The Stock Check – Gameweek 8 – Saturday

This season’s Gameweek 8 was very different for Sergio Aguero as he gets rested to the Manchester City bench, only to emerge and miss a penalty to end with negative returns. Christian Benteke follows suit by spurning his own spot-kick, while Theo Walcott and Joe Allen fire a brace a piece to shake up our midfield thinking. Here’s the Stock Check from Saturday’s events….

On The Rise

Theo Walcott
Despite spurning a handful of opportunities, the Arsenal attacker served up a 13-point haul at home to Swansea City and has now climbed ahead of team-mate Alexis Sanchez to top the Fantasy Premier League midfielder standings.

Walcott has scored five Premier League goals in eight starts, having taken 28 appearances to reach that same total last season.

He has played second fiddle to the popular Chilean up until this point, but his bandwagon is now in full flow ahead of next week’s visit from Middlesbrough. He is currently top of the “transfers in” table with a price rise looking inevitable prior to Gameweek 9.

Joe Allen
A two-goal salvo at home to Sunderland makes it four strikes in the last three Gameweeks for Stoke’s summer signing.

Priced at just 4.8, Allen is owned by a mere 1.7% and with some obliging fixtures to follow, the bandwagon looks set to pick up pace. Only Watford’s Etienne Capoue has offered stronger value from midfield so far this season and he’s blanked in his last two outings.

Allen confirmed post-match that he was withdrawn on 75 minutes as a precaution following his recent hamstring injury.

Diego Costa
A seventh goal of the season ensured that the Spaniard has now returned in seven of eight Gameweeks and kept him at the summit of the Fantasy Premier League striker standings.

Over 200,000 brought in Costa ahead of the win over Leicester City, with 10% trusting him with the armband.

Costa also gathered his third maximum bonus point haul of the campaign – not bad for a striker who has previously earned a reputation for missing out on such points.

He avoided a booking once again but remains one yellow card away from a one-match, with Manchester United at Stamford Bridge up next. Earn a yellow card in that clash and he will serve his seemingly inevitable ban in the EFL Cup tie with West Ham United.

Eden Hazard
The Belgian broke a run of four consecutive blanks with Chelsea’s second against Leicester, adding to his two goals over the international break to suggest a renaissance. Over 100,000 FPL managers sold him on ahead of Gameweek 8.

Hazard’s form warrants monitoring, then, although Victor Moses is rapidly becoming a factor. He recorded his second goal of the season from his right wing-back position to promote his value as a 5.5 FPL midfield option.

Romelu Lukaku
The Belgian’s superbly taken drive demonstrated his ability to score all types of goals, regardless of opponent. Lukaku has now served up six goals in his last five Premier League outings as, along with Costa, he goes on challenging the value of Sergio Aguero and, in particular, Zlatan Ibrahimovic. Lukaku faces the Burnley and West Ham defences next.

Maarten Stekelenburg
A remarkable performance by the Dutch stopper saw him save two spot-kicks, recording seven saves in all to elevate himself to the top of the FPL goalkeeper standings.

Despite that, his 5.0 price tag will likely remain an obstacle for most, with budget keepers still the most popular targets.

Stekelenburg and the Toffees defence have impressed this season but have kept just two clean sheets from their eight matches.

Junior Stanislas
After providing assists for Bournemouth’s first two goals, Stanislas then scored the next two, including a converted spot-kick on his way to a 21-point haul in the 6-1 thrashing of Hull City.

While an upcoming visit from Spurs may deter immediate investment, Stanislas (with two goals and three assists in three) than squares up to Middlesbrough, Sunderland and Stoke City in the following three and, at a price of just 5.5, he is yet another consideration in the budget midfield bracket.

Callum Wilson
The Cherries striker notched his third goal in five league outings and added an assist as Eddie Howe’s men ran riot.

With Jermain Defoe and Christian Benteke both stalling, Wilson is beginning to turn heads as a 6.4 option, with Bournemouth showing their teeth as an attacking force.

Losing spot-kicks to Stanislas is a blow, however.

Charlie Daniels
Another member of Howe’s squad to impress, Daniels rolled back to last season’s form by returning a goal and an assist and claim two bonus points.

He now sits on 32 points along with team-mate Adam Smith who fetched his second assist of the season in the 6-1 rout. That lifted Smith to the summit of the FPL value rankings for defenders.

