The Digest – Gameweek 6

Our final look back at Gameweek 6 analyses City’s Bosnian striker, the Baggies’ upturn in form and the Fantasy fall-out across our squads brought on by Wayne Rooney’s rush of blood and Aaron Ramsey’s dodgy hamstring.

The Player

Thirteen goals in the final 20 matches of 2013/14 underline how fundamental Edin Dzeko was to City’s title-winning campaign. So far, though, it’s fair to say the Bosnian has been slow to replicate that form – drawing blanks in his first five outings before bagging a brace and maximum bonus points in the weekend win at Hull.

While there’s no denying Dzeko is one of the most frustrating Fantasy options around, Saturday’s display serves a reminder that he may still have a part to play in our Fantasy campaigns. Yes, he’s not guaranteed starts – all the more so now Stevan Jovetic is fit – but there’s no doubt that Dzeko will still be heavily involved in the danger area when on the pitch. For example, he sits third amongst front men for touches in the box, with a total of 40 over 378 minutes – Diego Costa is top with 48 in 510 minutes – whilst the Bosnian has fired 17 attempts, just four fewer than the Chelsea striker.

Granted, Dzeko still pales in comparison to Sergio Aguero – providing he’s fit and firing, the Argentine remains the man most likely for City and has scored in four of his six appearances. Nonetheless, despite his greater consistency, Aguero sits just six points ahead of the 8.4-priced Dzeko in the Fantasy Premier League (FPL) game, and given that City have Villa, West Ham, QPR and Swansea in the next six, as Saturday’s showing highlighted, Dzeko could prove a canny mid-price double-up option for both Aguero owners and/or those on the lookout for a differential.

The Team

Sunday’s 4-0 hammering of Burnley afforded West Brom a third successive win in all competitions as the results finally start to improve for Alan Irvine. The Baggies had delivered three blanks and picked up a single clean sheet in the first four Gameweeks but, as the treatment room empties, their fortunes have taken a turn for the better.

The Gameweek 5 debut of Joleon Lescott, in particular, has proved a turning point and helped the Midlands outfit serve up back-to-back clean sheets, boosting the budget appeal of Craig Dawson and Andre Wisdom. As we saw at the weekend, Graham Dorrans and Chris Brunt can, on their day, still prosper as Fantasy assets and the former, at just 5.0, could well prove to be a value option over the season. Up front, Saido Berahino’s brace helped the youngster to fourth in the FPL forward standings – at 5.5, he looks in the driving seat to continue as the lone striker at the expense of record signing Brown Ideye.

With Liverpool and United up next, in addition to matches against Chelsea and Arsenal in the upcoming seven Gameweeks, the schedule isn’t too kind on Irvine’s side and looks enough of a deterrent to ensure we steer clear. Further analysis of the fixtures shows that Irvine’s side have four excellent home fixtures in the next six at The Hawthorns (CPL, NEW, WHM, AVL) and, providing they can keep their main men in form and injury-free, may well be decent rotation options.

The Talking Point

A weekend that saw Wayne Rooney banned for three matches and Aaron Ramsey ruled out for four weeks may prove to be one of the most significant of the season. Given that both players were so highly owned across the Fantasy games, our next moves in midfield and up front look set to bring a welcome variety to our 15-man squads.

At their peak, Ramsey and Rooney sat in over 40% of FPL teams, but as the transfers out pick up in pace, it’s refreshing to see that there’s no one real favourite as a replacement. Ramsey’s hamstring problem has persuaded many to opt for Angel di Maria, Raheem Sterling and David Silva in the same premium bracket, though plenty have opted for Nacer Chadli, Morgan Schneiderlin and Gylfi Sigurdsson, possibly freeing up cash to replace Rooney with the pricier Sergio Aguero. The spread of new midfield acquisitions reflects the current FPL standings, where just seven points separate the top ten after a number of premium options blanked last weekend.

Up front, it’s a similar situation – while Graziano Pelle is the most in-demand, as many as five forwards have received over 35,000 transfers in as a result of the Rooney red card; a clear sign of the increase in different tactics brought upon by the weekend’s events.

At times like this, it can be frustrating when events conspire to force our hand and disrupt the best laid plans, but let’s face it – Ramsey’s lack of form and Rooney’s move to the number 10 role already had many thinking twice before Saturday. With both set for heavy sales over the upcoming international break, now could be the perfect time to freshen things up and move further away from the template.