FANTASY FOOTBALL: Sitting pretty at 1,162 in the world

MY EDITOR didn't put the commentator's curse on me by asking me to start this column last week. He's also a sports commentator - terrible in-joke, sorry.

Before the weekend I was ranked 6,795 in the world, not too shabby. But after gameweek 10 I am sitting pretty at 1,162 out of 8,556,268 players in the world. I've never been so high - well there was that one time in the Blue Mountains in Sydney (I'm not sure what you were thinking).

Key to my rank climb has been Reece James. I mentioned last week about this game being a combination of skill and luck. I got James in on my wildcard before Chelsea played Brentford. Thiago Silva and Toni Rudiger were injured so I figured César Azpilicueta would have to play in central defence leaving James to bomb up and down as a right wing back. Wrong. James came on with 10 minutes to go for a one pointer.

The following week I wanted to swap Ben Chilwell for Reece James but I had to transfer out Romelu Lukaku after he got injured. Not that his replacement Harry Kane has done much for me.

So I was stuck with James who went onto score three goals in two games. Pure luck. Emile Smith Rowe has delivered the goods again, Raphinha scored and Tino Livramento came off the bench for a six pointer after Mason Mount got sick.

I was considering playing Ben Foster instead of Aaron Ramsdale who made some incredible saves in a man of the match performance. All these small calls going my way have led me to being in the top 0.0136 of players in the world (I studied Maths in Trinity College but I still used percentage calculator so what was the point).

Looking ahead it seems a no brainer to target Norwich. I have two free transfers so either Antonio or Kane will be replaced with Brentford's Ivan Toney. He's due a goal. Antonio has some tough fixtures coming up but is in great form. Kane is the opposite on both counts but surely Antonio Conte will get a reaction from the Spurs players.

By that reckoning Heung-Min Son has to come into the mix in midfield as they prepare for a run of Everton, Leeds, Burnley, Brentford and Norwich. Doesn't get much better than that.

I still want Ben Chilwell in defence, maybe for Cancelo as Man City play Man Utd. Plus, Chilwell and James being rested for Chelsea's Champions League Game against Malmo is a big positive.

Up front, Ronaldo has to come back into our thinking in the near future considering his form. Turning to captain choice - Mo Salah got a measly five points (for him) against Brighton. Despite playing West Ham you'd be a brave man or woman to bet against him.

Will I get into the top 1,000 after this weekend or drop like a stone? It's all part of the game.