The Weekend Scout Notes – Gameweek Two

We’ve purred over hat-tricks from Andy Carroll and Theo Walcott, watched Gareth Bale’s left-foot lashing from all angles and long given up on the reluctance to bring in Didier Drogba. Now let’s take a look at some of the finer points of Gameweek two courtesy of my scribblings from the weekend’s action..

By dropping Louis Saha to the bench and starting Jermaine Beckford, David Moyes demonstrated that he at least intends to rotate his eleven this season. The likes of Fellaini and Osman were also demoted to substitutes having started in the defeat at Blackburn, which goes to suggest that there are places under threat in the Everton lineup. The likes of Pienaar, Arteta and Cahill look nailed down as does Jagielka, Distin and Baines at the back. Beyond that, it seems that Moyes’ has options to rest and rotate.

Sunderland drew a blank away at the Hawthorns to continue last season’s trend of struggling to register on their travels. They will likely remain strong at the Stadium of Light but the fixture list shows that City, Arsenal and United are the next to arrive making their players far less attractive over the next five. Darren Bent has proved he can score against all opposition in the Premier League but his owners may well be getting fidgety at the prospect of that fixture list.

Morten Gamst Pedersen may have missed a spot-kick but he hogged Blackburn’s set-pieces all day and demonstrated a threat from long-throws. His influence and certainly spot-kick duties may well diminish once David Dunn returns, but Pedersen has enjoyed a decent start to the season and is worth monitoring as an alternative to Dunn when fixtures fall kindly for Rovers. It’s Arsenal and City next – so keep him on the Watchlist for later.

Graham Dorrans gets all the attention in the West Brom midfield but Chris Brunt has enjoyed an outstanding start to the season sitting in a deeper central role. Brunt’s left-foot is a proven Premier League weapon and he struck the bar with a late effort to offer us a reminder that he fetched 9 goals and 3 assists in the 2008/09 season. Like Dorrans he is available for 5.5 although team-mate James Morrsion is cheaper at just 4.5 and he provided plenty of creativity against Sunderland and chipped in with the assist for Odemwingie’s goal. Home games against Tottenham, Birmingham and Bolton over the next five gameweeks could promote some interest in the Baggies budget midfield.

While it’s unlikely that any Fantasy Manager will be considering Wigan’s “assets” anytime soon, I couldn’t help but notice that Ben Watson was unlucky enough to be relegated to the bench against Chelsea. Watson was one of Wigan’s better players in the loss to Blackpool but the recall of Hendry Thomas meant that he made way.

Still with Wigan, I was fairly impressed with Dutch right-back Ronnie Stam. He was regularly pushing forward to lend his presence to Wigan’s attacks and looked to have a few assists in him once Wigan do finally find some form.

Marc Albrighton enjoyed a huge amount of interest after his gameweek one performance against West Ham; he came back down to earth against Newcastle. The young winger failed to make an impression against the impressive Jose Enrique and was duly subbed early in the second-half.

Kevin McDonald has today accepted the blame for the defeat citing his team selection as “naive” stating…

“I might have taken out one or two of the young lads who sort of played three games in a week. Maybe it was too much for them.”

Albrighton has played all three games for Villa thus far this season, including the first leg of the Europa League qualifier last Thursday. Villa have the second leg against Rapid Vienna this week. McDonald’s team selection for that game will be crucial to Albrighton’s chances of retaining his place for the home game with Everton. With a change in management on the cards, he remains far from secure, particularly once Gabby Agbonlahor becomes an option.

Barry Ferguson reaped his first maximum FPL Bonus haul of the season in the 2-1 win over Blackburn, this despite a brace from Craig Gardner. The Scot gained a huge 31 Bonus Point tally last season.

Fantasy Football Scout Members can get clues to Ferguson’s influence via the Opta stats which highlight Ferguson’s touches and passing as the key contributors to this Bonus award. Ferguson hogs the ball for Birmingham and everything goes through him. While he presents little goal threat and has made just one pass that has led to a goal opportunity so far, he will continue to draw Bonus Points in a Birmingham lineup bereft of star players. At just 4.5 in the FPL he remains a good bench option while the Bonus judges remain under his spell.