This is getting to be a habit for Romelu Lukaku.
With a legion of more than 627,000 FPL managers tentatively trusting him with the Gameweek 26 captaincy, he muscled his way to Everton’s second goal to repay the faith and bolster his heavy-hitter CV once again.
While we perhaps had visions of another Bournemouth-style bumper return against a hapless Sunderland defence, Lukaku’s backers will gladly accept a seventh strike from his last four Goodison Park encounters, providing further evidence that this may just be an asset we can trust with the armband.
He was almost handed it by default on this occasion. With both Zlatan Ibrahimovic and Alexis Sanchez closed off as options, the support for Lukaku was somewhat forced.
Diego Costa provided the main alternative and, while he proved his reliability with yet another goal, he remains a slow drip to Lukaku’s gushing tap – a player that will feed us regular points without promising to excite.
Having blanked in four of his last nine Gameweek starts, it offered reassurance that the Costa consistency was still there. However, he missed out on bonus points once again and has yet to score more than 9 points at Stamford Bridge all season; explosivity is just not on the menu with Costa – in more ways than one.
Ironically, he could now give way to Sergio Aguero in many squads – a player renowned for one-off hauls that can better even Lukaku’s Bournemouth effort – should Manchester City’s double Gameweek 27 be confirmed.
Elsewhere today, West Brom’s Chris Brunt again missed out on a potential assist. Denied in Gameweek 25 by the top of Gareth McAuley’s head that deflected Jonny Evan’s initial effort, today Brunt’s corner led to the scrappiest of goals – with McAuley again the benefactor.
Two weeks to the day, the Knee Jerk remarked on how McAuley was a charmed asset, a player who almost bought about his own luck by being an alert and significant physical presence in the box.
And so it came to fruition again today.
Brunt’s delivery was met with a feeble punch by Bournemouth’s Artur Boruc, span off what appeared to be Steve Cook’s back, before arriving for the gleeful McAuley to convert. The two touches from two Cherries players, cancelling out Brunt’s contribution.
Fortune again the provider for McAuley, while denying another delivery from Brunt it’s reward.
Brunt appears to have developed his own unwanted habit, and it’s a far nastier one than Lukaku’s.
7 years, 2 months agoLess than Opta Stats: we don't actually watch matches, we just get paid to be the straw man. Absolute clowns.