WITH dozens of Premier League players set to depart for the Asian Cup or Africa Cup of Nations, many Dream Team managers will be searching for in-form replacements this week.
And some of those gaffers may feel they need to think outside the box to make up ground in their Mini Leagues.
Enter Anthony Elanga (£2.5m).
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Man of the moment[/caption]
The 21-year-old currently features in just 0.7% of teams, making him a massive differential option.
Despite what his low ownership would suggest, the Sweden international has been in fine form of late.
He was instrumental against his old club in Nottingham Forest’s win over Manchester United on Saturday as he provided the assist for Morgan Gibbs-White’s (£2.8m) winner.
Elanga also made a whopping five tackles, the joint-most among all players involved in the fixture, as well as earning a bonus point.
He banked seven points when all was said and done to continue what has been a fruitful spell.
In Gameweek 17, Elanga notched 22 points across two games against Bournemouth and Newcastle, scoring against the Cherries before assisting two of Forest’s three goals against Eddie Howe’s men.
Elanga has registered ten goal involvements this season[/caption]Looking back further, the Malmo-born midfielder has scored three goals and provided three assists in nine appearances since the start of Gameweek 12.
Impressively, he’s created six big chances in the same time frame, a measure of his creative influence of late.
It’s simply a fact that Elanga is one of Dream Team’s most in-form players right now.
Michael Olise (£3.7m) is the only midfielder who has bagged more points across the last three fixtures.
More generally, consecutive wins over the Magpies and the Red Devils during the festive period under the guidance of Nuno Espirito Santo have changed the outlook at the City Ground.
Whether it’s a temporary New Manager Bounce or a more fundamental change, it doesn’t really matter to Dream Team bosses.
What’s most relevant is that Elanga is providing healthy returns at present and should therefore be duly considered when it comes to making transfers.
Forest face Blackpool in the FA Cup this weekend before travelling to Brentford in Gameweek 20 – the Bees have lost five games in a row.
Those in need of a wildcard could do a lot worse than Elanga, especially at his affordable price of £2.5m.
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