The Pre-Match Preamble – Gameweek 8

Apologies in advance. After just a few hours sleep, I really shouldn’t be left in charge of a keyboard. I certainly shouldn’t be deciding a Fantasy Premier League line-up.

But that’s the situation I found myself in this morning, after selection dilemmas rattling around in my head deprived me of precious shut-eye, robbing me of the basic faculties to make a lucid decision.

Firstly an admission: the Gameweek 3 Wildcard clearly hasn’t worked.

But perhaps I can forgive myself; few could have anticipated how the season would unfold to this point. It’s pretty much unprecedented that defenders should continue to offer such incredible value. The 55 clean sheets is still somewhat mystifying.

Preparing a “mini Wildcard” – three transfers with a four point hit – to repair my previous refresh, I’m now torn on the direction to take.

The popular and straightforward route would see Jamie Vardy welcomed in as my third forward, replacing Roberto Firmino, the player that inspired my errant Wildcard.

While that’s a bitter pill to swallow, I’m surely forced to oust the Liverpool man, particularly in light of Jurgen Klopp’s statement that appeared to prise penalties from the Brazilian.

But I’m struggling to settle on Vardy as his replacement.

The fixtures and form appear to make it obvious, but when I look at the points per million value that attackers have offered, the idea of pumping 8.6 into a striker is troublesome.

Despite scoring five goals already, Vardy has provided just 4.5 points per million – less than half the figure provided by Burnley’s Stephen Ward and below the level of another 39 defenders. Like I say, it’s unprecedented.

With Harry Kane and Romelu Lukaku locked in and demanding a big spend, Vardy’s points will never be doubled by my captaincy, so his basic returns need to justify the outlay.

Man City and Chelsea defenders now enter a run of favourable fixtures and there’s a drive to cover their potential. As it stands, my backline ignores both. I have to consider that one of Pep’s rearguard – perhaps alongside Marcos Alonso – can deliver more.

So this seems to be the time to tuck into an even bigger portion of humble pie and regress back to “plan A”: the two heavy-hitters with a third budget striker.

With value rapidly emerging in midfield in the shape of Richarlison and Eric Maxim Choupo-Moting, that set-up would allow me to flood funds into the defence and embrace the season’s developing trend.

But of course, I’m aware of the knee-jerk tendencies involved, and the likelihood that the value offered at the back could dry up.

Delirious and disorientated, I desperately need to sleep on it. But with just an hour before I have to commit, that’s no longer an option.

In previous seasons Gameweek 8 was a turning point in my season. This year it might prove to be again, for very different reasons.