THE race for top spot among Dream Team defenders this season has been over for a while now.
With 213 points to his name, Kieran Trippier (£5.9m) is simply fulfilling his procession at the back end of what has been a miraculous campaign.
The scrap for second place, however, could scarcely be more competitive.
Lisandro Martinez (£4.8m) is the latest name to appear immediately below the Newcastle right-back’s in the rankings as the World Cup winner leapt above Ben White (£4.8m) and Fabian Schar (£3.9m) with an eight-point haul at home to Everton on Saturday.
Martinez has proved to be a good signing for Man United
The Manchester United centre-back was subjected to harsh criticism during the embryonic stage of his Premier League career having been given a torrid time in that now infamous 4-0 drubbing at Brentford.
Since then, his critics have generally either been silenced or converted.
Martinez has been one of the Premier League’s most impressive defenders this season having proved that combativeness, positioning and timing can make up for a couple of lost inches in height.
How many Dream Team gaffers would have tipped him to reach 140 points by Game Week 29 after that disasterclass at the Gtech Community Stadium?
Newcastle and Arsenal’s failure to keep their sheets clean at the weekend cast Martinez’s eight-point return at the expense of the Toffees in an even more favourable light.
Team-mate Luke Shaw (£4.6m) was recently runner-up among defenders but he too lost some ground having been sidelined with an injury.
GETTYComfortably Dream Team’s best defender this season[/caption]
TOP TEN DREAM TEAM DEFENDERS 2022/23
Kieran Trippier – 213 pointsLisandro Martinez – 140 pointsFabian Schar – 139 pointsBen White – 134 pointsGabriel – 133 pointsLuke Shaw – 131 pointsDan Burn – 123 pointsDiogo Dalot – 118 pointsTrent Alexander-Arnold – 116 pointsRuben Dias – 114 points
The race to finish second promises to go down to the wire but Martinez has a great chance of clinging onto the silver medal because of the additional fixtures at his disposal.
Whereas the Gunners and the Magpies have nothing but league commitments to fulfil from here on out, Erik ten Hag’s side are pursuing glory in the Europa League and the FA Cup while simultaneously hoping to finish in the top four.
Martinez is likely to feature against Sevilla on Thursday night as the Red Devils welcome the Europa League specialists to Old Trafford for the first leg of their quarter-final tie.
In fact, while the likes of Schar and White have a maximum of four fixtures remaining this month, Martinez could play as many as six in the same time frame.
GETTY140 points and counting[/caption]
There’s always a chance the additional fixtures could backfire as it’s far from guaranteed Man United will repel the La Liga side over two legs and Brighton’s dynamic attack will throw plenty at their opponents at Wembley on April 23rd.
As a general rule though, the more fixtures a Dream Team asset has to work with the more points they register.
Martinez currently features in 13.2% of teams.