The Digest – Gameweek 13

Arsenal’s central figure catches fire at the Emirates. Swansea City dig out three points in time to ride their wave of fixtures and, for once, a cruel twist from the Fantasy gods may just have invigorated our season. We close the door on Gameweek 13 with our usual three-point summary.

The Player

The 140,000 FPL managers that sacrificed Alexis Sanchez, most likely in order to rush to Chelsea’s Eden Hazard, surely knew that, before long, they would suffer a blow.

Ironically, Sanchez timed his first double-figure haul at the Emirates to coincide with Hazard’s second successive blank, just to compound the agony.

In my view, Sanchez and Hazard will forever compete at the summit of the FPL midfielder standings and, in all likelihood, emerge as the top two scoring players in the game.

This weekend, Sanchez’s 23.6% ownership will have been delighted with his brace against Bournemouth. The rest of us were left licking wounds and wondering whether Hazard or even Theo Walcott could soon repair the damage.

Despite his huge scoring potential, Sanchez, like Kevin De Bruyne, still seems unlikely to command the kind of ownership befitting his talent and scoring potential.

A price tag of 11.3 remains a major obstacle, particularly given that the aforementioned Hazard and Walcott can be acquired far more cheaply.

For all the encouraging noise surrounding Sanchez in his new central attacking role for Arsenal, he still remains one point behind Hazard.

Surprisingly, his underlying statistics also trail last season’s averages – he’s seeing fewer touches in and around the box and firing fewer shots.

Furthermore, Walcott remains a factor.

Still averaging more efforts in the box per appearance and just trailing Sanchez across other key indicators, the 3.4 gap in price is a chasm.

Like Aguero and his hefty price tag, it seems we will always be questioning Sanchez as an asset while Walcott appears to remain a first choice option for Arsene Wenger.

For now, though, no analysis is required: Gameweek 13 belonged to the Chilean as a reminder of his explosive talents.

The Team

Bob Bradley’s first victory as Swansea City manager will surely provide a timely boost, just as the Welsh club embark on a run of fixtures that could and should see them scramble to mid-table safety.

Already on alert to their appeal over the festive spell, the sight of Leroy Fer and Fernando Llorente snapping into form offered an unexpected and welcome bonus.

They provided food for thought but, in all likelihood, remain a supporting cast to the talents of Gylfi Sigurdsson.

Inevitably, he was a pivotal figure in Saturday’s dramatic 5-4 victory.

Another sweetly struck free-kick, another assist: Sigurdsson’s is arguably the single most influential player in the Premier League, relative to his team-mates.

With nine goals in his last 17 Premier League appearances last season and, having scored or assisted 50% of Swansea’s goals this, it seems guaranteed that, if Bradley’s side are to kick-on from Gameweek 15, then Sigurdsson will surely harvest big profit.

The consistency is already there to be admired: returns in six of the last eight Gameweeks have elevated him earlier than expected.

Philippe Coutinho’s injury surely ensured that almost half the FPL manager base have the means to acquire his services. But, with his ownership still simmering at 5.9%, many appear to remain sceptical, perhaps perturbed by the Gameweek 14 trip to White Hart Lane.

There really is little excuse to ignore Sigurdsson and Swansea following that, with Fer and perhaps even Llorente providing additional temptations.

Meanwhile, at the back, Jordi Amat seems revived as a 4.1 option in defence – a timely renaissance ahead of the demanding Christmas period, when our benches will doubtless come into play.

The Talking Point

So often our seasons are sprinkled with cruel injuries that send Fantasy managers careering into the buffers, forcing us to plan and conduct major surgery to rescue a disaster.

In the case of Philippe Coutinho’s setback, the scenario was very different.

A hugely disappointing blow for the player, the club and their supporters, many Fantasy managers will look upon Coutinho’s absence as a potential turning point.

The highest owned player in the Fantasy Premier League game, it will now force a reshuffle of the midfield template.

In addition, with some worthy replacements, Sigurdsson included, available cheaper than the Liverpool man, it will now liberate funds for investment elsewhere in our squads.

Most notably, it will see many consider swooping for Harry Kane ahead of his kind fixtures.

The knock-ons from all this could be considerable.

Suddenly the likes of Sigurdsson, Mane and Walcott are being boosted in ownership in almost equal measure.

Equally, Kane will find suitors and doubtless be handed the armband over three of the next four Gameweeks.

Combined, those shifts have the potential to revive fortunes and breathe new life into mini-leagues.

Coutinho was a decision made – potentially a season-keeper, the Brazilian’s slot in our squad seemed locked in. But his absence has handed some much-needed freedom to our options, just as the fixtures tumble thick and fast.