Fantasy Football: Insurance Times’ Yiannis Kotoulas

Fantasy Football managers can relax this weekend, with Premier League games being paused for another international break.

So, this presents a good opportunity to look at how the standings are shaping up in the Insurance Times Fantasy Football League.

It’s Insurance Times’ own Yiannis Kotoulas who leads the way, with him currently sitting on 505 points overall after scoring 68 points in the last game week.

Niall Casey is close behind in second with 502 points, while Chay Thornborough sits third with 501 points.

These three managers are the only ones in the league with more than 500 points – congratulations to all three of you on the achievement.

Q&A

Before writing this article, I asked Yiannis if he would do a Q&A with himself due to him being at the top of the table. Clearly this was something he could not resist, as that’s exactly what he has gone and done! Below is what he had to say for himself.

Congratulations on being top for GW7, how do you rate your chances of staying there for the season?

Thanks Insurance Times! I rate my chances of staying top of league for the whole season incredibly highly, but then I have cultivated a sense of personal delusion that flies entirely in the face of statistical probability and observable reality. 

Some of my colleagues have even suggested that I pushed for the launch of the Insurance Times Fantasy League entirely as a personal vanity project, which is patently ridiculous. 

Would someone that wanted to do that have used his wildcard chip early in a desperate attempt to be top of the league going into an international break? Unlikely. 

What are the key decisions to make ahead of GW8?

The key decisions for GW8, for me anyway, involve keeping track of injury news from the accursed international break. For yesterday’s England game against Greece – for which I had mixed loyalties – Arsenal talisman Bukayo Saka limped off with an injury.

Making transfers to account for injuries is important, but I’d also be careful to not be too reactive. Scamming my way into the top spot so far has actually involved a fair amount of telling myself to just wait another week, rather than making the dreaded panic transfer.

Who would you call out as an under-rated player for everyone’s Fantasy squad?

Kai Havertz. The unassuming German striker/number 10/false nine had a tough start with Arsenal when he joined from London rivals Chelsea, but since finding his feet has been scoring and assisting consistently for the Gunners.

There’s a stat floating around somewhere that, when comparing only non-penalty goals, the Arsenal man is earning Fantasy points at a rate only slightly behind Manchester City’s Erling Haaland, when you take a long-term view.

Who or what would you like to call out in the insurance industry? 

Firstly, if you’ve been playing Fantasy Premier League this year but haven’t joined Insurance Times’ league, then you can still do so and compete with your colleagues in the industry for bragging rights. 

Otherwise, I’d like to call out the need for more collaboration across the sector in addressing the structural issues that affect us all, such as attracting talented young people to the sector or ensuring that the sector’s regulators remain informed of exactly what the industry is thinking. 

Easier said than done, I know, but the insurance industry is unique in that it remains a true market to a large extent. That, plus the fact that the sector contains a good amount of incredibly smart, entrepreneurial people, gives me hope that the hardest part of climbing this particular mountain is making the first step.