This Much We Know – Gameweek 7

A fading Swede, a rejuvenated Brazilian Bobby, West Ham’s one man crusade and the rich array of Fantasy talent available at Stoke City. Bear with us – it’s the lessons learned from Gameweek 7…

Only stats can save Ibrahimovic…
He needed an end product against Stoke but, despite his clocking up another fistful of goal attempts, Ibrahimovic failed to find a way through.

Prior to the Potter’s failure, there was talk that he’d require a double-figure return to quell a fire sale over the international break.

Having blanked, those sales are now underway, with the Swede facing a potential 0.3 price drop by the time he takes to the pitch at Anfield in Gameweek 8.

The statistics offer a crumb of comfort – in fact, it’s almost a whole loaf.

With an effort on goal every 17.5 minutes, there’s only some fella down at the Etihad who can match Ibrahimovic for goal threat this season.

And yet, while we appear to trust Sergio Aguero to overcome his White Hart Lane blank and justify his lofty price tag, patience and belief in Zlatan seems to have worn thin.

Those who are holding can cling to the underlying statistics and refuse to believe that he can go on failing. They may yet have a case.

Nobody puts Bobby in the corner….
Unlike Ibrahimovic, Roberto Firmino managed to silence the doubters.

His 12-point return in South Wales provided an emphatic response to those quick to lower him down the Liverpool midfield pecking order.

Firmino’s importance to the Liverpool cause has always been there for all to see but erratic returns, alongside blossoming team-mates, raised a red flag.

Now we can settle on Firmino, for now at least – watching to see if he can maintain such levels and finally emerge as the key option amongst Klopp’s middle men.

We haven’t got Payet…I don’t think he understands….
Everybody can accuse West Ham of being a one-man team. Dimitri Payet is so celebrated by Hammers fans; they’re almost resigned to it themselves.

Saturday’s extraordinary goal against Middlesbrough highlighted that Payet is willing to take on the opposition on his own to attempt to rescue West Ham’s season.

With opponents now working out that if you put a tall bloke on Michail Antonio, you can cut off West Ham’s goals, Payet’s one-man mission is well-timed.

But such a crusade is not yet enough for us to take notice.

No Fantasy manager is getting carried away – Payet is set to enjoy a very slight rise in ownership but, such is the competition for midfield slots, he remains on the back burner.

Antonio, on the other hand, is already suffering from the volatile and fickle nature of this season’s market – he’s shed over 25,000 owners ahead of Gameweek 8 and a price drop beckons before deadline.

Shining Son is blinding us to Alli’s upturn….
We’re all loving Son Heung-min right now.

He’s got the lot – goals, chance creation, out of position prospects. What’s not to love?

Certainly, Son’s transfer traffic is busy – no player has earned more new owners ahead of Gameweek 8 so far, and numerous price rises are on the way before the next ball is kicked.

We can’t argue – Son shot up a few more levels in our midfield Watchlist: we’ve definitely bought in.

But, in Dele Alli, there is another.

Alli’s form appears to have piggybacked on Son – there’s a new spring in his step, a devil in his play. Suddenly Spurs look to have a cutting edge, and everyone is wondering how a fit-again Harry Kane will fit in.

We’ll take Grant now and worry about the money later…
With every little 0.1 helping to jump aboard speeding form bandwagons, Lee Grant is an unexpected gift.

Relieving Shay Given for the Gameweek 6 draw with West Brom, the loanee keeper was outstanding at Old Trafford on Sunday.

Grant has surely cemented his start while Jack Butland remains stricken, with Fantasy managers pondering short-term investment ahead of an obliging run for the Potters that might just promise the odd clean sheet.

Okay, so doubling with Pickford looks risky business and, eventually, we may be facing an embarrassing lack of riches in goal. But those extra funds now can go a long way, and if Butland’s recovery should hit the buffers, Grant’s shelf-life could even be extended.

And Stoke may even have more to offer…
It was pretty clear that Liverpool would come to regret selling Joe Allen.

We saw, during the summer, that there were elements to his game that failed to get the opportunity to surface at Anfield.

Allen has already flourished at Stoke, with Mark Hughes trusting him with a central role, pushed up behind the striker.

Two goals in two games – nobody is getting carried away – but at 4.8 the Allen option is another unexpected offering from the Potteries.

Shift Van Anholt and we’ll all love Moyes….
So David Moyes is toying with the idea of deploying Patrick van Aanholt as a wing-back, or even a winger.

Having seen the Dutchman defend, he then watched him come off the bench to score a precious equaliser from the wing against West Brom.

By piecing together those two sets of events, Moyes has reportedly started to ponder the idea of playing Van Aanholt as a winger.

Keep us posted David. We’re very interested.

Ranieri has given us fair warning….
We’ve gone right off Leicester City.

We can’t get rid of Jamie Vardy and Riyad Mahrez fast enough, and we don’t really believe that Islam Slimani can change matters.

But, defensively, the Foxes have shown promise at the King Power and, with a few flashes of form, we may look again.

However, some chilling words from Claudio Ranieri has already doused those thoughts.

Apparently, he feels he needs to rotate more. That might just mean some more minutes for Ahmed Musa and Demarai Gray but probably not enough for us to even notice.

We miss Leicester City.

Ivanovic was also served notice…
In fact, he had about 18-months of supporters and pundits putting his performances under the microscope before, finally, he gets told to sit on the timber by Antonio Conte at Hull City.

We wondered if the Italian’s shuffle would see the Ivanovic option killed off for good and, while the Serb may well be revived, there’s no question that he faces a mighty battle to regain a starting role.

Particularly with Victor Moses in his way.

No, seriously, Victor had a cracking game and, while he’s playing at wing-back, there’s absolutely no chance I’ll be tempted to buy him.

Everyone’s a winner. Except for Branislav.

Pardew’s dressing up the Benteke air raid…
Alan Pardew is talking up how he’s re-built his Palace side – how they’ve progressed as a team.

Nobody can argue – the Eagles have become a very different proposition over the course of just three or four weeks. Nobody will relish playing Crystal Palace right now.

But, in truth, that’s probably got something to do with the fact that nobody really knows how to handle Christian Benteke and two big centre backs, coupled with an everlasting supply of crosses.

The new Palace are proving hugely effective and us Fantasy managers are left pondering just how much damage Benteke can inflict for his 7.6 price tag.