Following a decent GW1 score of 74pts we couldn’t quite match it in GW2 as we scored 52pts. 8pts above the week average wasn’t terrible though, especially given that Kyle Walker saw red and Wayne Hennessey managed to score 9 bloody points in a week he concedes! Unfortunately we have dropped to 720k but averaging 61pts per week is fine by me at this stage.
Wayne f*cking Hennessey. I seriously should not be left in charge of selecting keepers every week. Anyone that read this article last year will be more than aware of my frankly abysmal record of picking the correct keeper and that has continued into this season. Granted I didn’t expect a cleanie from either but how is Hennessey scoring 9pts at Anfield? Rob Elliot got the nod and scored a paltry 2pts.
Until Monday Night Football our back line had been looking quite nice. Maya Yoshida picked up 5pts with an assist against West Ham and Danny Simpson strolled to a comfortable clean sheet and 6pts against Brighton. I won’t lie, as I saw the Everton team line-up being announced I genuinely thought Walker was on for a clean sheet at worst. I couldn’t see an attacking threat from them and with Walker lining up as basically a right midfielder I was rubbing my hands. 44 minutes in, with City already a goal behind, Bobby Madley decides to ruin my night by sending him off (still not quite sure why). A one match ban now leaves us with a decision as to whether we spend our free transfer on him this week.
Like the backline, our midfield started really well on Saturday and did sweet FA after. Paul Pogba followed his strong start in GW1 with an impressive 15pts in the early Saturday kick off. It is becoming pretty clear that the addition of Nemanja Matic is a massive benefit to Pogba. He has increased to £8.2m and I don’t see the increases stopping any time soon. Following the United game I had to attend the wedding of my girlfriend’s sister. I had yet to meet a single member of her family before I turned up at the venue for a 3pm ceremony! 3pm! To ensure I didn’t come across like a bit of a tit I refrained from checking my phone throughout. I will honestly say it’s easier to hold in a piss for 3 hours after you’ve broken the seal on a night out than it is to not check Twitter every 10 minutes during the 3 o’clock kicks. Ok, I lie a little. I did go for a quick ‘fake poo’ break at half time. At this point I had seen Sadio Mane and blanking against Palace. Thankfully by the time my phone came back out of the pocket he had notched in a 1-0 win. A much needed 8pts. Especially given that both Heung-Min Son and Kevin de Bruyne then blanked on the Sunday.
Up top we went with Romelu Lukaku as captain for the second consecutive week, as he comfortably won the ‘Captain Poll’ in last weeks article. It was looking bleak until he notched late. 12pts was good enough for me. Even more so because our other option for the armband Roberto Firmino blanked. Firmino looks a great value pick at £8.5m but I guess we will have to deal with the odd blank week from him. The last of our XI was Steve Mounie. I was more than a little bit impressed with his GW1 performance so rushed to bring him in before any price increase. A blank against Newcastle wasn’t overly encouraging though. Given that he also got booked. His fixtures look ok for the time being so hopefully this wasn’t a short sighted bandwagon jump. With ownership of under 5% I’m still confident he could be a nice differential.
So a 52pt week was only good enough for red arrows but as mentioned above I’m more than happy averaging 60pts a week for the season.
This has been a tough week though. We have Harry Kane looking primed for a big return and Alexis Sanchez announced fit we have had to show huge restraint with saving our Wildcard. I am a strong advocate of using it post GW3 in conjunction with the International break and end of transfer window but my lord it was tempting this week. Trying to squeeze Harry Kane into this line up almost became a part time job. Impossible without a hit and difficult to find a balance with only 4pts. Therefore an 8pt hit looked the only way and I just couldn’t justify it. I would be needing him to score at least a brace and hope Kevin De Bruyne and Roberto Firmino blanked. I couldn’t see both happening. Therefore we went safe and made just the one swap
Walker (OUT) – Alderweireld (IN)
We may not have Harry Kane but at least we now have defensive and attacking coverage from Spurs. A favorable home game against Burnley is a game I can see Spurs finally breaking this Wembley ‘curse’. If it was to nil I’d be even more pleased.
In goal we are running with Wayne Hennessey. I’m still rather bitter about last week so this is his chance to redeem himself. Home against a Swansea team that have yet to score this season and look to be massively missing Sigurdsson and Llorente. Granted, Crystal Palace have hardly looked solid at the back but if you’re going to pick up home clean sheets it’s in games like this.
Our back line welcomes in Toby Alderweireld. Burnley scored three in London in GW1 but I fancy Spurs to nil this week. I also, have a feeling Alderweireld scores or assist. I won’t be backing that prediction with cold hard cash but just have a sneaky feeling he returns. Alongside the Spurs man we have Trent Alexander Arnold and Maya Yoshida. TAA has looked a fantastic prospect this season and although I think Arsenal score I’m happy to have him in for his attacking potential. Yoshida also get’s the start. Not sure I see many points from the Southampton man but he looks a better option on paper to Rob Holding or Danny Simpson.
Our four man midfield is unchanged. Sadio Mane starts for us in what looks to be a goal fest in waiting against Arsenal. The Gunners back line looks questionable at best and Liverpool playing some great attacking football. Confident of a return here. Kevin De Bruyne is drinking at the last chance saloon. But thankfully this saloon is based on the sunny south coast of Bournemouth. City regularly batter Bournemouth so this was not the week to drop the Belgian, even if he’s been deeper than Barry White’s voice. Paul Pogba gets the start again and this week he’s home to Leicester. Two goals in his first two games he will be in confident mood. Leicester looked comfortable against Brighton last week but away to Arsenal in GW1 they really struggled with creativity in front of their back line and we saw Xhaka, Ramsey and Elneny all pick up attacking returns. If the start of the season is anything to go by this could be a fun game. Our last midfielder is yet to start a game but I think he will this week. Heung-Min Son has looked really good in both games he has come on and a home game with Burnley looks a good one. Burnley have started the season in the complete opposite fashion to how their 2016/17 season went. Winning away against Chelsea then losing at home to WBA.
That leaves the same three up top. Romelu Lukaku is our third Manchester United player for the third consecutive GW and it has been enjoyable so far. He has hit the ground running and is already favourite for the Golden Boot with three in his first two. It’s going to be fun watching him clash with Harry Maguire and Wes Morgan but I would be surprised if he blanked. Steve Mounie starts at home to Southampton. Not an easy game but The Saints conceded two at home to 10 man West Ham last week so there’s a little bit of hope here. I feel this is a both teams to score type game and a Mounie goal would be hugely appreciated. Even if we do have Maya Yoshida at the back. Last up is a second piece of attacking coverage from Liverpool, Roberto Firmino. He looked in superb form against Hoffenheim so with Arsenal’s porous defence awaiting we will be hoping for a 4-3 thriller. Liverpool hit seven across two games against Arsenal last year and with the way Arsenal have started I wouldn’t be surprised to see Liverpool hit three or four.
So there we have it. Aside from not owning Harry Kane I’m not too disappointed with the line up. With the International break looming and and the Wildcard primed I certainly feel there’s enough quality to continue a run of 50+ totals into the break. So with everything set i’ll now just leave the captaincy selection up to you fine readers.
[polldaddy poll=9816741]
Thanks for reading and all the best this week.
Written by FPL Guru (@FPL_Guru_)
