Toure comes from nowhere to offer another unwanted Manchester City rotation option, while Kane times his first double-figure return to dent the blanking Aguero and Lukaku. Here’s the Stock Check following Saturday’s events…
On The Rise
Yaya Toure
If the Ivorian’s starting role at Selhurst Park was unexpected, his two-goal salvo provided an even bigger surprise.
Toure eased himself back into City’s line-up, immediately finding roots in Pep Guardiola’s midfield and renewing his license to bomb forward into the box.
Sadly, while he has attracted transfer attention overnight, Toure chief contribution this season could yet be limited to depriving us of the Ilkay Gundogan option.
Harry Kane
Subject to last night’s Knee Jerk article, Kane has timed his ascent to coincide with stutters from Sergio Aguero and Romelu Lukaku and ahead of Spurs’ obliging run of home fixtures.
His two strikes against West Ham took him to five goals in his last four Premier League outings – a reminder of his potential output having fired 25 and 21 goals in his previous two campaigns.
Rising in price overnight, Kane remains a powerful differential at 10.8, capable carrying the armband over White Hart Lane meetings with Swansea City, Hull City and Burnley.
Jermain Defoe and Victor Anichebe
Defoe registered a goal and an assist for the second successive Gameweek to push him up the Fantasy Premier League standings: only Diego Costa totals more points among the forwards.
The value he offers is adding to the pressure on our heavyweight options and, with Anichebe in place as a willing and able strike partner, we can no longer write off Sunderland as a side with limited attacking threat.
Defoe and Anichebe were the most popular transfer targets overnight, with the latter clearly offering the current go-to option for those seeking out a heavy five-man midfield.
Patrick van Aanholt
Picked out in our Differentials, the Dutchman is a common route to follow when Sunderland’s fixtures smile kindly.
The new cutting edge and attacking verve introduced by Moyes and the Defoe and Anichebe partnership clearly feeds into Van Aanholt’s potential, as evidenced by his assist.
A first clean sheet of the season sealed a strong Gameweek for the Black Cats’ full-back, but it’s likely that Van Aanholt will need to maintain some attacking output to warrant our interest.
Kevin De Bruyne
A ninth assist of the season means that the City schemer has now returned in eight of his 11 Gameweek appearances, underlining his unerring consistency.
De Bruyne is boosted, then, although with such an array of midfield talent available to us, his 10.6% ownership looks unlikely to rocket. With Citys’ fixtures stiffening over the coming Gameweeks, De Bruyne’s 10.8 price tag remains an obstacle.
Gylfi Sigurdsson
The Swansea City playmaker is a good example of the competition De Bruyne faces – Sigurdsson’s spot-kick at Goodison Park takes him to five returns in his last seven Gameweeks, yet he is priced at just 7.2.
With the Swans fixtures turning firmly in their favour from Gameweek 15, Sigurdsson’s stock is set to go on climbing. Owned by just 3.3%, he is another key differential for the festive period.
Carl Jenkinson
The 5.0 option dropped into the Arsenal back four to replace the injured Hector Bellerin.
While the Gunners have kept just a single clean sheet in five, they enjoy Emirates encounters with Bournemouth and Stoke City next – Jenkinson is likely to cover those matches in Bellerin’s absence to offer excellent mid-term potential.
Juan Mata
Another mid-price midfield candidate, the Spaniard’s superbly taken goal against Arsenal reinforced his credentials as a starter under Jose Mourinho but the doubts surrounding his Fantasy prospects as a fourth midfielder remain.
Currently the best attacking option in the United ranks given price and ownership, the likes of Sigurdsson and Walcott still appear to offer greater security and arguably stronger return potential in the mid-term.
Cedric Soares
The Southampton full-back is another earmarked for our Christmas list in that 5.0 bracket.
Returning to the Saints’ starting line-up against Liverpool, he helped Claude Puel’s side to a fourth clean sheet of the season.
Priced at 4.9, with improving fixtures and the prospect of assists from his raiding right-back runs, Cedric appears to offer strong value from here on in.
Wilfried Zaha
The Palace winger produced his fourth assist in as many Gameweeks as he continued to hint at a new consistent streak.
Priced at just 5.3, it’s clear that Zaha has potential as an active fifth midfielder, although, with third striker options available, that appeal seems limited.
He’s on the rise, but shelved and monitored until the landscape shifts.
Dejan Lovren
The Croatian helped Liverpool to just a second clean sheet of the season, nudging his stock further ahead of a favourable set of fixtures.
