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We look at which Premier League players have failed to failed to live up to expectations this season based on their Sky Sports Fantasy Football performances.
While Mohamed Salah, Kevin De Bruyne and Harry Kane have been racking up big points, those making the below XI have struggled to live up to their hefty pre-season price tags.
With 11 games to go, here are 11 under-performing players from the season so far…
After a nightmare spell with Torino in Italy, home comforts have not halted Joe Hart’s decline. Starting the season as West Ham’s number one, a string of poor displays - including two errors leading directly to goals - meant the England international lost his place to Adrian before Christmas, and all in a World Cup year.
Signed for £35m in the summer, Victor Lindelof has failed to live up to expectations at Old Trafford so far. The Sweden international defender has mainly been used as a rotation player but has failed to take his chances when he has been given them, winning only seven tackles in 10 appearances.
Gary Cahill has endured an almighty fall from grace this season, having been one of Sky Sports Fantasy Football’s leading points scorers last term, but David Luiz has fallen harder - almost completely out of the team, in fact. When he does play, his ill-discipline does him no favours. Committing an average of 1.2 fouls per game, in just 10 appearances, the Brazil international has been shown three yellow cards as well as one red.
Michael Keane looked an astute signing by Everton when he arrived from Burnley in the summer. However, he’s failed to live up to his £30m price tag, as well as his £7.9m one in Sky Sports Fantasy Football. Winning 20 tackles in 19 games, Keane looks a ghost of the player he was last year - one who was touted to make England’s World Cup squad.
Patrick van Aanholt scored five goals and provided one assist last season, despite swapping Sunderland for Crystal Palace in January. The move from the north east to the capital did not affect him at all, but he has been unable to pick up where he left off last term and hasn’t been involved in a goal yet this campaign.
Jordan Henderson comes in for a lot of criticism at Liverpool, but he has the same goal (1) and assist (1) totals as Georginio Wijnaldum. The Netherlands international scored six and assisted nine last term, but rarely comes under fire for his poor return this year. Wijnaldum has also won fewer tackles and completed less passes than his skipper, despite starting two more games and playing in a more attacking role.
Ander Herrera was a model of consistency last season for Manchester United, but has been anything but this term. Though featuring more off the bench than from the start, the Spain midfielder has been given plenty of chances to impress but has failed to take them, averaging just 55 completed and 0.81 key passes per 90 minutes, down from 65 and 1.09 last year.
Given how high expectations were for his arrival, Renato Sanches may well be the most underwhelming player of this Premier League season so far. Paul Clement persisted with the on-loan Bayern Munich midfielder, but after only averaging a tackle won every 88 minutes and 32 passes per game, he’s fallen well out of favour in South Wales - and also in Sky Sports Fantasy Football, where he’s now selected by only 0.29 per cent of players.
Although currently sidelined through injury, Jermain Defoe’s season was not exactly going to plan beforehand, with just three goals scored after returning to Bournemouth. Having scored an outstanding 15 goals in an incredibly poor Sunderland side last term, the 35-year-old was expected to thrive in a much better team at the Vitality Stadium. Instead, he’s done anything but, with his conversion rate dropping from 24.6 per cent to 15.
With just two goals, 18 shots on target and an infamously bad penalty miss to show from 21 games this season, Christian Benteke’s career is continuing to disappoint after firing 42 goals in 89 Premier League games with Aston Villa. Perhaps most worrying for Palace fans is that new signing Alexander Sorloth, who has scored 15 goals in Denmark this season already, was pushed out to the wing in Saturday’s defeat at Everton to accommodate the increasingly poor Belgium international.
The signing of Manolo Gabbiadini was a stroke of genius for Southampton last January, as he scored six goals in 12 games in all competitions and helped the team reach the League Cup final. This year, however, he’s managed half that tally in twice as many games, managing just seven shots in his 22 league games, and has started just one of the Saints’ last nine fixtures as a result.
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