That was a hard pill to swallow. A total of 42 points gave us our first red arrow of the season. Not a single player apart from our captain scored above 5 points which is the main reason to our downfall. Some horror transfers and rotten luck were other factors. The Wildcard button was very close to being pressed, but we’ve held off for now. Let’s see the team.
In net it was looking very promising for a while. Patricio made some stellar saves especially his one to stop Sterling’s volley. He made a total of 5 saves, agonisingly close to 2 save points. However, his total of 3 points was beaten by Fabianski who managed a 5 pointer whilst conceding 3 goals away to Arsenal, making 9 saves and picking up a bonus point.
The defence could have been so much better but we ended up with 10 points from our 3 players. Even when Mendy isn’t getting clean sheets or assisting he still manages a way to find points. His 4 pointer included 2 bonus points in a 1-1 draw. Handy! Frustration once again for Alexander–Arnold as he’s managed as many clean sheets as yellow cards this season, 3 of each. His 3rd 5 pointer in a row and he won’t be picking up bonus points anytime soon if he keeps this up. Davies’ cameo appearance brings home 1 point as Spurs pick up their first clean sheet of the season. Sums up the start of our season. I had a sneaky feeling rotation was looming but not this early.
Unfortunately, the midfield didn’t do much better. Mahrez makes a 5 minute cameo appearance totaling 90 minutes for his first 3 games,for £8.8m he’s got to go. New signing Pedro could only manage a clean sheet point this week but looked promising in his 68 minutes. He had a couple of shots this week and one was well saved to prevent him getting on the score sheet. Another week and he’d have been in the points. Hopefully he can keep his place ahead of Willian. Salah took the armband this week and no doubt he returned. His 8 pointer was a tad disappointing considering he was the only goal scorer in a 1-0 win and returned 0 bonus points yet again. His wild shots really cost us managers. Sigurdsson finally returned as he assisted Keane’s header but like the majority of our players who score points, he got himself booked. A 4 pointer is better than a 2 but we’re scraping at the bottom of the barrel. And finally Richarlison, saving the best for last. Like many other managers out there we endured his 3 goals, 5 bonus points and 23 points in his first 2 games. So we finally bit the bullet and brought him in and what a way to repay us! A headbutt to Adam Smith, a -2 and a 3 game ban. Cheers! It can’t get worse than that, can it? Oh it can! I brought him in for a hit, but who made way you ask? Lucas Moura. His brace and 15 pointer meant we lost a total of 21 points, TWENTY ONE. Thanks Richarlison. I’ll never see those 21 points again!
To the forwards we go after that rant. Aguero blanked against a tough Wolves side to add to my misery of a gameweek. However, Zaha scored our second and final goal of the week for a 5 pointer. Only 5? As the theme goes, keep a clean sheet or an attacking return then you’re guaranteed to get booked! To rub it in even more Zaha was sat on 3 bonus points until 3 hours after the whistle. You little trolls FPL towers!
Transfers (8 point hit)
Mahrez (OUT) -> Mkhitaryan (IN)
Richarlison (OUT) -> Fraser (IN)
Davies (OUT) -> Alonso (IN)
I’ve decided to save the Wildcard with an 8 point hit and leave £2.3m ITB. We’ll have to take the hit this week in order to keep hold of the chip for a few more weeks. The 3 players leaving are all rotation risks or unavailable. Davies was a tough decisions as he’s likely to start after his rest but he travels away from home in 3 of his next 4 games. Fraser starts from the bench this week but unlocked funds and has a great underlying stats and has a great run of games after his game at Chelsea. I can’t justify owning Mahrez at his price if he can’t guarantee 60 mins a week.
This week our keepers face each other which is rather awkward. If in doubt play the player who is at home. Therefore Fabianski faces a Wolves side who have scored 3 in 3. Both teams are yet to win but West Ham have lost 3 on the bounce.
Mendy faces a Newcastle side who parked the bus last week from the first minute at home to Chelsea. He’s yet to score below 4 points this season and I can’t see that changing this week as he’ll continue to play high up the field. Alexander-Arnold travels to Leicester which is never easy ut they are still without suspended Vardy. Will he make it 4 clean sheets in 4 or will it be 4 yellow cards in 4? Most likely the latter. New boy Alonso faces Bournemouth this week who have been impressive in their opening fixtures but they haven’t been tested yet. Alonso’s heat map shows he’s been in similar positions to the previous 2 campaigns and I think he’s much better value than most midfielders in his price bracket. If Chelsea can’t keep a clean sheet there’s always a good possibility Alonso gets something. Wan Bissaka gets his first start of the season and should come straight back into the side after suspension. Palace host Southampton who’ve scored just 2 goals so far.
Our midfield 5 have some juicy home games this week so we might see some scores of above 5 this week! Pedro faces Bournemouth at home and we know for a fact they much rather attack than defend. Sigurdsson faces Huddersfield who shipped 9 goals in their first two games! Whether or not we see another massive score this week I hope Sigurdsson continues where he left off from last week. Mkhitaryan travels to Wales and faces a side who have kept 2 clean sheets this season. Cardiff’s negative style of football is yet to see them score a goal this season and Mkhitaryan should have a lot of possession and opportunities this week and I felt he was unlucky to come away with nothing last week. Salah continues to tick over and his trip to Leicester should be making Ben Chilwell worry already. Leicester have managed a clean sheet this season but Liverpool are on another level, even though they didn’t play well last week Salah still scored his second of the season.
The same duo continues up top. Zaha faces a dire Southampton defence who let 4 in their last 2 games. Even though he scored 2 this season he’s on picked up 12 points. He’s the forward version of Alexander Arnold. Finally Aguero faces Newcastle. No one can forget when he knocked 5 past them a couple of seasons ago. Rafa parked the bus from the get go last week and it’ll take a massive bus to stop Mancheser City’s attack led by Aguero this week
The captain’s armband goes to Aguero as he loves to face Newcastle. He’s scored 14 goals in just 12 games against the Magpies, 5 of which came in 2015 at home. Even with a draw last week they still look in great shape and I can’t see a better option in our side.
We desperately need a green arrow but a -8 point hit is going to make it tricky this week. Hopefully the international break isn’t too hard on us and we can come out unscathed. With Champions League fixtures announced and there being some tricky and trying schedules we’ll need a strong bench and have to consider some of our picks.
Written by FPL Junior (@FPL_Junior)
