Robin Van Persie and Demba Ba grab the winners for Man United and Newcastle respectively. Papiss Cisse stutters again, while Steven Gerrard opens his account ahead of a decent trio of fixtures. Here’s Part One of the Stock Check:
On the Up
Robin Van Persie
A peripheral figure for the vast majority of the game, the Dutchman had his spot-kick duties to thank this afternoon. Van Persie’s penalty winner took his tally to five – top scorer for the season so far.
Steven Gerrard
The Liverpool skipper opened the scoring to grab his first goal of the season and bring himself onto the Fantasy radar. With a kind run of fixtures on the horizon (nor, STO, RDG) he looks likely to pick up new investors over the short-term,.
Hatem Ben Arfa
The Frenchman provided the assist for Demba Ba’s goal in the home win over Norwich. Ben Arfa has now produced attacking returns in all three of his home matches so far, justifying the decision of 46,000 FPL managers to draft him in this week.
Demba Ba
Handed a start after his brace off the bench at Everton, Ba continued his scoring form with the winner against the Canaries. Ba has now notched four of his side’s six goals this season but, once again, he was denied the chance to take a spot-kick; Papiss Cisse’s subsequent miss will only further frustrate his owners.
Going Down
United Defence
Sir Alex Ferguson’s decision to rest Nemanja Vidic means no United defender has started all of the club’s five games. Jonny Evans came in to partner Rio Ferdinand at the back, while Anders Lindegaard was once again preferred to David De Gea between the posts. Rafael‘s second goal of the season boosted his tally – with just one clean sheet to date, his attacking returns continue to heighten his appeal.
Papiss Cisse
The failed spot-kick is indicative of a player looking shorn of all confidence right now. In a sense, it’s a strange one – Cisse notched a superb 25-yard header for his country against Ivory Coast earlier this month but on the domestic front, he continues to look a shadow of the player that terrorised defences in the second half of last season. Subbed off around 70 minutes, sales are likely to pick up.
Grant Holt
The Norwich skipper dropped to the bench for the first time this season as Chris Hughton freshened up his attack. Holt has produced just one assist for his owners this term and with the Canaries scoring just twice in five games under Hughton, their attacking assets look far from appealing.
