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Before the 2018/19 NFL season, the Patriots and the Rams were trendy selections to reach Super Bowl 53 for completely different reasons. The Los Angeles Rams were the up-and-coming bully in the NFC with a fresh new roster, while the New England Patriots were considered an established team that was reloaded with AFC power after appearing in Super Bowls for two consecutive seasons.

Why the Rams Could Win Super Bowl 53

Super Bowl 53, in some ways, features contrast in Atlanta. In others, the Patriots and the Rams are more similar than fans might believe. Bill Belichick from New England and Sean McVay from the Rams are the longest-tenured and youngest coaches within the NFL, respectively. However, both of them are widely respected. A huge chunk of the key starters for the Rams were acquired during 2018 through free agency or trades versus just a handful for the Patriots. However, the number of players for the Rams who were drafted is 28, while that number is 29 for the Patriots.

Obviously, some of those acquisitions that were made by the Rams is the primary reason why they will have the edge over the Patriots when Super Bowl 53 rolls around. Les Snead, the general manager for the Rams, had a clear mission to improve the overall defense of the team to complement the potent offense the team already had. The key players that were used to achieve that mission included Aqib Talib, Marcus Peters, and Ndamukong Suh.

Los Angeles Rams Defense

Some might argue that the defense of the Rams underachieved during the regular season as they managed to allow 24 points on an average per match which placed them 20th in the league. However, that defense of the Rams managed to hold the Saints to 23 points and 290 total yards which included overtime, during the NFC championship match.

On the other hand, the defense of the Patriots that were ranked 7th in the league with a 20.3 point average per match during the regular season managed to slip during the postseason against the Chiefs and Chargers. The 29.5 point average that the Patriots allowed in both those matches is the most out of all teams in the playoffs.

However, Sony Michel, the running back for the Patriots, has been the league’s most productive rusher by far during the postseason. That is exactly why Suh is considered such an important player when it comes to the Super Bowl.

The Patriots will see a Rams run defense that managed to rank 23rd in the league who will most likely produce another run-heavy game plan which will be a similar approach to what they faced during their games against the Chiefs and Chargers. However, New England haven’t faced the Donald and Suh defense duo before which might be a huge problem for them.

The Rams will have the best player on their side in Donald and due to their timely roster-stuffing, they certainly have the best team on the field when they face New England.

Mohamed Salah managed to score his 14th goal in the 2018/19 season during Liverpool’s 1-0 victory against Brighton. He is currently tied with Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang and Harry Kane for the league lead. His goal was scored through a penalty kick, while his previous two goals were also scored from this spot, against Newcastle and Arsenal.

Mohamed Salah is enjoying another tremendous season and is currently the league leader in both expected assists and expected goals, and has almost caught up with Eden Hazard when it comes to fantasy points for the league lead. However, Salah’s success recently from penalty kicks could allow him to run away in the competition when it comes to the Fantasy Premier League. The only question that remains is, will Salah continue to score on penalty kicks going forward?

Fantasy Premier League Penalty Kicks

James Milner was absent from the matches against Newcastle and Arsenal and was benched when Salah managed to score while playing against Brighton. However, Milner was appointed the penalty kicker for Liverpool at the start of the season where he scored the first one on 20 August 2018 against Crystal Palace.

Milner also managed to handle the two penalties in the Champions League that were given when he was on the pitch against PSG on two occasions. However, it looks like Milner will return to the Liverpool line-up after Trent-Alexander-Arnold suffered a knee injury which will see him on the bench for several weeks. Although he is considered one of the best midfielders for Liverpool, he can also full fullback which he has done before and Klopp doesn’t have loads of other options in this regard either.

Milner is a brilliant penalty-kicker, so there will be no surprise if he continues this role once he returns. However, Salah is currently in a tight race to claim the Golden Boot for two consecutive seasons and might want to take the penalties even if Milner returns. So, we highly recommend that you keep an eye on Liverpool’s next penalty kicker, cause if Salah continues, he is going to raise even higher in fantasy value.

Stay Up-To-Date With Penalty Kickers

Ensure that you are well-aware of who handles penalty kicks in the Premier League as there have already been more than 60 penalties this season where 48 were covered. Bournemouth, Crystal Palace, and Manchester United have been awarded the most with six each. Brighton, Southampton, Leicester City, and Liverpool have each been rewarded with five penalties.

