Bittersweet week at FPL Updates HQ. At the same time as being nominated in the category of Best Gaming Football Blog in the FBA’s I’m sitting here posting a frankly pathetic 25 points in gameweek 7. 25 points! Just over a year into my reign as FPL Updates XI gaffer and the pressure is being felt. Second Season Syndrome? Whatever it is I need some serious bouncebackability this week otherwise the boys upstairs might be looking up Big Sam’s number.
A massive drop from 86k to 204k was not the ideal tonic for a 2 week International break so I can’t wait for gameweek 8 to start. But before we crack on with this week let’s have a very quick look at the FPL Updates XI gameweek 7 team.
We were sooooo close to a double WBA cleanie. To be fair if two players in your defensive coverage are from WBA when they are away you probably have bigger problems, but we very nearly struck lucky. A late goal from Patrick van Aanholt put pay to that though so both Ben Foster and Jonny Evans picked up the 2 and 1 respectively. With defensive injuries to Luke Shaw and Leighton Baines and Ben Davies not selected we played with just 2 defenders. John Stones the other with a solitary point.
It didn’t get any better with our midfield. The only return over and above the standard 2pts was Mesut Ozil’s clean sheet point. 4pts combined for Michail Antonio, Raheem Sterling and Yannick Bolasie wasn’t too helpful but they’ve all performed well this season so hopefully this isn’t anything to concern us.
Up top we had deliberated all week as to whether Marcus Rashford or Troy Deeney came in and we went with the United front man. Error. As Troy Deeney picked up a very healthy 9pts Rashford was part of the United team that laboured to a 1-1 home draw against Stoke. Frustrating seeing as Rashford now has Liverpool and Chelsea whilst Deeney has Middlesbrough and Swansea. We gave the armband to Sergio Aguero and even he blanked. Yes, he was away to in-form Spurs, but Aguero has always looked at White Hart Lane in the same way I look at a free bar. The only positive to have come out of the weekend was Romelu Lukaku’s goal in the Friday Night match with Crystal Palace. As I said last time, he loves a televised game.
So following a mind-numbingly boring International break we have a chance to redeem ourselves. With 1 FT to use we decided to do a little defensive maintenance
Shaw (OUT) – Bellerin (IN)
Luke Shaw has been disappointing FPL managers for weeks now. After a start of 19pts in his first three games he has delivered just 2pts in United’s last four. At 5.5m he was just too costly, even if now fit and has had to go. In comes Hector Bellerin eyeing up Swansea (H), Middlesbrough (H) and Sunderland (A) in his next three. With a run of games better looking than some of the girls I’ve hooked up with we just had to bring him in, irrespective of his lofty price tag.
So with the FT used let’s see how we line up for GW 8.
Although Eldin Jakupovic is almost certainly the Hull back up I’m starting him in blind hope he gets the nod. Mainly because Ben Foster faces an unbeaten Spurs team that have scored in every game so far. The bigger concern is Foster’s next four though. Spurs, Liverpool, City and Leicester. If you don’t have to start Foster then don’t! At least he may have a lot of saves to make.
At the back we welcome new boy Hector Bellerin. Straight in and with a nice match up we are quietly hoping for a healthy return. He lines up next to John Stones and Leighton Baines. Both play each other, but even worse, we have attacking cover for both teams. Given both teams recent run of games I’m sure this will be the case for many teams. Fingers crossed for a 0-0 at 60 mins, Stones and Baines get subbed and then both teams go goal crazy!
Our midfield four put up 7pts total last week if they don’t top that this week I might be out of a job and needing to go and find a Sun Dream team to run. I wouldn’t be surprised if Mesut Ozil surpassed that total on his own. Quietly confident of a return from him this week. Home to Swansea I expect Arsenal to score at least 2 or 3. Michail Antonio has gone a little quiet of late but he faces a Crystal Palace team yet to keep a clean sheet this season. Side point, he actually scored twice in the first game after the International break in September so something tells me he likes to make a point after an England squad snub! The other two midfielders are Raheem Sterling and Yannick Bolasie. Recent news suggests Sterling is fit and fine to play at the time of writing but worth monitoring.
Our front three include yet another two playing in the same game, giving us a grand total of six players in one game. Not ideal but Sergio Aguero and Romelu Lukaku have been fantastic this season so hopefully they can continue their early season form. International bumps and bruises a minor concern for both but either way Aguero gets the armband. We just need to hope that we don’t get the Aguero that played Tuesday against Paraguay. Marcus Rashford completes our 11 with his second match in FPL Updates XI colours. This game looks about as nailed on for both teams to score as you’ll see, so a Rashford contribution on Monday night will be a great way to end the week.
On one hand I’m a little concerned with the amount of match up conflict in our team but on the other it can’t be as bad as last week. Fixtures look quite tough across the board this week so I wouldn’t be surprised if the average score was a little lower than usual.
Good luck to all and cheers for reading. As mentioned at the top of the article FPL Updates has deservedly been nominated for Best Gaming Football Blog at the FBA’s so for anyone wanting to vote please feel free on the link here http://www.footballbloggingawards.co.uk/about/vote-now-football-blogging-awards/. Your votes will be gratefully appreciated. Here’s to a load of green arrows!
Written by FPL Guru (@FPL_Guru_)
