GENERALLY, the more points a player gets the more popular they become among Dream Team gaffers.
Mohamed Salah (£7.7m) is both the top points scorer and the most-selected asset, the three best-performing defenders are also the three with the highest ownerships, and so on.
However, there are exceptions to this rule.
Let’s highlight this season’s mega differentials by running through the players with the most points among those who appear in less than 1% of teams.
Marc Cucurella (£2.1m) – 92 points – 0.6% ownership
Recently voted Brighton’s Player of the Year by both the fans and his team-mates, the Spanish left-back has impressed during his first season in English football.
His returns have been somewhat limited by the fact he’s contributed just one goal and two assists going forward but those who have watched the Seagulls regular will know he’s a key cog in Graham Potter’s overperforming machine.
Still just 23 years old, there’s plenty more to come from Cucurella – the so-called ‘big six’ will surely be monitoring his progress at the Amex.
Armando Broja (£2.5m) – 92 points – 0.7% ownership
There was a spell earlier in the season when Southampton’s loan striker was certainly a viable Dream Team option.
He bagged 64 points in the space of ten Game Weeks during the middle section of the campaign and represented great value for money.
Unfortunately, Broja’s returns have fallen off a cliff as the season has drawn to a close – he’s on an unwanted run of ten consecutive blanks right now.
It will be interesting to see where the Chelsea-owned Albanian plays his football next season.
Bryan Mbeumo (£2.5m) – 92 points – 0.6% ownership
Brentford’s No19 has hit the woodwork seven times in the Premier League this season – Raphinha (£3.7m) matches this tally but no other player has been frustrated by the frame more than four times.
An inch here and there would have given Mbeumo a double-figure goal tally – as it is he’s currently on eight thanks to a hat-trick in the FA Cup that went some way to levelling his luck.
The Frenchman has provided seven assists in the top flight this term – only eight players have registered more at this late stage.
Categorised as a midfielder in Dream Team, he has often looked promising but it’s hard to look past the woodwork misses – so many points squandered.
Oleksandr Zinchenko (£4.2m) – 93 points – 0.6% ownership
The Ukraine international is a peripheral figure at Manchester City which explains his low ownership.
Having played just 840 minutes in the league this season, Zinchenko has done well to muster 93 points – he’s actually above Kyle Walker (£3.9m) in the rankings.
More relevantly, the 25-year-old is a genuinely decent option for the remaining Game Weeks because he is virtually guaranteed to start amid City’s injury crisis in defence.
Nathan Ake (£3.9m) – 99 points – 0.6% ownership
It’s a similar story for the former Bournemouth centre-back who has been on the fringes of City’s campaign.
Again, he has generally performed admirably well called upon, as evidenced by his average of four points-per-game – a rate superior to that of Antonio Rudiger (£4.8m) and Ruben Dias (£4.3m).
Marc Guehi (£3.1m) – 100 points – 0.6% ownership
Crystal Palace’s No6 is statistically one of the cleanest tacklers in Europe’s top five leagues this season.
His efforts earned him an England call-up recently and there is no doubt his introduction has contributed to the Eagles’ uplift under Patrick Vieira.
Guehi is one of just three players with an ownership below 1% currently who has reached 100 points overall.
It feels as if the 21-year-old has been underrated and overlooked this term.
Romain Saiss (£3.4m) – 100 points – 0.9% ownership
Only Man City, Liverpool and Chelsea have conceded fewer goals than Wolves this season.
That stat alone explains how Bruno Lage’s preferred defenders have manged to rub shoulders with some of the more popular assets in recent months.
Dream Team managers generally preferred to back Conor Coady (£3.1m) and Max Kilman (£3.5m), whose ownerships remain above 1%, with Saiss seen as less appealing – perhaps an aftereffect of his departure to Africa Cup of Nations?
Leandro Trossard (£3.1m) – 104 points – 0.3% ownership
The highest points scorer on this list is also the least popular!
Brighton’s No11 has scored eight goals and provided three assists in the Premier League this season although this article is well-timed from the Belgian’s perspective as his biggest game haul of the campaign came this weekend when he banked 17 points at the expense of a dismal Man United outfit.
The slender minority of Dream Team bosses backing Trossard have been handsomely rewarded in recent weeks – he’s amassed 46 points from his last six outings!
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