😯 What a shock!

Wow, they soon yanked him out

Haha

What a waste of time for all involved. Was never going to work.

Wowsers.

Is Siggy back on?

😯

That escalated quickly

Siggy U Turn!

Any other managers looked more out of their depth than him? Can't think of any. Remi Garde?

Thanks 🙂

Early goal and Ibra could have fun. Otherwise could be a low affair. Karanka will know how to frustrate Moureen.

so in conclusion theyve been tight apart from when they werent

Fair enough, Boro are a tough nut to crack. Can't see them stopping Zlatan though.

Great post. Not far off a hot topic for me.

The United player to captain would be Pogba

Smells like a 2 nil victory to utd

I'll be captaining Costa regardless.

Fresh and no doubt hungry after his ban.
Stoke just got hammered and will have only 4 days rest.
They have a home game 3 days later against Watford; they might rotate with this in mind.

Ibra confidence is high. If boro park the bus, then ibra will be in the box taking all the shots

If there is anyone who can unlock a bus, it has to be Jose

u dont teach a bus driver how to drive a bus

look at how he unlock sunderland but i think it will just be a 1-0 or 2-0 game

Damn. Can't get Luiz now...

Sweet. Defoe sticks. These price changes are so weird!

Damn, could have waited with Defoe not dropping. But thought he was almost certain to drop.

2 up
0 down

No Heaton rise is welcome

Was hoping for a heaton rise

just get them both and avoid aguero for now.

i think costa for 2m cheaper will keep pace with or putscore kun

I am on Team Hazard, as I want both Kun and Ibra in my team. Your point about Pedro is correct, but then would you feel comfortable in handing the captain's arm band to Pedro?
Hazard gives an option in that aspect as well.

Thanks Jonty, it's a dilemma for sure. Hazard to Pedro to maybe allow the big 3 up front is very tempting!

But is Pedro not a rotation risk due to William? Is his place secure enough like hazard?

I've gone for both currently, if aguero does start firing its certainly gonna be tricky

I think I'll keep Hazard and get Kun for Kane. Although Chelsea's consistency and no European matches tempts me to get Costa as well.

I am on team costa. And going without aguero.
It isn't the ideal thing because every week I will be worried about him exploding.

I personally feel more afraid if I didn't own Hazard. Costa tends to score 1 a game but no more. I own Defoe and he is similar. Your whole rank can massively change when Hazard explodes. I prefer Hazard.

keeping Costa and hazard both at the moment and if cheaper option circa mid 5.5 go on a little run I may get Sanchez hazard kun Costa Ibra all

I noticed this season that when I played with Kun in my team my OR started to go down (and my ML rivals gained lots of points vs my team), when I shipped him out (twice now) I suddenly started to climb the rankings. Coincidence?

I guess the spare money from Kun made the difference in other positions. My C picks weren't that great either

I'll go with Costa this time around and monitor what happens. With Kun blanking a few times and me captaining him (yes also C-ed him for -2 🙂 ) my rivals caught me and even overtook me.

I'm going Costa and Hazard and will try my luck without Kun for now. With both of them I think I'll get most of points from CHE goals.

Definitely keeping Costa, but like the idea of Aguero, Costa, Ibra and Sanchez.

Toying with Hazard and Origi to Aguero and cheep 5th mid.

Other option could be to keep Hazard, but do Origi, Siggy and Walcott to Aguero and 2 cheap mids.

I have Costa and keeping for the foreseeable future. Haven't had Haz since gw 5 and it's worked out alright. Can get him in if he is in good form come gw 24 when fixtures turn good for Chelsea

Hazards assists are way down on previous seasons

I think Sterling could be the answer to a question you haven't asked.

I really don't know what to do.
Hazard played really well in his last two games, I think he is still in form.
Think Im going to go without Kun for the liv game and then see what happens... But Aguero at home vs Burnley is pretty tempting...

You've summed it up really well here. If you want Ibra and Kun you have to accept no Costa, but I trust him more than I do Hazard, especially away.

I'm going to do nothing for now since I can't decide..

Hazard for me!

I just feel he's more captain material than Costa & he's also on pens.

Costa is consistent as we know but I wouldn't want both I would rather have another big hitter from a different team as it gives me another captaincy option.

My team setup is very similar to Mark's with 1 big striker in Ibra & I can't see it changing anytime soon unless Aguero really proves he's worth £13m with not a great run of fixtures.

