The Digest – Gameweek 3

We cast a final glance back towards Gameweek 3 this morning. Chelsea’s deadly front man, Liverpool’s display at the Lane and the encouraging form of a number of budget strikers all come into consideration.

The Player

On Thursday, the press were united in suggesting he’d be out for up to six weeks with a hamstring injury. On Friday, Jose Mourinho described him as a “big doubt” for Chelsea’s trip to Everton. On Saturday, Diego Costa scored twice and grabbed the maximum bonus points in a 6-3 rout at Goodison, badly burning the 155,000 Fantasy Premier League (FPL) managers who decided to part company with the summer signing ahead of the weekend deadline.

He’s been bothered by hamstring problems before but Costa, clearly, is made of stern stuff – last season he started 34 of Atletico’s 38 league matches on the way to the La Liga title. Already with four strikes to his name, his consistency compares very favourably to team-mate Eden Hazard – Costa has already scored three times on his travels, just one fewer than the Belgian managed away from Stamford Bridge over the entire 2013/14 campaign.

With Cesc Fabregas pulling the strings in midfield and Costa’s predatory nature in the box, Mourinho’s side look full of goals right now and the Spain international could well be on course to replicate last term’s 28-goal heroics for Atletico. Snapped up by over 240,000 FPL managers already this week, Costa may not quite scale the heights of Luis Suarez as a Fantasy asset but, from what we’ve seen so far, he may be as close as we can hope for this season.

The Team

A patchy home win over Southampton on the opening day of the season highlighted that Liverpool were still finding their feet after the Uruguayan’s departure. Defeat at City hardly helped instil confidence as the Reds rolled up to face a Spurs side that had yet to concede under Mauricio Pochettino but the manner of their emphatic victory suggests Brendan Rodgers’ side are still a Fantasy force to be reckoned with.

Switching to a midfield diamond, with Raheem Sterling tucked in behind Daniel Sturridge and debutant Mario Balotelli, the Merseysiders tore apart the Tottenham rearguard with a display that could easily have harvested more than three goals. The attacking trio now brace themselves for a superb run of fixtures that is sure to bring significant investment Liverpool’s way – heading into the next six Gameweeks (AVL, wh, EVE, WBA, qpr, HUL) without at least one of Sterling and Sturridge on board looks a risky tactic.

At the back, too, the attacking thrust offered by summer signing Alberto Moreno down the left has already come to fruition emphatically at the Lane. With Glen Johnson and Martin Skrtel sidelined through injury last weekend, the Reds backline expertly marshaled their opponents in the final third, and with new boys Dejan Lovren and Javier Manquillo also starting alongside Moreno and Mamadou Sakho, there’s cause for optimism at both ends of the pitch for Rodgers’ side right now.

The Talking Point

As Costa headed into the weekend with question marks hanging over him, Fantasy managers loaded up on City pair Stevan Jovetic and Sergio Aguero for the home clash against Stoke. Their failure to deliver, allied with United’s toils at Burnley and Sturridge’s blank at Spurs, came at a time where many budget forwards put their names forward as potential contenders for our three-man frontlines.

After three Gameweeks of the new season, five of the top eight forwards are priced at 6.0 and under. Steven Naismith and Andreas Weimann have already delivered 20+ points for their owners, while Saido Berahino, Nikica Jelavic and Leonardo Ulloa are all pushing to be this year’s Jay Rodriguez.

Right now, with such a wealth of budget options to consider, many may be tempted to spend big in midfield and potentially snap up Chelsea’s Branislav Ivanovic at the back, bringing more 3-5-2 formations into contention than ever before.

For others, it’s only a matter of time before the premium forwards start to deliver, though. As mentioned, Liverpool’s run of matches will surely afford Sturridge the chance to get amongst the goals again, while the arrival of Radamel Falcao at United looks very tempting – crucially, the Colombian would be a real differential to the 42%-owned Wayne Rooney and is priced at 11.0 to Rooney’s 10.5. With the prolific Costa looking unstoppable, a trio of heavy-hitters up top looks just as enticing.

For the sake of our Fantasy seasons, though, we need the likes of Naismith and Ivanovic to flourish in order to offer more variety amongst out 15-man squads. It can only be beneficial to the Fantasy games and managers alike that, as we head into Gameweek 4, there’s less agreement than ever on the 2014/15 “template team”.