The Stock Check – Gameweek 21 – Sunday

Romelu Lukaku and Kevin Mirallas get amongst the goals as Everton dismantle Manchester City to leap onto our Fantasy radars ahead of a kind upcoming schedule. As Sergio Aguero’s stock continues to plummet under Pep Guardiola, Manchester United’s Zlatan Ibrahimovic leaves it late but delivers yet again as Jose Mourinho’s men earn a draw with Liverpool. Here’s the Stock Check following Sunday’s pair of encounters…

On The Rise

Romelu Lukaku
It’s five goals and an assist in the last seven Gameweeks for the Everton forward who seems to have rediscovered a degree of consistency ahead of some very favourable fixtures.

With injury concerns surrounding Diego Costa and Olivier Giroud for our three-man frontlines, Lukaku strengthened his case for inclusion by firing the opener at home to City in today’s early encounter at Goodison Park.

Owned by over 24% of Fantasy Premier League managers, the Toffees frontman is looking difficult to ignore at a price of 9.5 right now.

Over 14,000 FPL managers have already snapped him up since yesterday’s deadline as the Merseysiders prepare to face Crystal Palace, Stoke, Bournemouth, Middlesbrough and Sunderland in the upcoming five Gameweeks.

Kevin Mirallas, Ross Barkley
The Everton midfield pair have also upped their output in recent weeks.

An assist for Lukaku’s effort, followed by an early second-half strike, means Mirallas now has two goals and a pair assists in the last four matches. Given that he had failed to produce any attacking points between Gameweek 5-17, it’s something of an understatement to say that this comes as a major improvement.

Sitting in a mere 1.8% of FPL squads, the Belgian has dropped from a starting price of 6.5 to 6.0 this season.

Having now started four successive matches under Ronald Koeman, Mirallas looks to have finally established himself as a regular and is shaping up to be an enticing differential ahead of those aforementioned fixtures.

Barkley’s pair of assists means he has now supplied a goal and four assists in the last six Gameweeks, compared with two goals and a single assist in the opening 15 rounds of matches.

Similar to Mirallas, he’s dropped 0.5 in price (from 7.5 to 7.0) since the start of the campaign and, with an ownership less than 6%, he is now another differential to consider.

Joel Robles
The Spaniard seems to be something of a lucky charm for Everton between the posts.

The Merseysiders have now produced four clean sheets in the five league matches that Robles has started this term, compared with three shutouts over the 16 fixtures with Maarten Stekelenburg in the first XI.

Priced at 4.7 and boasting a mere 0.3% ownership, Robles looks to have barged his way past the Dutchman in Koeman’s plans and that Everton schedule may well turn a few heads for those currently eyeing up an early wildcard.

Zlatan Ibrahimovic
The veteran United strike came to the rescue yet again to maintain his stunning recent form with a late leveller against Liverpool.

Now top in the FPL forward rankings and second only to Alexis Sanchez overall, Ibrahimovic’s strike means he has scored or assisted in nine of his last 10 league outings.

With trips to Hull City and Leicester City, allied with home clashes against Hull City, Watford and Bournemouth in the next six Gameweeks, it’s difficult to look beyond the Swede as the one “must have” option up front. His consistency continues to rack up the points at a time when other big-hitters have faltered.

James Milner
The Liverpool man continues to profit from penalty duties, with today’s strike at Old Trafford marking his sixth of the season.

Put into perspective, only one other player – Sunderland’s Jermain Defoe, with five – has converted more than three spot-kicks in 2016/17.

Jurgen Klopp’s decision to utilise Milner as a left-back has understandably deterred most from investing, given that he’s listed as a midfielder in FPL.

The 4%-owned summer signing from City is now up to second in terms of value behind Adam Lallana in the Liverpool midfield and has climbed above Philippe Coutinho for overall points.

If, as expected, he’s reclassified as a defender in FPL next season, Milner may well be one of the first names in our pre-season squads should Klopp opt against bringing in another left-back.

In Decline

Sergio Aguero
Today’s failure at Goodison means that the City striker has notched just once in his last four league appearances.

Given that he also missed four of the last eight Gameweeks due to suspension, Aguero’s standing as “essential” for our starting XIs has all but vanished this season.

With just a single attempt on target against the Toffees, the Argentine shows no sign of shedding the inconsistency that continues to blight his displays under Pep Guardiola.

Having recently lost spot-kick duties to Yaya Toure, Aguero’s appeal is on the wane again as City now prepare to host an in-form Tottenham.

Whereas Harry Kane has earned in excess of 52,000 new owners prior to their head-to-head, only 3,000+ have taken the plunge on the out-of-sorts South American, with over 6,000 choosing to show him the exit door instead.

Daniel Sturridge
There was no real surprise to see the Liverpool striker named amongst the substitutes after an insipid midweek showing at Southampton in the EFL Cup.

Klopp instead opted for Divock Origi to lead the line at Old Trafford before the introduction of fit-again Philippe Coutinho saw Roberto Firmino shift back into a “false nine” role for the remaining half hour.

Despite the absence of Sadio Mane, Sturridge ultimately warmed the bench from start to finish, and after a brief run of two successive starts in all competitions, he looks to have quickly tumbled back down the pecking order once again.