Scout Notes – Gameweek 10 – Saturday

The Manchester City merry-go-round rotates in its usual bewildering fashion, while more stable, if less spectacular, United assets produce yet again. Arsenal’s big attacking names disappoint, but a Chelsea star is on the rise and a host of budget options shine a light on a frequently frantic day of action.

Here are the notes from Saturday’s seven matches.

Striking returns from Man City’s midfield

Pep Guardiola’s talent for trolling Fantasy managers was on show once again, with his decision to keep Sergio Aguero on the bench for the entirety of the 3-2 win at West Brom exasperating 735,568 new people.

That’s how many Fantasy Premier League managers brought him in for Gameweek 10 despite the Argentine putting in 120 minutes in the midweek Carabao Cup tie.

Nearly 230,000 had sold his fellow forward Gabriel Jesus, but it was the Brazilian who started and played 81 minutes yesterday.

The injury to Harry Kane had played its part – 305,000 had switched from the Spurs man to Aguero – while well over three-quarters of a million managers captained him as well. At least his no-show at The Hawthorns allowed their vice-captains to play a part.

Jesus’ owners were not so lucky, as their man neglected to record even a single shot among City’s 15 yesterday.

Instead, the goals came from midfield.

Leroy Sane marked his fifth successive league start with his third straight double-digit tally. His goal, assist and two bonus took him to 53 points over that time – a huge haul that signalled big transfer traffic and an overnight rise to 8.7.

Aguero’s (11.8) last five starts have accrued 49 points, Jesus’ (10.6) 37.

Points are clearly coming from Guardiola’s forwards, but midfield is where the value is at.

Even Raheem Sterling, who started his second successive league match on the bench, had time enough to rack up a seven-point display from a 29 minutes cameo. Add in the points he scored from his previous four starts, and that’s 47 produced from a man priced at just 8.2.

This season is turning into a striker soap opera, with premium forwards exploding, blanking, getting injured or benched pretty much every week.

Trying to find a consistently fruitful combination up front is proving near impossible, particularly at City.

The smart money looks better invested in midfield, although it will surely be Sane’s turn for a rest soon. That hasn’t stopped more than 60,000 taking the early plunge on him for next Sunday’s visit from Arsenal, however.

In amongst yesterday’s confusion of points and pain, the 4.6%-owned Fernandinho (5.1) produced double digits from a goal, assist and maximum bonus, while the considerably more popular defender Nicolas Otamendi was busy disappointing his 20.8% ownership.

The centre-half – an ever-present in the league this season – was at fault for the Baggies’ second goal. He was also cautioned as he brought in zero points and moved to within one yellow card of a one-match ban.

Lukaku plodding along

Amid all the striker-based carnage, Manchester United’s Romelu Lukaku remains a beacon of consistency in terms of both pitch-time and returns.

The 52.3%-owned Belgian has played every single minute of the club’s league campaign to date, and he’s blanked just twice.

Lukaku struck a post and provided the assist for Anthony Martial’s winner over Spurs to move to 62 points. That’s one short of Kane and three clear of Aguero.

Lukaku has played 900 minutes, Kane 789 and Aguero just 542, so the United man is clearly the ‘little and often’ guy in that particular three-piece.

But slow and steady might just win the race this season if his brand of consistency continues to buck the otherwise turbulent trend.

It’s not proving popular, however, as he was sold by more than 314,000 ahead of yesterday’s outing.

United’s schedule might have something to do with that – they still have to travel to Chelsea and Arsenal and host Man City over the next six Gameweeks – but at least Lukaku remains fit and firing, week in, week out.

Defensive duo Phil Jones and David De Gea are also proving persistent points producers on the back of eight clean sheets from those ten matches.

The centre-half picked up maximum bonus points against Spurs – he now has eight in total – and the pair are the top two players for points per million value (10.9). That’s a particularly impressive statistic for De Gea who, at 5.6, is the most expensive keeper on offer.

