 |
| Nani of Manchester United celebrates scoring his team's fifth goal during the Barclays Premier League match between Manchester United and Blackburn Rovers at Old Trafford on November 27 |
Don’t underestimate assists. They’re worth three points each in 11 Kicks fantasy football,
no matter what position the player plays. You could literally pick a
fantasy team that scores zero goals between them, and still take first
place in your mini-league purely on assists. Provided you pick the right
players, obviously. And since we’re 15 game weeks into the Premier
League season, I’m thinking that’s a perfect excuse to list the top 15
assist providers (assisters?) in the league.
Nani (Manchester United) 9
Chris Brunt (WBA) 8
Peter Crouch (Spurs) 7
Andrei Arshavin (Arsenal) 7
Leighton Baines (Everton) 6
Didier Drogba (Chelsea) 6
Andy Carroll (Newcastle) 6
Wayne Rooney (Manchester United) 5
Fernando Torres (Liverpool) 5
Marouane Chamakh (Arsenal) 5
Cesc Fabregas (Arsenal) 5
Sebastian Larsson (Birmingham) 5
Chung-Yong Lee (Bolton) 5
Matthew Etherington (Stoke) 5
Rafael van der Vaart (Spurs) 5
Nani‘s place at the top of this list is no surprise.
He’s the king of fantasy football right now. But other, less glamorous,
names – like Chris Brunt or Chung-Yong Lee – are a little more unexpected. Same goes for players who you might think are having unproductive seasons so far, like Wayne Rooney, Andrei Arshavin and Fernando Torres.
This should serve as a reminder that just because players aren’t
scoring goals, that doesn’t mean they aren’t scoring points. Even
better, there are players like Andy Carroll who are scoring goals, but are also laying on assists as well.
Last but not least, a small round of applause for Everton’s Leighton
Baines, the only defender to crack the top 15. Though in fairness, most
other defenders don’t have Tim Cahill’s head to aim for.
Don’t know about you, but I’m going to be consulting this list
carefully before picking my fantasy team for week 16. To see that latest
list of Premier League assist leaders, visit the 11 Kicks Stats Center.