Nathaniel Clyne earned the maximum bonus and is the luxury item in Jurgen Klopp’s back four, but it’s doubtful whether we’ll consider the extra 0.6 outlay with the jury still out on the Reds’ resilience.
Etienne Capoue
The Frenchman volleyed a fifth goal of the season – his first strike in six Gameweeks – offering a reminder of his bench-warming qualities.
Capoue still cannot be trusted as a fourth midfielder option, with such strong output and value available across those precious positions.
Even so, early adopters who acquired his services for around 4.5 will surely keep faith: Capoue is assured of starts and still demonstrating potential beyond any other option at that price.
Only Anichebe enjoyed more transfer attention overnight, as Capoue’s 36.6% ownership starts to climb once again.
In Decline
Sergio Aguero
A fifth blank of the season at Selhurst Park, coupled with Kane’s haul, has upped the pressure on Aguero to produce at Burnley in Gameweek 13.
As De Bruyne continues stream points from midfield, the 13 million tied up in Aguero will remain under question when the Argentine disappoints.
Arguably, with five returns and five blanks, a 50% strike rate struggles to justify the investment. Certainly, it suggests that Aguero is still not providing the assured captaincy option we crave from him.
Romelu Lukaku
It’s now back-to-back blanks for the Belgian, who is set to embark on a run of testing fixtures that bring Arsenal, Manchester United and Liverpool to Goodison Park as his next three home matches.
The Gameweek 13 away trip to Southampton also appears daunting. Fail to return at St Mary’s and the three blanks will surely accelerate sales of Lukaku heading into the festive period.
However, early adopters who acquired the Toffees striker for just 9.0 will still be tempted to hold, and further Aguero blanks and a suspension for Costa may just divert transfer attention elsewhere.
Alexis Sanchez
Although assigned as the central striker at Old Trafford, Sanchez was seen to drop deep throughout, lending his presence to an Arsenal midfield effort.
He mustered just four touches in the United box and one attempt, as Arsene Wenger’s side struggled to find a cutting edge.
Another successful cameo from Olivier Giroud from the bench also raises further questions for the Gameweeks ahead.
How long can Arsene Wenger keep Giroud shackled to retain Sanchez as the central striker and, if the Chilean is shifted to a flank role, can he justify his hefty price tag?
Arsenal’s fixtures are strong but, without the influence of Santi Cazorla, there’s a creative spark missing which appears to be urging Sanchez to come deep.
Further returns for Hazard today would surely make him more vulnerable.
Ilkay Gundogan
Two weeks ago we were billing the German as the new Yaya Toure. Now we have a revitalised version of the old model and Gundogan’s starting role is suddenly under severe threat.
Week to week rotation is on the cards and Gundogan owners look unlikely to be able to depend on the City man as a reliable fourth midfielder. He’s already the most sold active player ahead of Gameweek 13.
Raheem Sterling
Back in the City starting line-up at Palace, Sterling’s fifth blank – or sixth if you count his Gameweek 11 absence – continued his decline and ensured that he’d would suffer a further loss in ownership.
Tough forthcoming fixtures and the threat of further rotation over Christmas builds a scenario that will make it difficult for Sterling to restore confidence.
John Stones
Another victim of Guardiola’s rotation policy, Stones dropped out of the City starting XI, presumably with Vincent Kompany and Nicolas Otamendi preferred to counter the Palace aerial threat.
Like Gundogan, Stones is clearly not a player we can rely on for secure starts and with tough fixtures to come, the 26.9% owned defender continues to look disposable.
Christian Benteke
With Defoe flourishing and Austin promising stronger returns as his fixtures improve, Benteke is failing to keep pace as a third striker option.
The underlying statistics suggest an upturn but a single goal in five Gameweeks is not enough to hold off a further drop in confidence and sales.
Joe Allen
Another fourth midfielder to suffer a major blow, having been shifted to a deeper role in Stoke City’s double pivot, Joe Allen collected his third booking in four Gameweeks. He will now sit out Gameweek 13 through suspension and is already the most sold FPL asset overnight.
Allen has returned 14 points over his last four outings, though 10 of those arrived in the Gameweek 10 victory over Swansea City.
Danny Rose
Another to tumble from the suspension tightrope, Rose’s owners will at least be thankful that he will miss the Gameweek 13 trip to Chelsea, to return to a clean slate for Spurs’ run of three favourable home outings.
Rose takes a fall, then, but will remain our Spurs defender of choice while Toby Alderweireld remains sidelined.
