Bruno Guimaraes leads Dream Team for bonus points this season – Newcastle midfielder strong option for Gameweek 17

DREAM TEAM managers only have to look at the players who have earned the most bonus points this season to understand it’s a worthy measure of talent.

Trent Alexander-Arnold (£5.7m), Jeremy Doku (£4.1m), Kieran Trippier (£5.2m), Phil Foden (£5.2m) and Bukayo Saka (£6.6m) all rank highly but a new name jumped to the top of the tree at the weekend, Bruno Guimaraes (£3.7m).

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Dream Team

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The Newcastle midfielder produced an exceptional performance at home to Fulham on Saturday.

He provided the assist for Lewis Miley’s (£2.4m) opening goal, created two big chances, had a shot on target, and, most importantly, earned FIVE bonus points, the maximum available for a single game.

All in all, Guimaraes banked 12 points at the Cottagers’ expense to extend what has been a prosperous run of late – he’s earned 45 points across the last four Gameweeks.

The Brazil international makes a lot of tackles and has chipped in with four goal involvements but the headline story is his unrivalled ability to earn bonus points.

So how does he do it?

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Guimaraes keeps Newcastle ticking over[/caption]

A well-rounded midfielder, Guimaraes is a key player for the Magpies both in possession and defensively.

He ranks highly in his position for successful dribbles, fouls won, blocks and interceptions.

Consequently, he’s racked up 33 bonus points already this season – that accounts for 29.2% of his overall tally of 113 points.

That total puts Guimaraes joint-12th among midfielders at the time of writing but he seems to have a reasonable chance of improving his rank in Gameweek 17.

Eddie Howe’s side arguably have the most favourable double header in the form of Luton and Nottingham Forest.

Assuming the 26-year-old isn’t rested – the only game he’s sat out this season was because of suspension – he looks well placed to post a double-digit return in Gameweek 17.

Howe’s troops will be popular this weekAFP

Of course, Guimaraes is far from the only viable Newcastle asset ahead of what appears to be a friendly pair of fixtures.

Anthony Gordon (£4m) is joint-fourth among Dream Team midfielders at this stage of the campaign having amassed 134 points.

The aforementioned Trippier is likely to return against Luton having served his suspension at the weekend.

The England international looked unusually rusty earlier this month but his overall pedigree can’t be denied – only Alexander-Arnold has more points among defenders.

And Martin Dubravka (£1.6m) represents a potentially savvy bargain for Dream Team bosses who believe Newcastle will keep at least one clean sheet in Gameweek 17 – the Slovak notched nine points against Fulham.

Whatever the details, backing multiple Newcastle assets could yield huge returns in Gameweek 17 if everything clicks for Howe’s men, though it’s worth noting they remain dogged by injuries.

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