Popular Starting Picks

What has been this season’s biggest surprise so far? Sven’s successful Manchester City revolution? Martin Jol’s Tottenham troubles? Perhaps Ian Wright’s claim that Michael Owen had left him out of a list of great England goalscorers ‘because I’m a brother’?

Wrighty is, as usual, tough to surpass, but some of the greatest surprises lie in the list of YTM’s most popular players so far. While the usual suspects like Cristiano Ronaldo and Steeeeeeven Gerrard (as Phil Thompson calls him) fill the top few slots, there are some more unexpected names to be found high up on the list.

Top 5 Goalkeepers

1 Pepe Reina - 18176 selections

2 Petr Cech - 11972 selections

3 Edwin van der Sar - 10769 selections

4 David James - 6761 selections

5 Tim Howard - 5075 selections

While Arsenal have a tradition of strong defences down the years, YTM managers clearly don’t trust them this year. Jens Lehmann is way down the list in 95th overall, behind such luminaries as Abdoulaye Faye and Graeme Murty.

Top 5 Defenders

1 Nemanja Vidic - 14576 selections

2 Micah Richards - 14148 selections

3 Daniel Agger - 12102 selections

4 Ricardo Carvalho - 9270 selections

5 Jamie Carragher - 8931 selections

So, no place on the list for last season’s top scorer Matt Taylor. Evidently YTM managers are worried that Taylor won’t reproduce last season’s form. He seems to be on penalty-taking duties, so don’t write him off too soon.

John Terry, traditionally the best defensive pick in fantasy football, is also omitted, his position usurped by young pretender Micah Richards. At a competitively priced £4.0m, expect to see Micah surge past Nemanja Vidic into top spot when transfers open on September 4th.

Top 5 Midfielders

1 Cristiano Ronaldo -33920 selections

2 Steven Gerrard - 20072 selections

3 Frank Lampard - 13277 selections

4 Gareth Barry - 10213 selections

5 Mikel Arteta - 8886 selections

Perhaps the biggest surprise here is the relatively low position of big Frank Lampard. He features in only one third as many teams as chief rival Cristiano Ronaldo, and only just sneaks into the top 10 overall picks, which seems unusual given that his track recored is second to none. Few things in life are certain, but you can always rely on Frank Lampard to score at least fifteen goals a season.

It seems that only 1178 of you somehow knew that Sibierski is now the French for va-va-voom, but expect Antoine to feature in many more teams once that window opens.

Top 5 Strikers

1 Robin van Persie - 18089 selections

2 Wayne Rooney - 17811 selections

3 Dimitar Berbatov - 14069 selections

4 Didier Drogba - 12342 selections

5 Fernando Torres - 11534 selections

There are 17811 reasons to be glad that the transfer window opens on September 4th. The most likely replacement is RVP, already YTM’s most popular striker, and he has repaid that faith with goals in each of Arsenal’s opening two games. Careful though - he’s also been booked in both games, and at this rate a suspension is inevitable.

Just missing the top five is bargain-bucket option Michael Chopra. Available at £2.5m, just imagine what you could do to the rest of your team if you brought him in for the injured Rooney.

Next week I’ll predict the most popular movers and shakers once transfers kick in. And perhaps make some quips about Alan Hansen’s new designer stubble.

Andy @ YTM