After a dismal start to the season, Stoke City find themselves sitting in the relegation places after the first eight games.

There are, however, small signs of recovery. They managed their first win last weekend at home to Sunderland - another candystriped side in worse trouble than the Potters at present - they’re unbeaten in three games after two draws before that victory, and their summer signing Joe Allen is starting to come good.

In fact, after four defeats in their opening five games, you wouldn’t have thought that Joe Allen would appear on the list of the best performing players in the league, but over the last few games, that’s where he’s positioned himself. And we’re not just talking about one or two good weeks.

FanDuel is a fantasy football game that uses Opta data to measure player performance, so it’s a fantasy game comprehensive enough to give a bit of insight into form and statistics. And what those stats show is that Joe Allen averages more points than the likes of Sergio Aguero, Alexis Sanchez and Philippe Coutinho.

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The Stoke City man is holding his own with players for bigger teams who are performing much better than his own side is.

In fact, Allen makes the gameweek eight team of the week alongside Mesut Ozil and Dele Alli - both of whom scored fewer points last weekend, and both of whom are averaging a lower points tally over the entire season. Only one player - Bournemouth's Junior Stanislas - scored more points than Allen last weekend.

So when you’re looking to your FanDuel team this weekend, maybe you shouldn’t just be looking to the top of the table to pick your midfielders and attacking points scorers - Joe Allen’s Stoke City are coming into form, it seems.

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