The Knee Jerk – Gameweek 4

Are Harry Kane and Romelu Lukau about to make this season very dull?

Many of us marvelled at the array of attacking options we faced prior to Gameweek 1 and, even today, the choices showed up; goals for Alexandre Lacazette, Gabriel Jesus and Alvaro Morata demonstrated that.

But there is already a feeling of inevitability about the fact that Lukaku and Kane have dominated as the top two captain picks for four successive Gameweeks.

The Spurs’ striker’s “mini drought” ended today at Goodison Park – perhaps the least likely venue for a haul when we studied his opening four Gameweeks. But the Toffees were poor and simply folded to an impressive Spurs display.

Now, with the next four fixtures looking so favourable Mauricio Pochettino’s side, Kane’s bandwagon will surely gather pace, stalled only by the fact that 30% of Fantasy Premier League managers may be otherwise distracted by replacing the suspended Sadio Mane in midfield.

It now seems only a matter of time before Kane’s 26% ownership rises and starts to reach levels similar to that of Lukaku.

The Manchester United striker was hardly spectacular at Stoke but, again, he found the net and could have scored more. Owned by 58%, if he remains free of injury, it’s feasible that he could even span the entire season as the go-to captain option for the majority of managers; 37% backed him today, with Kane back on 11%.

With the Wildcard active, I pondered losing one of this pair – temporarily gambling on Lacazette outscoring Kane today and paying the price.

I’m not sure I want to taste that medicine again. Fortunately, the funds have been reserved to bring in the Spurs man ahead of Gameweek five, and he’ll be locked in from now on.

Indeed, I’m now wondering if that means that the scope of my attacking changes this season will be limited to my third striker and an occasional shuffle of three big-hitters in midfield.

My faith in Kane is pretty much unshakable once the goals start rolling. Meanwhile, Lukaku looks likely to keep scoring merely by turning up to lead a United attack powered by Paul Pogba’s physicality and fed by Henrikh Mkhitaryan’s guile.

We can flirt with alternative options, even experiment with the captaincy from time to time, but giving up on the security on offer from Lukaku and Kane won’t be easy.

The aforementioned Jesus, Lacazette and Morata all have their merits. The latter is now the top scoring striker but, presumably surrendering spot-kick duties to Eden Hazard, I’m not convinced he or even Jesus can live with the “big two”.

I’m preparing to watch Kane and Lukaku dominate, push 30 goals and battle for the Golden Boot. That would tie up 24 million of my budget over the season and restrict my ability to react to the big-hitter bandwagons in midfield.

My season might be limited to switching Spurs, Liverpool and United midfielders to form, and shuffling some defenders according to fixtures.

That doesn’t sound all that appealing, but I’m not sure when I’ll next have the balls to change it.