane is still the main man in a Spurs team which the manager has had a transfer window to sort out. His price has gone up but at £9.5m he’s good value.
Troy Deeney (Watford)
Deeney is the best striker of the promoted clubs I would say.
He scored a lot in the Championship, and had a good pre-season. Last season in 37 starts and five substitute appearances, he scored 21 goals and made nine assists.
Wayne Rooney (Manchester United)
Rooney is set to be the focal point of the United attack – he’s the only striker in their team and their captain so will play.
He had a poor season last year as he was played in midfield. But back up front he should deliver and United have some good opening fixtures to boot.