Ahhh yeah, Sergio Aguero is actually quite good isn’t he. As the Friday night deadline passed I thought the FPL Updates XI brand new shiny Wildcard line up looked great. I was all set to take it for a spin. Fast forward 24 hours and Aguero has gone all 2014 on us, Harry Kane blanked for the third consecutive game at Wembley and our three Liverpool players have combined for 8pts. Bloody FPL! Love it or hate it you cannot deny it’s so brilliantly unpredictable.
Anyway, crappy week or not I still like the line-up for the most part but posting 55pts on a 58 average has left us sitting at a lowly 1.7m, so we need a better week in gameweek 6. But before we discuss this coming week let’s have a quick run through the FPL Updates XI gameweek 5 line up:
For the second consecutive week we got the GK decision correct. Only by 2pts but I’ll take it. Rob Elliot picked up 3pts to Jack Butland’s 1. It actually means Elliot is now the joint sixth highest scoring GK this season. Not bad for the only starting GK under £4.5m.
At the back it started badly. Trent Alexander-Arnold started in what looked a favourable game but going a goal down to Burnley killed any hopes of points. I like TAA as a player but I’m not convinced he is a value FPL pick right now. 1pt total after three 90 minutes suggests value at 4.5m is elsewhere. With Spurs hosting shot shy Swansea I was confident of a Ben Davies clean sheet. That was until the team sheets came out and he was nowhere to be seen. The highest scoring defender through five weeks missed out due to a minor injury. In came Harry Maguire for 2pts and frustratingly not Kyle Naughton’s 6pts. Thankfully you can usually rely on a United defender to save you here. What I will highlight is this quote from me last week regarding our Wildcard transfers:
‘Alongside him we have ‘downgraded’ Antonio Valencia to Phil Jones. I’m a big fan of Tony V but when you are looking to save some cash this is the type of move you may need to do. 1.4m saved here for ultimately the same defensive coverage.’
Obviously I transfer out him out the week he scores his first home goal in 3 years. Anyway, 6pts isn’t going to be scoffed at by me.
Our midfield was a little more of a bright spot. Dele Alli the lowest scorer on 3pts whilst Emre Can picked up an assist, Henrikh Mkhitaryan scored a goal to register his 6th attacking return this season and David Silva picked up two assists and two bonus as he pulled the strings against Watford. An average of 6.75pts per player is always going to be acceptable.
Our front line was saved by Jamie Vardy. His penalty equaliser against Huddersfield was all we had to show from a front line that looked primed for a big week. All three with nice fixtures yet captain Harry Kane and Liverpool front man Roberto Firmino both blanked.
Now the interesting part. The weekly transfer(s). Although the Wildcard was called in I felt the team needed a little tweaking given a couple nice fixtures so we have gone big.
(OUT) Vardy – (IN) Aguero
(OUT) Dele Alli – (IN) Ritchie
(OUT) Davies – (IN) Kolasinac
A hit taken and one that I appreciate may appear short sighted after last week. BUT with Vardy a slight doubt and Dele Alli just not living up to his lofty price I felt it justifiable. Especially given Man City’s match up this week. Also, I know Ben Davies will return this week but after a week of not owning Sead Kolasinac it just felt wrong. I can’t help but love that big beautiful Bosnian!
Let the fight back commence.
We start off with Rob Elliot in goal again. 18pts in his last three games he travels to the South Coast for a match-up against Brighton. Conveniently ignoring the WBA game, Brighton have only scored in one of their other four games this season so hopefully Elliot can increase upon his so far impressive points tally.
In front of him we bring Sead Kolasinac back in. It just felt so wrong transferring him out last week and we paid the price as he picked up an unexpected clean sheet at Stamford Bridge. Arsenal appear to have turned the corner after their abysmal end to August and hopefully they can shut out an unpredictable WBA team. Alongside him we start Phil Jones away to a Southampton team that have scored just four goals in five games and Kyle Naughton at home to Watford. Watford have started well but it will be interesting to see how they bounce back from the 6-0 drubbing last week. What is also worth noting is that Swansea have kept three clean sheets this season. Only Man United have kept more.
Our midfield welcomes Matt Ritchie and there is a part of me that fears this is a week or two late given that he has scored an impressive 22pts from his last three matches. But when looking at all of the mid range midfielders he does look the most likely to be able to maintain form. He’s on the majority of set pieces and the main creative source at Newcastle so hopefully he continues to justify selection. Especially as his ownership is at surprisingly low 4.7%. Who doesn’t love a differential. Emre Can looks to be a minor injury doubt but we will keep him in for now and he is joined by Henrikh Mkhitaryan and David Silva who face Southampton and Crystal Palace respectively. They have combined for 67pts so far this season so we really need that to continue.
Up top is now where we pin our hopes as we now have a total of £33.8m invested in our attack. Roberto Firmino is the only ever present for us and faces Leicester away this week. So far this season Leicester have conceded four against Arsenal, two against United and two against Chelsea so Liverpool should feel confident of scoring here. Firmino has blanked for the last two weeks so we could really do with him returning to the form he showed against Watford and Arsenal. Talking of blanks we have Harry Kane next up. After his brace against Everton I think I can safely say I wasn’t alone in thinking the tide had turned. August was over and the goals were rolling but then came the Swansea game. I’m still not quite sure how he didn’t score. Funnily enough he has now registered more shots on goal this season than Swansea as an entire team! This week he faces West Ham away and that’s positive for two reasons. One, it’s not a Wembley and two, he loves a London derby. Last up is a favourite of ours, Sergio Agueroooooo. This is a guy that has probably played more minutes for the FPL Updates XI than any other player but we lost a little faith this season. Doubts around Pep’s line up more so than Aguero’s ability to be fair but things are looking a little better following Pep’s confidence in a front two. Aguero followed up his goal and assist against Liverpool with a hugely impressive hat-trick last week. With Gabriel Jesus starting in midweek I think it’s fairly safe to say Aguero will start regardless this week. And right now there just isn’t a more favourable match than Palace at home.
We just have to see them green arrows this week! I can’t remember a season that any team I’ve managed has ever been this low. We had a superb late run last season but we can’t rely upon that again this year. Hopefully this is the team to start that.
As per each article it’s time for you guys to vote for our weekly captain. I’m not going to lie, I’m quietly hoping you play this sensibly but it’s all fun and games.
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Thanks again for reading and good luck this week to all of you!
Written by FPL Guru (@FPL_Guru)
