Player Profile: Michael Ballack

A few fantasy owners (including me) have grown increasingly frustrated by the 8m midfield talent on offer, namely Wright-Phillips, Young, Cahill and Benayoun. Aside from Lennon (who himself is out of form a bit) no players in this price bracket have been consistent with huge weeks (Benayoun week 5) followed by several weeks of mediocre production.

Another option, held by just 5% of owners, is Michael Ballack (8.0) who traditionally has been an inconsistent fantasy performer during his time at Chelsea due to rotation and injury. This year though, Ballack has missed just one game (week 7) and has contributed 36 points in the other 7 games. His three goals are encouraging while his lack of assists (zero) does concern me a bit.

I like Ballack to score 10 goals for the season, adding a couple of assists and bonus points along the way. This kind of production isn't outstanding for a 8m midfielder but so long as he is playing every week he should average out at about 6 points, which is better than many of his fellow 8m players right now.

Chelsea's fixtures are very up and down over the coming weeks with a tough trip to Villa this week followed by tricky ties in weeks 12 (MNU), 14(@Ars) and 15(@MNC). That being said, in Chelsea's two toughest games this year (Tot, Liv) Ballack has averaged 5.5 points so we should not be totally put off by these tough games.