Fantasy League numbers show how valuable Diego Costa and Alexis are to their clubs

Ah, fantasy football. The one saving grace when your team concedes a last minute equaliser. The reason you've been cheering for your rivals to score from a corner.

However, for all the questionable tendencies it can inspire in a fan, there are also some positives, such as demonstrating just how important a player can be to a club. Alexis Sánchez and Diego Costa have both been at the centre of will-he-won't-he sagas with their respective clubs, Arsenal and Chelsea. Naturally, that sort of thing can prompt fans to go down the 'well we don't need him anyway' route. But that may have come from supporters ignorant of the measuring stick that is fantasy football.

Costa has 123 points so far this season (photo credit: Steve Bardens/Getty Images)

EA Sports have issued their Official Fantasy Premier League Half-Time Awards, to mark the halfway point in the Premier League season. Using data from the official Fantasy Premier League site, Alexis has reached the halfway point as the top scorer with 136 points, while Costa takes the most improved honours after seeing his price in the game rise by £1.2m - more than any other player. Meanwhile the fans' favourite award - handed to the player selected by more fantasy football managers than anyone else - has gone to Manchester United's Zlatan Ibrahimović.

Alex Livesey/Getty Images for Premier League

There were two other awards handed out by EA Sports, and the recipients won't come as much of a surprise. Dele Alli is the best under-21 player wth a nice round total of 100 points, while Tom Heaton has made more saves than any other goalkeeper, with 11 of his 82 total coming in Burnley's goalless draw at Old Trafford.