Gallagher Re graduate account handler Josh Bennison talks to Insurance Times about his strong performance in this year’s Fantasy Football league
Friday afternoon is here again, meaning it’s time for Fantasy Football is back this weekend, meaning it’s time for the Insurance Times Fantasy Football League’s top professionals to lock in their teams.
Managers have until 11am tomorrow morning to make their transfers and pick their starters, with fixtures kicking off Manchester United’s visit to Tottenham Hotspurs.
Before that, though, Insurance Times thought it would speak to Gallagher Re’s John Bennison, who sits in seventh on 682 points.
Bennison is just three points behind Aviva’ Archie Taylor-Salmon in fourth and 17 points behind league leader Islam Mohammed.
1. Congrats on being in the top 10 for GW10, how do you rate your chances of staying there for the season?
Very limited to be honest. I usually tail off at Christmas time and become disillusioned with Fantasy, but this season has started well so I guess I’ve got to try my best to stay up there.
I’ve managed to stay well above the average each week so far, but inevitably I’ll have a shocker soon and that’ll drag me down the league. My eyes are more focused on my mini leagues with mates, which I’m more confident I can pull through in.
2. What are the key decisions to make ahead of GW11?
The big game of the weekend is City vs Liverpool on Sunday, so it’s about whether to keep Haaland as skipper against a Liverpool team who bounced back with a massive result and clean sheet in the week against Real Madrid.
Personally I’m going to stick with him – he’s blanked so few times this season and, as boring as it is, captaining him every game will most likely lead to the best returns.
Arsenal seem unstoppable at the moment, especially at the back, but – as a completely unbiased Sunderland fan – I’d be wary about tripling up with their trip to the Stadium of Light.
They’re unbeaten at home this season and high on confidence – also it’s written in the stars that Xhaka has a stormer and scores or assists to break their clean sheet run.
3. Who would you call out as an under-rated player for everyone’s Fantasy squad?
Despite my bias, Sunderland’s £4.0m defenders like Mukiele and Alderete have been excellent this season, keeping clean sheets and scoring.
Whilst it is Arsenal this weekend, and with a tough run of fixtures coming up, I’d definitely have at least one to rotate in and out when fixtures align, probably Mukiele as he has been being playing more as a right back recently and gets forward a lot.
I think Everton’s Ndiaye has also been great this year. I’ve had him in from the start as he’s cheap, always looks dangerous and has consistently been picking up five to nine point hauls.
4. Who or what would you like to call out in the insurance industry?
This is not necessarily insurance related, but we’re in November now so a massive shoutout to the Movember charity. I know people across the industry will be growing dodgy tashes and doing challenges, so I urge everyone to give what they can as it’s a really important cause.
Also shout out to JACCHA FC – name change pending – six-a-side football team. It’s made up of graduates from across the market and we bagged our first win of the season on Tuesday.
Title charge now pending.
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