The Digest – Gameweek 2

We draw the curtain on Gameweek 2 in suitable fashion, by collecting our thoughts on the player, the team and the key talking point.

The Player

There really is no contest.

Zlatan Ibrahimovic has already taken the Premier League by storm, muscling his way past shell-shocked centre backs and into our Fantasy line-ups.

Hands up, I was initially fooled by his languid style and ageing legs. I doubted he could immediately click in a Manchester United side that almost had to learn how to attack with purpose again after Louis van Gaal’s laboured tenancy.

But Zlatan has let the goals do the talking, which is just fine when you have Paul Pogba doing the rest.

As I’ve already mentioned on these pages, it is Pogba’s performance and the way in which he transformed the United machine that convinced me to shed my doubts on the Swede.

It’s difficult to see United failing to control and dominate the majority of teams with Pogba stationed in the double pivot. His energy will surely be the spark to drive United forward and, in doing so, ensure that Ibrahimovic is readily supplied with opportunities in the box.

He’s already proven just how deadly he can be with service and with spot-kicks now thought to be assured, Ibrahimovic is just too intoxicating to ignore.

The Team

Having given Hull City their moment in the sun in Gameweek 1, Mike Phelan’s side soaked it up, offering up another nomination a week later after an impressive win at Swansea City.

But instead we will turn to another promoted side.

Burnley battled against improbable odds to conjure a victory against Jurgen Klopp’s Liverpool, offering us another reminder that, early in the season, there is often reliable value amongst the new arrivals from the Championship.

Sean Dyche’s side have been here before; they could, and perhaps should have survived in 2014/15.

The Clarets boss now knows exactly how to approach games like the Liverpool encounter: shelve ambition, strangle the centre of the pitch and break with speed and purpose.

It was a policy employed even in the Championship at times, as Dyche exploited Sam Vokes’ physicality alongside the pace and clinical finishing of Andre Gray.

Both opened their accounts on Saturday. Both will look to reach double figures and provide strong FPL value.

Then, in goal, there is Tom Heaton.

Already ranked as the top keeper, the Burnley skipper looks to be a gift. A goalkeeper who will churn out regular save points, behind ten players who, at times, will be drilled to contain opponents in order to earn a result at all costs.

The Talking Point

We have to return to Ibrahimovic.

There’s no doubt we have to acknowledge the excitement he has already brought to our season but, at the same time, we should also take time to consider how, together with Sergio Aguero, he’s already forced our hand.

It seems we have little choice but to plump for the Manchester pairing in our attacks.

In doing so, we’re taking debilitating chunks out of our budget and restricting, if not killing, our ability to react when midfield heavy-hitters start delivering.

Should Alexis Sanchez, Kevin de Bruyne and Dimitri Payet hit the heights again, many of us will be hamstrung and unable to exploit their form.

That is, unless we dare to rid ourselves of Ibrahimovic or Aguero. That seems unlikely.

Those chasing gaps, or even those who refuse to bend to the template attack, at least have a hope on the horizon. The heavy-hitting midfielders will eventually become effective differentials.

Two Gameweeks down and it’s difficult to see any asset competing with the output of Aguero and Ibrahimovic. Right now our only worry is deciding which of the two strikers earns the armband.

It’s up to the likes of Sanchez, De Bruyne and Payet to see if they can burden us with any further concerns.