When it comes to individual players, please keep in mind that Luka Milivojevic has taken a total of 6 penalties for Crystal Palace and converted 5. He managed to lead the league with penalty kicks in the previous season as well. His penalty kicks were a big reason for landing 14th overall when it came to penalty points. Therefore, its vital that you know which player is taking the penalties as this plays a significant role in points in the Fantasy league.

Christian Pulisic’s transfer to Chelsea is filled with mixed emotions. Firstly, in case you’ve been missing from the hyperconnected world, here is a rundown of the facts. Chelsea will play Borussia Dortmund, the current Bundesliga leaders, a fee of around €73 million for the U.S international, which is approximately triple the previous record for a football player from the U.S.

The previous record was set by John Brooks when he was transferred from Hertha to Wolfsburg before the 2017/18 season for around $22 million. This will also be the third-highest transfer fee by Chelsea. Although the transfer is finalised, Pulisic will stay at Dortmund on loan for the current campaign while BVB pursues their title in the Bundesliga.

So will the shiny new U.S international perform for his brand-new club that is consistent with his high price tag? Will Pulisic break down as he has done several times during the season? Or will he be considered a brand-new toy for Chelsea that will only be used on rare occasions to show off? As it usually goes with high profile moves, the transfer is fraught with possible rewards and obviously with loads of risk.

Christian Pulisic at Chelsea

The conflicting emotions start with Pulisic’s club choice. Stylistically, this doesn’t seem to be a fit when it comes to Maurizio Sarri as the manager of the club as he enjoys his squads to attack quickly while extensively utilizing the wings. Obviously, Eden Hazard has managed to thrive in this system. However, given the familiarity of the position, the speed of the ball, and the technique that comes with Pulisic, it seems like the perfect place for the U.S international.

However, Chelsea is not known as a club where patience with young players or managers is a prized virtue. Once the club starts to struggle in any way under Sarri, there’s no doubt that the axe will fall on Pulisic first. Chelsea is not regarded as a place where young players are brought through the system and nurtured either. Simply ask Mohamed Salah or Kevin De Bruyne who both managed to move on to better and bigger things after receiving almost nothing while playing for the club. Callum Hudson-Odoi and Ruben Loftus-Cheek are more recent examples when it comes to young players that find it difficult to break through on a constant basis.

Even if Chelsea was considered a club where young players could develop themselves, cracking the line up of the team is still going to be quite a challenge for Pulisic. Most of the focus has been around Hazard and if the world-class football star will remain at the club. However, players like Pedro and Willian offer brilliant competition as well and both are over 30 years old. Both these players have a contract until 2020 and the club might decide to opt in for some cash this summer by trading at least one of them. Should this occur, the U.S international will have a far better opening at the club going forward too.

Ranking the best basketball players of all time is no easy task. The list needs to include legendary old school players along with the present class of greatness. It goes without saying that the players on this list come from different generations that had different technologies and rules while they reigned supreme. It’s essentially a matter of opinions and perspective at the end of the day. With our list, we attempted to compile the superstars that featured a decent mix of every aspect of the game, both on and off the court. Let’s take a look at the best NBA players of all time.

Michael Jordan

It should come as no surprise that Michael Jordan is at the top of our list. His wagging tongue, high-flying dunks, aggressive nature, and winning mindset makes him a legend in the world of basketball. During the 1988 season, Jordan managed to win the scoring title, Defensive player of the year, and NBA MVP. He is more than an icon in basketball, he is a legend in the world of sports.

LeBron James

LeBron James constantly builds a case to become the Greatest of All Time and he can easily cement a place in the Top 3 basketball players on any list. His three MVP finals and 4 regular seasons indicate how valuable he can be to any team, making him one of the best players in the NBA at the moment.

Kareem Abdul-Jabbar

Kareem boast with a total of 6 NBA Championships. He was also the inventor of the devastating and famous sky hook shot. He managed to score the most points in the history of the NBA and was the most regular season MVP, with a total of 6. During the 1970’s, he was the best NBA player at the time and thanks to his longevity and decorated career, no one can match him in the currently league.

