The Digest – Gameweek 17

Zlatan gets one last assessment, Middlesbrough earn credit for their unglamorous efficiency and we look ahead to ill-timed crunch that ensures that Fantasy Football will remain a major festive distraction. Here’s our final say on Gameweek 17.

The Player

It just had to be Zlatan.

It was clearly naive of us to write him off. The severe drought from Gameweeks 5-10 was obviously the Swede’s blue period: a temporary spell of decline that was to eventually give way to an explosion of colour, as the goals and points flowed freely once more.

Subsequently, Zlatan’s season is befitting of the rollercoaster cliché, delivering the heady heights of the 13-point Gameweek 2 haul, before dipping dramatically to return just eight points over five disastrous Autumn fixtures.

But now Ibrahimovic is firmly in the ascent. His seven goals in six outings have lit the touch paper, and Fantasy Premier League managers are requiring little persuasion.

Diego Costa’s flash of yellow and Harry Kane’s sudden White Hart Lane impotence has fanned the flames: more than 303,000 have already swooped ahead of Monday’s Gameweek 18 deadline.

Ibrahimovic himself states he can go on scoring goals until he’s 50. Jose Mourinho has suggested that his starting role is assured, while Manchester United’s short-term fixtures hint that regression is unlikely. It’s difficult to begin constructing a counter argument.

The question now surrounds Zlatan’s future in our squads, with a fork in the road approaching.

The Team

Middlesbrough may just prove to be a godsend this season.

Aitor Karanka’s side arrived in the top flight with a reputation as an efficient, resilient force. Perhaps low on spontaneity and attacking ambition, they are an organised unit, hard-wired to earn results.

‘Boro have lived up to that billing and, should it continue, look destined to provide a major ally to Fantasy managers well into 2017.

The 3-0 victory over Swansea City was a rarity. That was Middlesbrough cutting loose, with Alvaro Negredo flourishing.

The Spaniard proved a powerful go-to option in the early Gameweeks and, in many respects, has mirrored Ibrahimovic in his rapid descent and then eventual recovery.

Just as he did in the opening three Gameweeks of the season, Negredo sits just underneath Zlatan for transfers in, his value turning heads and harvesting new owners.

If you can judge a striker’s confidence by the nature of his goals, then there’s little doubt that the two strikes against Swansea were a signpost directing us towards bigger things. Clinical, with a hint of arrogance, they were goals of a man in form, intent on maintaining a run of four in his last four starts.

But the appeal of Karanka’s side doesn’t start and end with their lone striker.

Gaston Ramirez offers a wandering and inventive alternative to the Spaniard – a fourth midfielder option that has returned two goals and two assists in his last five starts.

Then, at the back, we find some valuable gems.

While the jury is still out on George Friend’s re-installment in Karanka’s backline, we can still plunder Ben Gibson’s security and bonus point potential, or opt for the cheaper Callum Chambers alongside him.

Back-to-back away trips at Burnley and Manchester United will provide stern festive tests but, following that, we will be checking in at the Riverside ahead of three home fixtures in four Gameweeks.

All opportunities for Karanka’s side to collect further clean sheets and for Ramirez and Negredo to speed their trajectory as value acquisitions.

The Talking Point

Gameweek 19 will bridge the gap between Christmas and New Year, ensuring that Fantasy managers have little opportunity to relax and let down their guard.

With just days to ponder our decision-making and with friends and family providing a pull, it could just represent a key period in our season.

Both Diego Costa and Sergio Aguero return to the menu, forcing us to consider instant recalls or at least form mid-term strategies to react.

Zlatan appears equipped to cover our needs for now, but both Costa and Aguero clearly have the talent to prompt another shake up.

Offering very different profiles, Costa will be backed for an immediate return to the scoresheet against Stoke City, while Aguero will provide a points time bomb – a 2-3 goal haul will be set, and his non-owners will watch and wait, hoping that they are prompted to move for his services before the big bang.

The winter Wildcard allows for rebuilding but, with potential double Gameweeks in mind, many of us will reject that option to carry out surgery and throw down points hits in order to find a solution.

In such a turbulent season, we should expect a new twist – perhaps a Kane revival or even a Daniel Sturridge hat-trick – another event that will introduce a fresh variable.

But, as it stands, we know Gameweek 19 already offers a ready-made dilemma and we suspect that the choices we make could just be our next big turning point.