And so the power shifts once again.
I can barely remember witnessing such upheaval: where we’ve had to re-consider where our big-money is spent and switch our sights, not only due to form, but simply availability.
We started the season coveting Zlatan Ibrahimovic. Then Diego Costa emerged, followed swiftly by Eden Hazard as Chelsea blossomed. Now Harry Kane, with seven goals in five, becomes a priority.
While these players battle for recognition in our squads, Sergio Aguero was considered by most as a mainstay: a factor that required little consideration.
That theory wavered back in Gameweek 3 but today’s events may have changed it for good.
Aguero had not served a suspension until this season. Now he is set to miss at least seven weeks of this campaign before the turn of the year. Few, if any, could have anticipated that.
Hours after the bombshell at the Etihad, Alexis Sanchez then provided his own explosion.
We always knew the dangers: deployed up front by Arsene Wenger, he has always been part of the heavy-hitter debate.
But, with heads turned by Chelsea’s faultless form and the promise from Eden Hazard, some, including this Fantasy manager, chose to lose Sanchez’ special talent, keeping Aguero locked into our attacks.
Now, with the City striker being ejected from squads throughout the land, the sacrifices required to gain the likes of Hazard, Costa and Marcos Alonso – all so alluring with Chelsea’s form and fixtures – no longer apply.
When I showed Sanchez the exit ahead of Gameweek 12, opting to sell Aguero was something I pondered, but quickly dismissed.
Today’s events punished that particular decision. They also force us re-examine the established thinking.
We are so set on Aguero. His place is so cemented in Fantasy Football folkore, the prospect of progressing through a season, or even a period of Gameweeks without him almost seems unthinkable.
But while a saintly Costa is scoring goals and avoiding the booking that will see him serve a one-match ban, we’ve seen Aguero inexplicably become an unreliable hothead.
We can’t begin to fathom how those roles have been reversed. We can only react to what we’ve now been dealt.
While those without Sanchez are denied the convenience of carrying out a like-for-like swap for Aguero, even with the cost of an additional transfer, it will likely prove a popular route.
Acquiring Sanchez no longer comes packaged with such sacrifice now that Aguero is out of the equation, his millions available to us.
In Gameweek 4 we formed plans to sell a suspended Aguero and bring him back two weeks later. This time around the landscape may have changed.
As of today, it seems likely that few will be forgoing Sanchez for Aguero should that decision ever arise again.
Although it’s almost folly to make such predictions in a season that refuses to allow us to settle in our thinking.