Eric Bailly’s return from injury was well-timed, Jose Mourinho choosing to employ three centre-halves to help negate Spurs, while Marcus Rashford’s increased corner and free-kick duties add another string to his attacking bow.

While things are nicely settled and productive at the front and back for United, midfielder Henrikh Mkhitaryan continues to slide.

The Armenian international blanked for the fifth match in a row and was subbed off after 64 minutes after another forgettable display.

He’s still in 19.0% of sides, but his ownership peak of 1,751,000+ is a distant memory – he’s now just the right side of the million mark – and he lost 0.2 in value last week alone. United’s fixtures seem unlikely to offer a platform for recovery.

Spurs falter without Kane firepower

Spurs, meanwhile, inevitably suffered without Kane to lead the way.

Son Heung-min was ineffectual up front, Dele Alli missed his side’s best chance when the score was still 0-0 and Christian Eriksen was again deployed in a deeper role which limited his impact in the final third.

Mauricio Pochettino handed Ben Davies his first start in three matches at wing-back – Kieran Trippier was the fall guy this week – but the team lacked edge without Kane as its focal point.

The 28.4% of FPL managers who resisted the temptation to sell the striker will be hoping that the midweek trip to Madrid comes too soon for Kane, with Pochettino lining him up for a return in Sunday’s home match with Crystal Palace. That’s a fixture that looks tailor-made for Kane, with Spurs in dire need of a victory after faltering at Old Trafford.

A mixed bag at the Emirates

Arsenal’s big three of Alexis Sanchez, Mesut Ozil and Alexandre Lacazette were expected to make hay from the visit of Swansea City.

But it was Sead Kolasinac who harvested the points, the big Bosnian returning 14 of them from a goal, an assist and maximum bonus in a fine performance marred only by a hip injury that ended his involvement on 77 minutes.

Lacazette was a particular source of frustration for the 106,000 managers who swapped him in for Kane.

In total, 197,000+ new owners watched the Frenchman blank for the third match in four and he failed to finish the match yet again – he’s not played a full 90 minutes since Gameweek 1.

Sanchez blanked, Ozil chipped in with an assist to please his slowly growing ownership, and the rather less heralded Aaron Ramsey was the pick of the midfield riches, the Welshman scoring for the second successive match.

Swansea produced a typically resolute away performance, and Tammy Abraham provided them with a threat going forward all match.

His assist for the shock opener from Sam Clucas kept the 5.8-priced striker’s season ticking over nicely, and he now has a good short-term schedule – BHA bur BOU – to build on his growing Fantasy reputation.

Hazard back to haunt Cherries

While Arsenal’s big names huffed and puffed at home, Chelsea’s main man delivered on the south coast.

Eden Hazard grabbed the winner at Bournemouth – his fifth goal in his last four outings against the south coast side. It marked Hazard’s first league goal of an injury-hit season, reminding us all of his big-ticket charms. The Belgian could and should have also come away with at least two assists and a bumper haul.

Only 5.1% of managers have been prepared to invest the 10.6 required for Hazard’s services, but his influential display at the Vitality Stadium will have furthered his cause, particularly in the long term.

Chelsea have to face Man United and Liverpool over the next three Gameweeks, but the Blues’ schedule is otherwise superb, with a great run of fixtures all the way through to a Gameweek 22 trip to Arsenal on New Year’s Day.

Alvaro Morata provided the assist for Hazard’s winner, but he was worryingly profligate in front of goal, missing two gilt-edged chances, and was replaced by Michy Batshuayi after 78 minutes.

If the Spaniard is going to go the way of Lacazette and fail to be handed full matches, his 20.5% ownership might start consider shifting their funds to Hazard in midfield. Like Lacazette, Morata is yet to convince that he can get close to Kane, Lukaku and the City strikers for consistency.

Elsewhere, investors in the Chelsea defence would have been delighted by the Blues’ first clean sheet since Gameweek 6, but the 3.5% who own Gary Cahill were treated to their 6.3-priced man sitting on the bench.

Of Chelsea’s four shut-outs this season, Cahill has been involved in just one.