A couple of days ago someone on here (I cannot remember who), pointed out that when Chelsea last won the title and when he was in Spain, Costa scored lots of goals in the first half of the season but not many in the second half of the season. Might be worth taking note of.

for now I'm keeping both.

1. Both on roughly same PPG.
2. Costa - Reliabliity is a bonus this season as very few consistent players.
3. Pedro - has to get his points early as he's off usually around 65-70 minutes. Willian is a genuine rotation option whereas Hazard doesn't have one. Does hit the box more often and does seem to get in better scoring positions.
4. hazard - is playing well. And is just one of those players where a haul is always on the cards.
5. As far as the fixtures go apart Spurs away can see Chelsea scoring in all those games so Costa & Hazard won't be far from the points.

I would like to hold until Gabriel Jesus arrives.
Will see how Pep manages.. knowing his philosophy of midfielders, he might favor Gabriel over Kun, as he already said & showed he is not dependent on Kun.
So for me, no rush.. I'm ok to wait with Costa Ibra Haz and Alexis in my rank.

For me, after the Hull game, I could go with Costa, Courtois and one of Alonso or Azpi. More than enough from Chelsea.

It's a great dilemma, and sums up this season perfectly. I think the answer may become clearer as we move into 2017.

The great thing about Chelsea assets is the lack of rotation, so you do feel the need to have at least one of Haz and Costa. On the flip side, owning Sanchez, Kun and Ibra pretty much covers your captaincy needs every week. I will feel very loathed to captain any Chelsea assets if I own those 3, unless they have a plum fixture like Swansea or Hull.

For those that think Kun is too expensive, Costa becomes the perfect fit. With sooo much choice in midfield, I believe Haz then becomes surplice to requirements, and a really strong midfield and defence is possible, in both 3-4-3 and 3-5-2 formations. At the moment I feel if Ibra can keep his form, then this might be the way I'll go. Sanchez, Cout, Pogba/Miki T, Lallana/Wally mid looks enticing, with a reasonably strong defence. From previous seasons, we know CSs normally increase as the season moves on.

For me you simply have 3 Chelsea in your side - they look like a team ready to win the league and they can concentrate fully on it with no CL/Europa. So if you don't go 2 defenders you surely go Costa and Hazard - as nailed on-ness for me is always paramount. Other spots in midfield are rotatable - particularly Willian and Pedro.

For now im monitoring the situation & keeping both & avoiding aguero.
If chelsea go back to scoring 1 goal a match its hazard who will go.

I think it just depends which suits you best because they both have very similar potential. There is talk of whether Walcott can "cover" Sanchez (he can't) or whether Mkhi can cover Zlatan (he can't either) or even whether KDB can cover Aguero (also a no).

But Hazard and Costa are pretty much interchangeable. So if you bought Costa cheap then keep him. If you bought Hazard cheap I bought at 9.8m I think) then he's your boy. Simple as that. It's a pragmatic decision.

There is also the possibility of having both but with Chelsea's upcoming fixtures I'm not interested at those price levels. Maybe in 6 or 8 weeks time.

On Pedro - you simply cannot trust that he'll play every game. Willian is too good a player for him to keep out permanently. Unfortunately, Pedro is also too good a player for Willian to keep out permanently. That makes having either an iffy proposition while everyone is fit.

Great article. At present I have Costa and Hazard and no arsenal cover; looking to bring in Wally. But, which combo is better?? -

1) Wally/Hazard
2) Pedro/Sanchez

Thanks

What would the rest of your team look like ?

I'm considering - but no matter how many moves I make and even with a wildcard I think the rest of my side would suffer too much. Even ditching Hazard makes it tricky.

But there is a strong upside - you have the three most reliable scorers and captaincy candidates in each of three attacking sides.

This is called the Kobra btw 😉

Will effect the balance of your team and over reliance on a selected few to deliver week in week out. Sometimes a GW may have many low scoring matches and will need to rely on good defenders to get points.

seriously considering this, might downgrade francis->ake this week so I can do defoe->kun+hazard->philips next.

Definitely considering it. Mid would be -Sanchez Lallana Siggy Philips.
Will also have Alonso and Brunt in defence

No point. Azpi has kept pace with Costa over 10 games for 4m less.

Yes, I am lol. It's a bit mad but doable...

