Premier League: Team of Round 30

The community stats were up for this round of Premier League fantasy in comparison to Round 29 as Manchester City, Liverpool and Arsenal all scored more than once. Just three teams keeping clean sheets - Arsenal, Bournemouth and Cardiff - meant defensive returns were harder to find but large attacking points hauls from individuals such as Vardy and Sterling meant a well-placed captaincy was extremely well rewarded in this round.

Though there'll be a few pieces of advice scattered throughout this usual review of each TOTR player, the main thing to remember is of course the short fixture list we have to deal with in Round 31. As I said last week, make sure you have as close to a full XI as possible for this round but it's worth keeping your key men on your bench in time for an extra-large Round 32.

Community average score in Round 30: 47.2
Community best in Round 30: 96
TOTR score: 138
Theoretical best legal score: 138

Defence

Two of the only three teams to keep a clean sheet in Round 30 make up the GK and back three in this TOTR. Cardiff's surprising 2-0 win over West Ham meant their defenders all picked up a decent points tally while Unai Emery will have been delighted with the clean sheet his Arsenal team managed against Manchester United. Though there's not too much to say here as the 7-point totals each of these players have is no more than average for a TOTR spot, the Arsenal duo are worth discussing given their performance and the run of fixtures the Gunners are about to begin.

First of all, Bernd Leno has recently been showing himself to be an excellent goalkeeper and yesterday's performance against Manchester United was a very strong one. The German is especially good coming off his line as a sweeper and whilst Arsenal's vulnerable defence means clean sheets aren't always on the cards, they do often mean that when Leno does earn a CS he's also managed plenty of save points. Meanwhile, Ainsley Maitland-Niles is well worth keeping an eye on as he looked like a potential answer to the severe problems Arsenal have had at right-back of late. There's a chance we'll see the 21-year old on a much more regular basis if he continues to perform as well as he did on Sunday and he also offers potential attacking returns given his more familiar position as a midfielder/winger.

Midfield

This week's midfield features four well-known wingers who have been excellent throughout this entire Premier League campaign. In fact, all four are inside the top 7 highest-scoring midfielders in our fantasy game this season. Raheem Sterling is the Round 30 ideal captain after an impressive but controversial hat-trick against Watford as his first strike should have been called offside. Eden Hazard is second only to Mo Salah on the midfielder points chart after he scored a crucial goal for Chelsea (not for the first time!) at Stamford Bridge to save the Blues from defeat against Wolves.

However, it's Ryan Fraser and Sadio Mane who are worth focusing on ahead of R31 as both will feature next weekend. The return of Callum Wilson from injury had an immediate positive effect on Fraser who linked up with the striker for both his goal and his assist in a 2-0 away win at Huddersfield. As well as Fraser, it's definitely worth considering Sadio Mane for next week's round (and beyond) as he looks like the form attacking player for Liverpool as they continue to hunt for that elusive Premier League title. Mane scored twice against Burnley this week and faces Fulham next.

Strikers

As you can see, there were plenty of strikers picking up lots of points in this round! Salomon Rondon and Callum Wilson (10 points each) can both feel hard done by not to feature in this week's XI.

Instead, it's Rondon's strike partner, Ayoze Perez, who stands out among the forwards this week after his pivotal role in Newcastle's comeback win vs. Everton. Benefitting from the hold up play of Rondon and a notable GK error by Jordan Pickford, Perez was directly involved in all three goals for his team. As long as Newcastle keep performing, it's likely both he and Rondon will be in the points. A similar statement can be said for Leicester and Jamie Vardy with Brendan Rodgers sensibly building a team that will look to play to the English striker's strengths. Vardy scored twice and managed an assist in a 3-1 win for Leicester over Fulham this week.

Finally, a brace for Roberto Firmino restores the headache we all had last season in trying to predict which of Liverpool's front three will score the goals in each of their upcoming games. Since Salah, Mane and Firmino are all virtually guaranteed starters when fit, a bit of luck is required when trying to determine which of them will actually score the goal that all three will likely play a part in!

Premier League ideal 5-a-side teams by daily round during R30:

Saturday: Boruc/Etheridge, Bennett/Peltier, Tielemans, Sterling, Perez (56 points)
Sunday: Leno, Maitland-Niles, Westwood/Xhaka, Mane, Firmino (45 points)

Round 31 of the Premier League will begin next Saturday with just five games taking place in the round. Three games will be played on the Saturday with two on the Sunday.

Click here to play Premier League Fantasy at Superbru

Click here to play Premier League 5-a-side Fantasy at Superbru