Bournemouth, meanwhile, were punished for a lack of attacking ambition, although losing Junior Stanislas to a groin injury was a cruel blow for manager Eddie Howe. It’s also a frustration for Fantasy managers eyeing up the midfielder as a potential candidate to take advantage of the Cherries’ inviting schedule (new HUD swa BUR SOT cry) over the next six Gameweeks.

Salah’s partial redemption

Only two players boast stronger ownership than Liverpool’s Mohamed Salah.

Part of 35.7% of squads, he was again heavily backed going into yesterday’s visit from Huddersfield Town, with 246,000 new owners and more than 342,000 handing him the captaincy.

He promptly missed a penalty, which for a time had him providing us with a minus score before an assist put a positive spin on his day.

While Salah’s popularity has increased, Roberto Firmino’s has collapsed.

But the forward scored his first goal since Gameweek 3 and could be the next in line for penalty duties in light of Salah’s spot-kick failure.

James Milner could also be in the mix while he continues to maintain a starting role. The FPL defender featured for a second successive match, both of which have been in midfield, and his assist and clean sheet earned him maximum bonus for a 12-point haul.

Milner was, nominally at least, part of a Liverpool defence that kept a fourth clean sheet in five home matches.

That’s a record that further boosts the cut-price allure of Joe Gomez and Alberto Moreno, both 4.5, during what is an attractive run of opponents (whu SOT CHE stk bha EVE WBA bou) for the Reds.

Ragnar Klavan (4.3) is even cheaper, and he was handed a rare start when Dejan Lovren suffered a groin problem in the warm-up.

A big Brazilian blank

More than 336,000 managers drafted in Richarlison for the visit of Stoke City to Watford.

But the Brazilian was again guilty of missing big chances – two of them against the Potters – and a booking reduced his return to just the one point on a bad day for both the player and his team.

It remains a case of ‘never mind the quality, feel the width’ with Richarlison. He leads the way among midfielders with 35 attempts, but his shot accuracy and conversion rate are not nearly so impressive.

Salah – perceived by many to be decidedly wasteful in front of goal – easily outdoes the Brazilian on both counts, by 61.8% to 17.1% and 14.7% v 8.6% respectively.

But Richarlison’s 6.4 price and decent immediate schedule (eve WHU new) should be enough to keep his 16.3% ownership loyal for now.

Watford struggled on the day, and Adrian Mariappa’s benching – he’d been involved in the Hornets’ previous six matches – could well mark the end of the 4.0-priced defender’s spell in the side.

Stoke’s Geoff Cameron, meanwhile, missed the match with concussion, allowing Kevin Wimmer to earn a recall and help the Potters to a rare clean sheet. The Austrian – at just 4.4 – could yet prove a handy option over some encouraging fixtures to come (LEI bha cry LIV SWA tot bur WHU).

Better late than never from Zaha

A frantic finish at Selhurst Park was crowned by a late equaliser from Wilfried Zaha, his second goal in three matches under Roy Hodgson.

The 4.0%-owned midfielder has been used in an advanced role by the ex-England boss and he continues to be a more than useful differential candidate as a result.

Palace have to travel to Spurs next Sunday, but the fixture list opens up hugely after that, with a great run through to post-Christmas (EVE STK bha wba BOU WAT lei).

Another who could benefit from that is Ruben Loftus-Cheek (4.5).

He was the early-season budget midfielder of choice for many, but injury and Palace’s awful start reduced his initial ownership by almost a half.

He’s now owned by 5.3% and produced his first return of the season with the assist for Zaha.

Investment in Palace assets remains as precarious as their league position, but if Mamadou Sakho, who missed out yesterday with a knock, returns to provide some stability to the defence, the Eagles’ schedule offers the potential for points with Scott Dann (4.7) a clear candidate.

However, with Julian Speroni making a third successive start in goal, he is looking the optimum route into Hodgson’s defence. The veteran costs just 4.0 and, in a pairing with Rob Elliot of Newcastle, would free up precious funds.