Dele Alli
With Heung-Min Son benched, Alli took his opportunity to continue his campaign to wean Fantasy managers from the South Korean with a third goal in five Gameweeks.

Expertly dispatched past a previously unbeatable Ben Foster, Alli’s stock continues to climb.

Harry Kane’s return could be significant when it comes to the choice between Son and Alli, particularly if the latter remains in a central support role behind the returning striker.

Gylfi Sigurdsson
Fielded as a false nine by Bob Bradley in his first match in charge, the Icelandic international grabbed Swansea City’s first in a 3-2 loss at the Emirates.

It’s two goals and an assist in the last five for Sigurdsson, who has also picked up points against Man City and Chelsea over that period to underline his fixture-proof potential.

Nacer Chadli
The Belgian’s rise to Fantasy prominence continued with a second-half effort at home to former club Spurs.

West Brom have netted seven times since Chadli made his debut in Gameweek 4 – today’s opener means he’s played a part in six of those strikes in just five outings.

Eric Pieters
A first clean sheet for Stoke City saw the Dutch left-back fetch a pair of bonus points, having won four of his seven tackles. At just 4.4, Pieters remains the key attraction in Mark Hughes’ rearguard, although goalkeeper Lee Grant, at 4.0, offers an even cheaper route to cover the Potters’ prolonged spell of favourable fixtures.

In Decline

Sergio Aguero
Having scored nine goals over his past two Gameweek 8 appearances, Aguero first frustrated his Fantasy owners by starting on the bench and then rubbed salt into that wound by having a second half penalty saved.

The most popular captain choice in Gameweek 8, he returned -2 for the 24% who handed him the armband – that included 41 of the top 100 FPL managers.

Pep Guardiola’s decision to bench the Argentine, even with the Champions League tie with Barcelona beckoning, will have come as a major surprise.

Given that City ended up dropping further points following their defeat at White Hart Lane, it remains to be seen if the City boss will be willing to gamble on doing the same ahead of future European ties.

Heung-Min Son
In another major blow to so many Fantasy managers, Mauricio Pochettino followed through on Friday’s warning by taking the decision to preserve the in-form South Korean to the bench for the visit to West Brom.

Son was the hottest property in FPL ahead of Gameweek 8, attracting over 334,000 new owners after registering four goals and two assists in his last four.

Eventually introduced from the bench, Son helped spark Dele Alli’s equaliser, but that will be little consolation for those who opted for Son over Theo Walcott this week.

Pochettino’s decision to rest such an in-form player will undoubtedly spook Son’s new owners given that, with Harry Kane closing in on a return, the Spurs boss will have increased options to rotate in the coming weeks.

Toby Alderweireld
Another big Spurs asset to take a tumble – owned by almost 19% of FPL managers – Alderweireld is a key injury concern following a collision with team-mate Jan Vertonghen in the West Brom stalemate.

Alderweireld was stretched off with an apparent knee problem, with Pochettino offering little detail on the extent of the injury ahead of the Gameweek 9 trip to Bournemouth.

Christian Benteke
The Crystal Palace striker joined Aguero and Kevin De Bruyne in spurning an opportunity from 12-yards, spooning a first-half spot-kick over the West Ham United bar.

Having seized penalties from Yohan Cabaaye following his miss in Gameweek 3, Benteke may now be questioned as the designated taker.

Riyad Mahrez
Dropped to the bench for the visit to Stamford Bridge, the decision was a clear sign of intent from Claudio Ranieri ahead of their midweek Champions League tie.

In Fantasy terms, it was another decisive nail in Mahrez’ coffin which undermines his potential as a consideration while Leicester City’s European adventure continues.

Michail Antonio
Slaven Bilic’s answer to West Ham’s defensive was, rather predictably, to return to a 3-5-2 system and deploy Antonio at wing-back.

While he flourished in that role for a prolonged spell last season, it’s nonetheless another blow to Antonio’s stock that, combined with three successive blanks, guarantees that the FPL sales will continue.

Jonny Evans
An integral part of the West Brom defence that kept Spurs at bay at the Hawthorns, Evans fell from the suspension tightrope courtesy of a late booking.

Owned by 8.7% of FPL managers, he’ll now miss the Gameweek 9 trip to Anfield.