Magic Johnson

Magic Johnson is undoubtedly the flashiest player in the history of the sport. The best point guard of all time managed to dazzle fans across the globe with his vibrant playing style when he played for the Showtime Lakers. Magic Johnson was the leader of the Dream Team and his passing ability remains unmatched.

Bill Russell

With a total of 11 NBA titles from only 13 seasons, no one can argue the greatness of Bill Russell. He was the inventor of defensive sequences and ensured that the defense was just as important in an attack league. He is considered the best defensive player in the history of the sport and boasts with a total of 5 MVP awards.

Wilt Chamberlain

Chamberlain makes out list due to the fact that he averaged 50 points in a regular season and averaged over 22 rebounds throughout his entire career. Claiming 4 MVP honors and 2 NBA Championships, his 100-point game and other sensational numbers definitely gives him a place on our list. He was considered the most dominant player the sport has ever seen, statistically.

The 2018 MLB season is still far from over as we’re still patiently waiting to see who claims World Series glory. However, in reality, several organizations are enjoying the off season and are preparing for the next couple of months as we head to March. Some MLB players are relieved the regular season is behind them, but most will take the time to look back on the last 6 months, hoping they can continue their momentum during 2019.

Baseball is essentially a game which is defined by valleys and peaks and the primary objective is to maximize peaks while also minimizing valleys as much as possible. Most MLB players had loads of opportunities to make a significant impact this season. However, some took way more advantage of it when compared to others. The following players have managed to separate themselves from the rest in a very big way.

Mike Trout

Mike Trout is yet again at the top of another list. During Opening Day, most fans wondered if the young MLB outfielder could further improve on his discipline. While his strikeout rate of 20.4% managed to increase for the first time since late 2014, his walk rate of 20.1% managed to improve for the 4th successive year, which led the qualified hitters in the MLB league.

Mookie Betts

Mike Trout might have won the battle, but Mookie Betts certainly won the war. After he flirted with it in both 2016 and 2017, the outfielder for the Boston Red Sox finally managed to join the 30-30 club due to his 30 stolen bases and 32 dingers. A major role to his outstanding success can be attributed to hard-hit rate of 44.5%, soft-hit rate of 12.2%, pull rate of 47.2%, and line-drive rate of 231.2%.

J.D Martinez

J.D Martinez was an enormous hit during his initial year at Beantown. Boasting with a second successive 40-homer season under his belt, Martinez has now slugged 88 homers in a total of 1,138 appearances on the plate since the start of the 2017 season. His slugging percentage of .655 from 2017 is leading everyone in baseball. Mike Trout is currently in second position with .629. In fact, there’s only two MLB players with a mark of more than .600.

Christian Yelich

Christian Yelich is a front runner for the National League MVP and receives additional dap for the only player on this list from the Senior Circuit. The most obvious reason is certainly his 36 homers which he accomplished with only 655 appearances on the plate, but required 1,354 journeys to the place between 2016 and 2017 in order to hit 39 dingers while playing for the Miami Marlins. It’s also worth mentioning that the only month Yelich recorded a hard-hit rate under 45% was during May.

Alex Bregman

If the American League was so flooded, Alex Bregman will undoubtedly receive more MVP love. However, whatever love he does receive is well deserved. His lowest wRC+ was a mere 123, against the cutter and none of the other players fell under 150.

Back in the day, the most glamorous position in the world of football was undoubtedly the central ones, both in attack and defense. If you played as a defender during the 1990’s, you probably admired Franco Baresi, and if you played as a forward, chances are you admired the original Ronaldo. However, times have certainly changed since then, and these days everyone is looking as wide forwards that have made a significant impact on the game in the last two decades.

Most Devastating Forwards in Football

It’s no surprise that the three forwards that are considered the most devastating in football last season, including Mohamed Salah, Lionel Messi, and Christiano Ronaldo, all practiced their trade as wide forwards. The same can be said when you look at the two most powerful attacking forces in the Premier League since last season, including Leroy Sane and Raheem Sterling, who are both wide forwards for Manchester City. They managed to score a total of 40 goals and accumulated 36 assists between the two of them. In Germany, the remarkable Jadon Sancho is assisting Borussia Dortmund to lead the title challenge, while Arjen Robben from Bayern Munich is in extraordinary form despite being quite old in his football career.

