Seduced by a Legend, let down by a sure-thing and at the mercy of a south-coast puppeteer. Here are the harsh lessons gathered from the remnants of Gameweek 17 so far…
Zlatan has won us back….
Having run up six Gameweek blanks from mid-September, it seemed unfeasible that Zlatan Ibrahimovic would ever recover and win our favour again. But then we should never say never this season.
A lot has happened since Zlatan’s dry spell. Sergio Aguero has been banned; Harry Kane has fluffed his lines and Diego Costa’s Dr Jekyll was belatedly overwhelmed by his old Mr Hyde tendencies.
More significantly, Ibrahimovic has hit seven goals in six Gameweek starts ahead of a potentially prosperous run of Manchester United fixtures.
Jose Mourinho then weighs in with talk of his striker being “undroppable” and suddenly we are all seduced by the “legend”.
Ibrahimovic is strolling through FPL squad turnstiles at pace, picking up 90% of Diego Costa’s sales ahead of a seemingly plum home tie with Sunderland.
This Fantasy manager remains sceptical, but even I had to park such doubts and follow suit.
Azpilicueta has a bonus points tractor beam…
Chelsea’s ruthlessly efficient defender is another player to benefit from Costa’s fall-out.
With a spare Chelsea slot beckoning, Cesar Azpilicueta’s power to drag in Fantasy Premier League bonus points offers a convincing case to double our efforts in the Chelsea rearguard.
His secret is simple – he wins almost twice the number of tackles than any other Chelsea defender, while also topping the ranks for clearances, blocks and interceptions. Saturday’s assist for Costa’s goal was just gravy.
Nobody would dream of swapping out Marcos Alonso at this point, particularly with the wing-back now auditioning for direct free-kicks.
But the Azpilicueta option to sit alongside him for Stamford Bridge matches with Bournemouth and Stoke City looks enticing, even with the N’Golo Kante midfield shields down for the visit of the Cherries.
It’s even time to reconsider Negredo…
Once the hottest of FPL properties, having attracted more transfers than any other player, Negredo, like Ibrahimovic, appears to have re-invented himself.
His two goals against Swansea were, we repeat, against Swansea.
However, the twin strikes displayed the hallmark of a striker brimming with confidence and ready to fire over what could be a pivotal spell in Middlesbrough’s season.
Aitor Karanka’s men have two testing away trips to come next but, following that, embark on a run that could see them nestle firmly in mid-table comfort.
More importantly from our perspective, it could be a period that sees Negredo established as a superb third striker option.
There are clearly already believers out there – an overnight price rise reflected growing confidence in the Spaniard and, still priced at just 6.3, he could be a handy slow burning provider over the next month.
Friend is not back in the family just yet…
Things are not so clear-cut with Karanka’s other would-be Fantasy asset.
Full-back George Friend returned to the squad and earned a cameo in midfield as a late substitute.
We were presuming that he’d re-establish himself at left-back but, in his absence, Fabio has excelled and now Karanka is mulling a selection headache.
While we’d like to swoop for Friend ahead of Middlesbrough’s improving run, we’re forced to reserve judgment and wait on the Spaniard’s next course of action.
The Rodriguez option needs Puel to play ball…
While we can tolerate waiting on Karanka’s whims, Southampton’s Claude Puel is becoming an unpredictable puppet master.
Annoyingly, he may now be pulling strings on a rather valuable FPL differential.
Jay Rodriguez’ twin strike at Bournemouth put us on alert to the potential of the 6.3 midfield option leading the line for the Saints. However, our initial enthusiasm was almost immediately doused once we began to assess his chances of regular starts.
While a crocked Charlie Austin is out of the picture, Puel will doubtless find methods to frustrate us, having displayed acute tinkerman tendencies already this season.
We can only wait for the festive fixtures and, for now, look on Rodriguez as a short-term curiosity who could yet blossom to become something far more substantial.
We’re unlikely to trust Kane again in a hurry…
Trusted with over 400,000 Gameweek 17 captaincies, Harry Kane failed to deliver for a second successive home fixture, having previously demonstrated a familiar knack of finding the net at White Hart Lane.
Now falling victim to the rise of Ibrahimovic, even in the light of Costa’s ban, Kane is being sold on by bitterly frustrated owners.
Given the nature home fixtures with Hull City and Burnley, it’s difficult to imagine a scenario where can approach the Kane captaincy with such confidence.
Getting back into our squads may be a tough task, gaining our faith to the point that we’d risk the armband may just be beyond him.
Attacking full-backs are all the rage…
While Kane struggled to impress, both Kyle Walker and Danny Rose were doing their upmost to distract from Chelsea’s back four assets.
Converted to wing-backs in midweek to return an assist apiece, they reverted to full-back roles against Burnley but again poured forward to share attacking returns.
Integral to Mauricio Pochettino’s attacking ploys, it seems inevitable that they will both go on contributing and banking additional points to supplement shut-outs.
With Sunderland’s Patrick van Aanholt also blinking wildly on the radar with his third goal of his season, and Alonso already ensconced in FPL squads, this is rapidly turning into an even stronger season for the attacking full-back.
We need to reserve a slot for Brunt…
West Brom’s Irish craftsman loosely fits into that same bracket, although he was shifted from left-back to a midfield role for the Gameweek 17 visit of Manchester United.
Snuffed out by a ruthlessly efficient display from Mourinho’s men, Brunt’s performance and, more importantly, his starting role, was still a key point of interest.
His delivering can and will fetch further assists, and with West Brom’s fixtures turning markedly in their favour for the turn of the year, Brunt has to be a filed as an early target for 2017.
Sigurdsson has three matches to deliver…
In contrast, Gylfi Sigurdsson’s most vital three matches may well remain in this calendar year.
Having blanked in back-to-back road defeats, Sigurdsson and the Swans are now gasping for a turnaround of fortunes come the visit of West Ham on Boxing Day.
Following that, Bournemouth make the trip to South Wales, before Sigurdsson drops in at Palace on New Year’s Eve.
Those three matches appear crucial for so many reasons.
They may just save Swansea’s season, keep Bob Bradley in his job and convince us that Sigurdsson remains among the key targets for the remainder of the season.
It may never be time for Payet…
While Sigurdsson bids to cling to our attention, Dimitri Payet, for all his guile and trickery, is struggling to turn our heads.
Like Kane, he looked beautifully poised to break out with fixtures against Burnley and Hull City and, like the Spurs man, he hit the buffers in both fixtures.
Given his 9.1 price tag and the unrelenting competition for spots in our five-man midfields, it’s just possible that Payet may remain on the periphery for the duration, unless perhaps the double Gameweeks deliver him to us.
