With the curtain now closed on the gameweek, we take time out to chew it over and consider why one small training ground twang will have thousands of Fantasy managers going Dutch. Elsewhere, we ponder just how long the bubble around St James’ Park can stay intact.
The Player
While Demba Ba’s hat-trick measured a more signficant tremor on the Fantasy Richter scale, it was Robin Van Persie’s two goals, confirming his return to form, that has the bigger impact. The Dutchman’s brace against Bolton – a combination of an angled drive and a smart penalty box conversion – gave Van Persie 100 career goals at Arsenal and announced his arrival as a key Fantasy target once again.
The timing was perfect. With Wayne Rooney stranded by a training ground hamstring injury, Fantasy managers watched on while Van Persie issued a reminder of his importance to the Arsenal cause with a dominant display.
Incredibly Van Persie claims just 6% ownership in the Fantasy Premier League game, with Rooney tipping the scales at over 50% before the weekend. As we discussed in last week’s ScoutCast, the balance of power may well shift – Rooney’s injury will provide an early catalyst for change. That’s compounded by the fact that Arsenal’s fixtures hand Van Persie an enviable run of opponents that offer him every chance to match, if not better, the United man in the coming weeks.
The Team
Newcastle’s opening spell to the season has been nothing short of remarkable. On Saturday the final piece of Alan Pardew’s puzzle fell into place as the Magpies added a cutting edge to their braveheart defending. Ba’s hat-trick belatedly gave us a glimpse of his potential – promise that was always evident in his spell with West Ham last season.
Ba and his strike partner Leon Best have subsequently begun to attract Fantasy suitors – almost 50,0000 net transfers in so far this gameweek is evidence of that. Behind them in midfield they are benefiting from the industry of Cheik Tiote and Yohan Cabaye, offering a snap in the tackle with a good degree of flair thrown in. Their protection of a back four that has exceeded all expectation has also been crucial. Within Pardew’s defensive unit, it’s been Steven Taylor whose stood out – the biggest defensive transfer target this week, at 4.8 in the FPL, Taylor is now the top scoring defender.
Can Newcastle’s run continue? The fixture list certainly gives them every opportunity to keep the form ticking in the short-term – the next five gameweek’s offer three home matches before things stiffen up considerably from gameweek 12.
The Talking Point
Wayne Rooney’s injury has handed thousands of Fantasy managers a conundrum. Right now, it looks as though Rooney will sit out the potentially profitable home clash with Norwich this weekend, meaning that we either have his Fantasy wage bill wasting on our benches – or trade him in for a working model up front.
For some, that will be an easy decision, but for early adopters who will have benefited from Rooney’s recent price hike, they will face losing Fantasy funds and then the difficulty of finding the cash to trade him back in. That could see Rooney become the most expensive benchwarmer this season – giving those who can freely swap for Van Persie the opportunity to make up ground.
We saw this edge of the price rise sword last season when Didier Drogba and Florent Malouda failed to maintain blistering early form. A big price rise meant that their initial owners were tempted to hold on too long – hoping forlornly that their form would return. In the case of Rooney, we’d expect him to be back in contention after the international break but, even after this however, tough fixtures in gameweeks 8 and 9 could work against him.