How Wide Forward Are Changing the Game

In the previous era, the attacking midfielder managed to reign supreme. For instance, Ronaldinho and Kaka from Brazil, Rui Costa from Portugal, Alessandro del Piero, Roberto Baggio, Francesco Totti, and Gianfranco Zola from Italy. Due to their unbelievable success when it came to the final third of the pitch, the real estate in front of the penalty area became the most aggressively contested space in the game. Terrified of what Deco or Ronaldinho could do from that distance, several teams regularly appointed two defensive midfielders to successfully patrol this area.

However, in today’s game, you can clearly see that they decided to take up the edge of the area as oppose to the middle. In fact, defenders usually fear to thread on the outer edges of the pitch as they are unsure whether to stand off or press the ball due to the space that can easily be exploited. At the same time, those that were originally center-forwards now tend to avoid the congested penalty area. Take Thierry Henry as an example. He spent most of his career on the flanks, drifting in. He understood for a very long time that the best way to unsettle defenders is to arrive in the area at the very last second.

These days, Thomas Muller from Bayern Munich and Gareth Bale from Real Madrid have managed to follow in the footsteps of Henry. Thanks to their incredible success, we are now seeing three types of footballers in the exact same area of the pitch, including a play-maker, a striker, and a winger. The perfect example of this is undeniably Neymar who is currently playing for Paris Saint-Germain who is enjoying an incredible stretch as a wide forward.

Fernando Alonso was highly impressed by Jimmie Johnson’s performance as a seven time champion in the world of NASCAR when the two decided to swap cars on Monday at the Bahrain International Circuit. After numerous attempts, Jimmie Johnson set a time within 0.02 seconds of the benchmark set by Alonso in the 2013 McLaren F1 car, while Fernando Alonso managed to eclipse Jimmie Johnson’s installation lap by four seconds in the NASCAR.

The Brilliant Idea to Swap Rides

The idea behind swapping rides on Monday initially started in January when the two world-class drivers met in Daytona during the Rolex 24 Hours, transforming the dream into a reality last week in Bahrain, occurring just one day after Fernando Alonso participated in his last F1 race. The overall idea was quite simplistic: Fernando Alonso would take the wheel of the 2018 Henrick Motorsport NASCAR, while Jimmie Johnson would test the 2013 McLaren MP4, which is one of the last V8 screamers in Formula 1.

Within 24 hours after he completed the final lap of his Formula 1 career, Fernando Alonso returned behind the wheel of a Formula 1 car less than an hour into the event. Once Johnson tested his Chevrolet, Alonso decided to return the favor with a total of 3 laps in the McLaren, allowing him to set the benchmark time of 1 minute 40 seconds.

“In all honesty, I wasn’t supposed to drive the McLaren and was only meant to drive the NASCAR. However, it made more sense to test the car before Johnson grabbed it to ensure everything was fine,” Alonso stated. “I was in the cockpit at 11 am after I decided to retire from Formula 1 yesterday.”

More Than Just a Day of Fun

Even though the opportunity was initially pitched as a glorious day of fun and excitement for both racers, running two world-class race cars is undoubtedly serious business. This was especially true when Johnson decided to take the McLaren out for a spin, lifting the bottom of his helmet due to the airflow of the open cockpit, placing strain on his chin strap during the first outing.

“During the first outing, the helmet I used was continuously trying to remove itself from my head. It was actually so high that I starred at the microphone,” Johnson stated. “I constantly thought to myself, I don’t want to slow down or stop, but I believe it’s the best course of action.”

Fortunately, there is always a solution in Formula 1, and in this case a thin Perspex windscreen was attached to the cockpit which helped with redirecting the airflow. Even though this was not ideal, it was acceptable for a 5 lap run, allowing Johnson to push the car to its limits.

Meanwhile, Alonso quickly grew accustomed to Johnson’s NASCAR, having loads of fun as he got familiar with brand-new machinery. “There was loads of problems with breaking and traction, but I had loads of fun on the track nonetheless.” Alonso stated.