The Digest – Gameweek 18

Our final look back at the Gameweek highlights the player, the team and the talking point catching our attention ahead of Friday evening’s Gameweek 19 deadline.

The goal threat of Marcos Alonso is back on many managers’ agendas, while West Ham impress at both ends of the pitch ahead of an outstanding winter schedule.

Meanwhile, the argument to move to a cash-rich five-man midfield continues to build as the premium strikers struggle to offer value.

Here’s the Digest…

The Player

When it comes to big-hitting defenders, Marcos Alonso served a timely reminder of his peerless goal threat by firing Chelsea’s winner against Southampton on Saturday.

While Alvaro Morata was restricted to a sub role and Eden Hazard struggled in the Blues’ 3-4-2-1, the raiding wing-back came to the rescue with a precise free-kick to sneak a 1-0 win – one of his six efforts on goal.

Alonso’s 14-point tally, a third double-digit haul of the season, elevated him to the summit of the Fantasy Premier League defender standings on Saturday before he was nudged into second spot by Antonio Valencia the following day.

Now joint-top with Nicolas Otamendi for goals from defence, the Spaniard’s tally of four is just two shy of equaling his total (six) from 2016/17 – and we still have 20 Gameweeks to go.

Alonso leads his fellow defenders by some margin for shots (34), efforts in the box (22) and attempts on target (11). In terms of creativity, only five other backline options better his 17 key passes.

Assessed against the previous campaign, the wing-back’s underlying numbers only strengthen his case for inclusion in our five-man defences – both his minutes per shot (from 58.6 to 45.1) and chances created (from 112 minutes to 90) have improved.

It’s a sign of his importance to Antonio Conte that Alonso is the only outfield player to start every league match for the Blues’ this season.

That’s a record that’s likely to remain intact when Chelsea make their way to Everton on Saturday.

A fifth yellow card of the season was conveniently picked up for time-wasting against the Saints while taking a corner. Alonso has never attempted to take a corner for Chelsea in his entire career at Stamford Bridge to that point. That means that he will sit out tonight’s Carabao Cup encounter with Bournemouth, ensuring his start at Everton in Gameweek 19.

With only a Gameweek 22 trip to Arsenal looking problematic in the next Blues’ next nine league outings, it seems inevitable that Alonso will soon reclaim his spot at the top of the defender standings and move ahead of the chasing pack.

Andreas Christensen currently offers the “value” route into Conte’s defence, but if Alonso can maintain his attacking output and points per million returns, we may have no option but to find the extra funds and trade up.

The Team

West Ham’s current momentum under David Moyes could barely be better timed for Fantasy managers.

After claiming four points and two clean sheets against Chelsea and Arsenal – the Hammers kick-started a superb run of fixtures with a 3-0 rout of Stoke City at the bet365 Stadium on Saturday.

Between now and Gameweek 30, ten of their upcoming 12 fixtures (NEW bou WBA hud BOU CRY bha WAT swa BUR) could hardly be any kinder.

Factor in a double Gameweek 22 – with a trip to Spurs preceded by the visit of West Brom – and Moyes’ men look impossible to ignore.

In defence and midfield, the new manager’s recent tinkering brings us a host of cut-price options to consider.

At the back, Moyes’ switch to 3-4-2-1 has forced a reassessment of a rearguard that had conceded more goals (25) than any side prior to his first match in charge in Gameweek 13.

At 4.3, Adrian has only been breached by the Man City attack – twice at the Etihad – since replacing Joe Hart between the posts in the last four league fixtures.

Elsewhere in defence, Angelo Ogbonna (4.4) has bagged a goal and four bonus over the last four to go along with his trio of shut-outs. That form has persuaded over 66,000 FPL managers to clamber aboard the bandwagon since Saturday’s deadline passed.

Although Arthur Masuaku has just one bonus point by comparison, a role down the left flank could yet bring him onto many managers’ radars as an out of position prospect. Identically priced to fellow defender Ogbonna, the Frenchman has played every minute of Moyes’ tenure so far.

The new manager’s decision to play a trio of midfielders – Manuel Lanzini, Marko Arnautovic and Michail Antonio – as his most advanced players may have dented the appeal of Chicharito as a third forward, but the output of the former two, in particular, makes for very persuasive reading.

Sitting in a mere 1.1% of squads, Lanzini is the Hammers’ most popular FPL midfielder. He has now assisted all of West Ham’s last four league goals, with a trio of assists against the beleaguered Potters. Although he’s set to serve a two-match ban for “successful deception of a match official”, Tuesday’s EFL Cup clash with Arsenal took up one of these fixtures, meaning that he’ll be back in contention against Bournemouth on Boxing Day.

Over the last three, Arnautovic has netted twice and boasts a significant goal threat – no player has produced more shots inside the box than the Austrian’s 11 over that spell. Yet less than 1% currently have the summer signing on board.

The missing fixture in Gameweek 21 must be considered and benches prepared accordingly. But with their schedule so kind around that, Moyes’ men look ripe for investment for the foreseeable future.

The Talking Point

In the first few weeks of this season, it seemed as if we were spoiled for choice when it came to premium-priced strikers.

The only problem, it initially appeared, was how we would possibly manage to juggle the plethora of options on offer for our three-man frontlines.

Fast forward to December and the forwards are struggling to keep pace, with the move to a five-man midfield gaining traction by the Gameweek.

After 18 rounds of fixtures, only six strikers have scored at least 80 points, compared with 11 midfielders.

Indeed as many as five defenders and three goalkeepers have also achieved that feat, with David De Gea – the top scoring stopper in FPL – accruing 99 points, more than any forward option.

The priciest player in the game, Harry Kane has toiled in Wembley Stadium “home” matches and proved a huge disappointment as a captain pick. While a double Gameweek 22 will hand him a reprieve, a failure to translate his superb underlying numbers into goals puts a question mark against his place in some managers’ long-term plans.

It says everything about the rest of the frontmen that Romelu Lukaku sits second to Kane despite scoring just three times since Gameweek 7. Alvaro Morata, meanwhile, has netted three times since Gameweek 6 yet is still placed in the top four strikers, with Wayne Rooney – playing as a midfielder – in third place.

This really is unknown territory for Fantasy managers.

Meanwhile, in the centre of the park, the options are building. The Man City midfield is stocked full of options, Philippe Coutinho’s 7.3 points per match (ppm) offers a Liverpool double-up option along with Mohamed Salah, while Riyad Mahrez is back in form under Claude Puel at Leicester.

Crucially, Paul Pogba is also back in the frame – averaging 7.0 ppm down to just 7.9 – and with the West Ham assets profiting from Moyes’ arrival, the case for flooding funds into the centre of the park is very persuasive.

In seasons gone by, the 3-4-3 has largely been the default formation employed by Fantasy managers. On what we’ve witnessed so far, though, the second half of 2017/18 could see many more tempted by the idea of adopting the “power five” midfield in their quest for success.

We have a Burning Question on this subject, sampling the opinion of some of the top-ranked FPL managers from seasons past, to come later today.