This Much We Know – Gameweek 9

Philippe Coutinho may have settled an argument. Sergio Aguero is scaring us, Bob Bradley is already off our Christmas list but we can’t get enough of Antonio Conte. Here’s all the stuff and nonsense gathered from Gameweek 9…

Aguero has put the frighteners on us…
Okay, so now we’re worried.

Despite nagging doubts, we had the confidence that Pep would hand Aguero a recall but, I for one was expecting a very different reaction from the man himself.

While Aguero’s listless display was symptomatic of City’s first half malaise, there’s no doubt that Sunday’s showing dented our confidence further.

It seems unfeasible that we should consider dropping a fit Sergio Aguero, particularly with the fixture list about to smile on Guardiola’s City.

But, with just a single goal in five Premier League appearances, it’s difficult to argue against claims that Aguero is now failing to offer value.

We’ve always had faith in the City man as a captain option – that ensured that, however much the FPL inflated his price tag, he would always offer the potential returns to justify it.

Right now, it’s debatable just how many of us would throw the armband his way ahead of a Gameweek 10 trip to West Brom – an opponent that will raise their game and revel in City’s apparent loss of confidence.

If we’re not looking to Aguero for double points, the thirteen million starts to look very very expensive.

Coutinho is close to ending the argument…
Another mesmeric display. Another goal.

Philippe Coutinho is getting close to ending all the chatter on Liverpool’s best midfield option and giving us little option but to tow the line and acquire his services.

There’s a strong argument for doubling with Roberto Firmino – certainly the pair appear to offer a tempting combination of goals and assists – a blend that drowns out the claims of Adam Lallana and Sadio Mane.

Mane scored and assisted in Saturday’s game but was again denied the maximum bonus – he’s scored four goals and laid on two assists but has just four bonus points to his name.

With Coutinho and Firmino sharing goals and assists and supplying flurries of key passes, Mane’s propensity to take players on and lose possession is punishing his Bonus Point System tally.

Cazorla is key to Arsenal cutting edge…
Predictably, Arsenal’s attacking impetus hit the buffers, just as hordes of FPL managers jumped on Theo Walcott’s accelerating bandwagon.

We’ve been here before . There seems to have been countless Emirates encounters where Arsene Wenger’s side have struggled to break down teams, bereft of an effective plan B.

The fact is, with Santi Cazorla on the pitch, their plan A is so much more likely to deliver the goods.

Walcott and Alexis Sanchez were forced to rely on half chances against Middelsbrough, butting into a mass defence that strangled Arsenal’s best efforts.

Cazorla is the key master that can often unlock such a strategy – we’ve already witinessed it this season with his two assists in the Gameweek 3 in the win over Southampton.

Many will hold Sanchez and Walcott ahead of the trip to Sunderland but Cazorla’s availability could be key to repaying such faith.

We’ve fallen out with Bradley already…
We welcomed his false nine that led to Gylfi Sigurdssson’s Gameweek 8 goal at the Emirates but, a week on, we’ve now changed our opinion on Bob Bradley.

The American reacted to that first defeat with five changes, ousting budget darlings Jordi Amat and Leroy Fer to the bench.

It remains to be seen if this knee jerk reaction is permanent but, in Amat’s case, the argument for his return seems pretty flimsy given the Swans’ clean sheet against Watford.

…but we’re taking a shine to Conte…
Down in West London, Antonio Conte is shaping up to be earn hero status.

Following a Gameweek 6 humbling at the hands of Arsenal, the Italian reshaped his Chelsea side and has since maximised their Fantasy potential.

In Marcos Alonso, he’s given us a wing-back who gets forward to shoot and assists.

He’s somehow getting goals and assists out of N’Golo Kante and Nemanja Matic.

But, best of all, he may have just revived Eden Hazard’s fortunes to return the Belgian to our radars, just as we consider the possibility of flushing funds from our attacks.

Hazard now has four goals in four starts for club and country and, in the new Chelsea shape, appears to be bombing on with reckless abandon, free of all defensive duties.

The Blues run of three wins with nine goals scored without conceding will now be tested by some rigorous fixtures. Come through that spell and Hazard will drop on our laps for Christmas.

We’ve got Costa all wrong….
We were laying odds on Costa conveniently earning a fifth booking against United – manufacturing an absence against West Ham United for Wednesday’s EFL Cup tie.

But Costa is clearly a changed man.

He’s not only earning us unlikely bonus points but he’s now navigated three Premier League matches without a yellow card.

His personal best is six league outings – if he makes that we all need to buy him by way of honouring the achievement.

Son is not the answer….
Rested at the Hawthorns in Gameweek 9, Son Heung-min was restored against Bournemouth but lasted only an hour, mustering just a single shot with three touches in the box.

Having scored just four in five matches in all competitions, it’s clear that, despite Son’s sparkle, Spurs without Harry Kane still lack the means to hurt opponents.

His return, mooted for the Gameweek 11 north London derby with Arsenal, will cast doubt on Son’s role.

Moussa Sissoko’s seemingly inevitable suspension opens up the gap for Son to remain in the starting XI but we have to question how Mauricio Pochettino will deploy him.

The Alli and Kane double act will surely be revived, leaving Son battling for a start and perhaps in a flank role that will reduce his output.

Karanka needs to build around the Traore’s pace…
Snapped up from relegated Aston Villa having been underused, Aitor Karanka turned to Adama Traore’s blistering pace to drive Middlesbrough’s counter attacks at the Emirates.

It’s a tactic that should have won them three points.

Traore terrorised the Gunners’ defence and saw him fire two of his own efforts on target, only to be denied by Petr Cech’s heroics.

Now the challenge for Karanka is to build his side’s attacking ploys around the winger in the long-term and at the Riverside.

If he can achieve that, we may just have have found another 4.8 prospect.

Heaton is perhaps the only essential…
If Burnley preserve their top-flight status, they will owe a huge debt to their skipper.

We started the season anticipating that Tom Heaton would reward our faith by replicating his 2014/15 form which saw him ranked second, despite suffering relegation; it turns out he may surpass it.

Another seven saves in the win over Everton saw him move to 47, that’s 13 more than any other keeper. Heaton has now returned 12 points from saves alone, ensuring that he goes on presenting outstanding value for his 4.6 price tag.

With so many areas of our squad seemingly in flux, it’s hard to deny Heaton as our season keeper.

Defoe doesn’t fancy another rescue act…
Having declared that Sunderland have moved “backwards” under David Moyes, it’s safe to say that confidence is hardly flowing through Jermain Defoe at present.

With just a single goal in five Premier League outings, his current form has dipped alarmingly to spark FPL sales.

Forthcoming match-ups with Bournemouth and Hull City may just lend him a stay of execution but, a further blank against Arsenal will likely trigger further trades and a slide in price.

The Gunners have six clean sheets in seven in all competitions; it doesn’t look good.

Redmond is worth another look…
He’s buzzed all season, producing performances and winning plaudits that belied a humble FPL output.

Now, with back-to-back goals, Redmond has blinked on the radar once again, with his modest 5.9 price point putting us on alert.

There are two major caveats.

Southampton’s fixtures are somewhat abhorrent. While the Saints have form, St Mary’s meetings with Chelsea, Liverpool and Everton will test and potentially blunt their cutting edge.

Secondly, Sofiane Boufal is a headache – both for us and Claude Puel.

Emerging from the bench at the Etihad with Dusan Tadic making way, we should not expect the Serb to be under threat.

Instead Puel will have to find another solution to work his record signing into the Saints attack and that could see Redmond’s minutes under threat.