Pickford fodder
Alonso Walker Jones Pieters Amat
Cabaye Phillips Sanchez Antonio Fletcher
Kun Ibra Costa
0.4 itb

Definitely not ideal, but can try to ride the good fixtures of wba and palace - this is achieved from my current team by doing Haz, Siggy and Origi out for Cabaye, Phillips and Kun. Might well do it on new year's!

Hennessey - Grant
Luiz - Evans - Jones - Chambers - Holgate
Sanchez - Lallana - De Roon - Phillips - Sigurdsson
Aguero - Costa - Ibra

For £105m can afford the above. Looks alright to me. Defence has Palace (Big Sam keeping clean sheets), Chelsea, Man Utd, Boro, WBA - look decent teams to me.

going with Costa & Ibra up front - no Aguero.
1. Both on roughly same PPG. Both on a par with Aguero
2. Most sides going without Aguero are still likely to have Ibra, Sanchez, Costa & Hazard. So there is no shortage of captaincy options.
3. Aguero will have his haul weeks but then so will all the others.
4. That 2m price difference is still huge. Most people will again be stripping back defence and/or going light on 3rd/4th/5th mids.
Cheap mids have generally been pretty hit & miss all season

No but I am considering De Bruyne, my team would be this

Pickford (Grant)
Alonso/Cedric/Evans (Pieters,Amat)
Sanchez Hazard De Bruyne Cabaye (De Roon)
Ibra Costa Origi

I think with De Bruyne it gives a much better balance and still 5 big hitters

Great idea, and may only be feasible while aguero and Costa are cheap-ish.

My team looks like this with the KOBRA

Valdes | Pickford

Alonso Bellerin Cedric Ake ....4.0

Hazard Coutinho Lamela Cabaye/Philips/5.5 ...4.2

Kun Ibra Costa

Any reviews?

Not for me on balance due to the following:

1) Having Anichebe which makes the transition tricky. I've bought into 3-5-2 due to no real quality third striker option and have more of an issue getting the 5th mid right.
2) Costa and Ibra are the form guys and extremely consistent (I have Kane but changing for Costa before deadline).
3) Aguero will likely need time to settle back in re minutes etc.At the moment under Pep he is not quite his old self.
4) ML is important - currently 3rd but I can't see guys above me getting Kun. In terms of that and my rank (90k odd) I'm happy to chug along for now and let my TV and chips come into play down the stretch.

It's not to say I would not bring in Kun for one of the others if he suddenly looks mega dangerous.Plus there could easily be a injuries or a red card with the others too.

I planned it already! Then my team would be

Grant
Alonso Jones Nyom Ake/Evans
Sanchez Walcott Lallana
Aguero Costa Ibrahimovic

I've had 3 premium strikers all season - and it hasn't been an issue for me. I love hunting out great value mids and defenders.

I really don't get the cheap 3rd striker template.

I would if i could afford it!
But i don't have enough money ITB to have a decent 4th midfielder like phillips.
I kept koscielny for too long then bought alonso for 6.3 instead of 5.9.
Also earlier in the season there was 1 week where i lost 0.2 each on both walcott & son.
I didnt take hits to avoid price rise/gains

If you are open to using 4-3-3 with some cheap defenders, it's possible. But poor team value would force you to have a dreadful bench.

CIA might be viable; I don't think it's wise.

I'll be going for it around week 25 with something like:

Pickford - Mandanda
Alonso - Valencia - Brunt - Cedric - Friend
Sanchez - Chadli - Ramirez - Zaha - De Roon
Aguero - Zlatan - Costa

With the heavy-hitting front line I prefer 4-3-3, and around that time West Brom, Boro and Palace have the fixtures to make 2/3 budget midfielders rotatable.

The way I see it is that if you were to downgrade Costa (he'd be the one I'd not have) to a 6-7m forward, I'd likely use the money to upgrade a midfielder to Hazard anyway, and I'd rather have Costa than Hazard. That said, I'll be getting rid of both next week to get Aguero back.

Ive taken the plunge and gone for kobra. Team looks like this with the transfer out of Siggy to Phillips for GW20 leaving me 1.9itb to upgrade Holebas to Koscielny or Amat to Rose or Coquelin to Townsend/Cabaye or Can to Antonio, or any other player that fits the funds that hits form.

Alonso/Amat/Holebas/Brunt/Ake
Sanchez/Coquelin/Siggy/Lallana/Can
Aguero/Ibra/Costa

If united win the cup tie and postpone gw26, no Ibra or Aguero for that gw. Alot of funds to redistribute