What a great week. Green arrows across the board and I met these lovely gentlemen who bought me a pint of wine and offered me a load of cash to do some speeches out in Malaysia and Singapore. Bit weird one of them had a Go-Pro on the table but then again I am the FPL Updates XI gaffer so I expect this kind of attention.
Anyway, Aguero was back picking up 26pts and we moved up 104k places to 86k overall. Side note, we have now moved up from 496,256th to 86,126th in 3 gameweeks since calling in our wildcard. Pleasing validation of the decision to call it in early. So before we get onto gameweek 7 let’s look at how the FPL Updates XI accumulated 63 points last week.
We spoke last week of how we were benching Eldin Jakupovic because of his match up with Liverpool and clearly Mike Phelan must read this article because he went and did the same thing. Ben Foster was the chosen one and thanks to a Joe Allen goal, Joe bloody Allen, we lost out on a clean sheet.
With Luke Shaw and Leighton Baines both omitted from their teams’ starting line ups we were left with 2pts from each of our back 3 as Ben Davies, Jonny Evans and John Stones conceded in their respective matches.
The midfield 4 was a little more mixed. Last week we explained how we kept Mesut Ozil over Eden Hazard due to the upcoming fixtures and thankfully it paid off. Ozil’s 10 point haul was pleasing and is now looking at a fixture run of Burnley, Swansea, Middlesbrough and Sunderland. Raheem Sterling also picked us up an attacking return as he scored his 4th Premier League goal of the season. He is now averaging an attacking return every 72 minutes this season. With De Bruyne out he is clearly the City midfielder of choice and his £8.6m price tag still looks an absolute bargain. Michail Antonio blanked for the first time since gameweek 1 so I have a feeling we may have cursed him there but his upcoming 3 fixtures suggest he will be back in the points soon. Yannick Bolasie also blanked as Everton came away empty handed against Bournemouth.
Up top it was all about Sergio Aguero. Back from his ban we obviously gave him the armband and his 26 point haul was much needed. Christian Benteke also notched as he struck the late Crystal Palace winner. The goal was the 5th goal scored by an FPL Updates XI player against Sunderland in the last 3 gameweeks. *Looks up fixtures and contemplates Salomon Rondon*. Romelu Lukaku blanked to complete our weeks scoring.
So with momentum on our side it’s time to take a little gamble. We’ve got ourselves a Rash.
Benteke (OUT) – Rashford (IN)
This has been tempting me for weeks but with the statement dropping of Wayne Rooney and Marcus Rashford now starting the last 2 it’s clear Jose Mourinho has faith in the United starlet. His rotation was a risk but he now looks an absolute steal at £6.9m and a very cheap route into a potentially explosive United attack. Don’t get me wrong, Zlatan still holds appeal but I’m like David Dickinson circa 2001, I just love a bargain! It wasn’t easy to drop Christian Benteke but Everton away or Stoke at home. It just had to be done.
So with our 1 free transfer used let’s have a look at how we line up for gameweek 7.
Ben Foster starts. I tend to think Sunderland will score at home here but it’s not like our sub keeper is even guaranteed a start. 3 games in a row without a clean sheet now would be a nice time for him to deliver one.
Regardless of the yellow flag we are persisting with Luke Shaw, but with news of Leighton Baines being out means we will be doubling up on West Brom defensive coverage as Jonny Evans gets the nod over Ben Davies. WHEN Sunderland score on Saturday my Twitter account may require an over 18 age limit to view! 3rd defender is John Stones who starts away to Spurs, a game I hold zero hope of a clean sheet from.
Our midfield should fair a little better than our defence. Michail Antonio starts his second game for us and a home tie against Middlesbrough looks like it has potential. Mesut Ozil travels to Burnley. Burnley have only conceded 1 goal at home in 3 games so this may not be the easiest of matches but Arsenal look in great form and Ozil will be looking to add to his 2 goals. Raheem Sterling’s only blank this season came against Manchester United, whilst all of his returns have come against teams in the bottom half. I for one would love to see him prove he can do it against a title contender this week at White Hart Lane. Yannick Bolasie up last but actually plays first when he features in Friday Night Football.
Our strike force looks primed and ready. New boy Marcus Rashford is in. Home to Stoke looks an ideal game for United attacking cover whilst Romelu Lukakau is another of our Friday Night Football coverage. Bare in mind the last 2 televised games he played in he scored 4 goals. He seems to thrive in the spotlight games and this looks like one set up for him to deliver. Last up is obviously the captain Sergio Aguero. Given the armband in what looks a tough match but I’m pretty sure he has scored more goals against Spurs than days Sam Allardyce was England gaffer. Well maybe not, but 10 goals in 9 games against Pochettino’s men suggests he likes this match up.
There is our team. On paper I’m confident of a continued push for the top 50k but a lot rides on a couple of key players. With potentially 3 players playing tonight the Everton game will almost certainly dictate how I’m spending my Friday night. Not quite sure if I’ll be drinking alone in the corner of the bar longingly scrolling through Google images of Christian Benteke or if I’ll be re-enacting the infamous dentist chair and drinking shots from a waitress’s cleavage. Hold this space.
So, a good luck to everyone this week and obviously remember the deadline is 7pm tonight, not tomorrow morning. I’ve got to shoot off now because the board have just emailed me telling me to pop over to FPL Updates XI HQ. Apparently someone from the Telegraph is there. Must be wanting to do an interview on me after our recent good form. This week just gets better!
Written by FPL Guru (@FPL_Guru_)
