Another busy weekend in the Premier League came to an end with Leicester City recapturing sole possession of top spot in the table, Manchester City stumbling despite another excellent performance from its top striker and the defending champions Chelsea scratching out another victory over rival Arsenal to continue their crawl back towards the top-10 in the table. All of that led to plenty of intrigue on the EPL fantasy side of the equation. Here is a look at the top individual fantasy performances from this past weekend in the Premier League by position.
GK: Ben Foster, West Brom
No goalkeeper was busier than Foster for West Brom, as he stopped all four shots he faced to register a clean sheet in a 0-0 draw with Aston Villa over the weekend. Foster was undoubtedly the biggest reason why West Brom was able to bounce back following last week’s 3-0 loss to Southampton and his performance gave him the slight edge over Chelsea’s Thibaut Courtois and Leicester’s Kasper Schmeichel as the top fantasy goalkeeper from this past weekend in the Premier League.
Honorable Mention: Thibaut Courtois, Chelsea; Kasper Schmeichel, Leicester
D: Branislav Ivanovic, Chelsea
While Courtois fell just short of top honors in the goalkeeper category, there is no doubt that Chelsea’s top defender led the way at his position this past weekend as Ivanovic edged out Watford’s Craig Cathcart and Sunderlnad’s Patrick van Aanholt as the top fantasy performer at his position from this past weekend. Ivanovic had an assist and earned bonuses for Chelsea’s clean sheet win and the fact he played a full 90 minutes for the Blues as he continued to live up to his billing as one of the Premier League’s top defenders this past weekend.
Honorable Mention: Craig Cathcart, Watford; Patrick van Aanholt, Sunderland
M: Roberto Firmino, Liverpool
Liverpool climbed a little bit closer to the top-five thanks in big part to an impressive performance from Roberto Firmino, who produced the best fantasy performance among Premier League players regardless of position this past weekend when he had two goals and an assist in a 5-4 win over Norwich. Firmino was all over the pitch from start to finish and his three points were more than enough to lead the way along with a bonus for a full 90 minutes played, while teammate James Milner earned honorable mention for registering a goal and an assist.
M: Daniel Drinkwater, Leicester
Jamie Vardy and Riyad Mahrez have both earned their fair share of fantasy honors for Leicester this season but this past weekend it was Drinkwater that stepped up with a goal and an assist in Leicester’s 3-0 win over Stoke City. The win was Leicester’s second in three games and helped push them back in to sole possession of top spot in the table, with Drinkwater narrowly edging out Tottenham’s Bamidele Alli and Swansea’s Andre Ayew for the second-best fantasy performance among in terms of EPL fantasy for midfielders this past weekend.
Honorable Mention: Bamidele Alli, Tottenham; Andre Ayew, Swansea; James Milner, Liverpool
F: Enner Valencia, West Ham
Valencia led the way up front with a breakthrough performance for West Ham as he scored both of their two goals to salvage a point in a 2-2 draw with Manchester City. West Ham has managed to stay within reach of the top five teams in the Premier League table and they will need Valencia to continue to produce at a high level this season if they are going to have any shot at closing the gap any further.
F: Sergio Aguero, Manchester City
In addition to helping steal an important two points from Manchester City, Valencia also edged out Aguero for top fantasy honors among Premier League forwards as the latter scored both goals for his side in the 2-2 draw. Aguero actually played the full 90 minutes for City as opposed to the 86 minutes that Valencia played for West Ham but ultimately it was one bonus point that made the difference between the two with Aguero narrowly edged out but still finishing with the second-best fantasy score for Premier League forwards ahead of Watford’s Odion Ighalo and Norwich’s Steven Naismith.
Honorable Mention: Odion Ighalo, Watford; Steven Naismith, Norwich; Benik Afobe, Bournemouth
