What a great night to be a Chelsea fan. But a Fantasy manager? Less so.
The Blues win the Premier League with two matches to spare and many of our double Gameweek and Bench Boost plans promptly start to look so horribly fragile.
Here’s the Stock Check on a historic evening for Antonio Conte and his Chelsea charges, while even an Everton victory raises more questions than answers.
On The Rise
Cesc Fabregas
Glory for Chelsea, rotation sure to follow, but at least one player continues to do his prospects no harm.
Fabregas started for the third time in four matches, with the fit-again N’Golo Kante kept on the bench, raising expectations that the Spaniard may just be the one key Fantasy asset immune to any Conte changes following last night’s result.
He might have blanked against West Brom, as did all Chelsea’s major attacking threats, but Fabregas was immaculate and impressive throughout, completing 90% of 109 passes and creating seven chances.
Monday night’s home match against Watford could now be one long celebration in which Fabregas has the scope to be a focal point.
Gareth McAuley
On a disconcerting night for Fantasy managers, even a fortunate bonus from McAuley came packaged with a sting.
Withdrawn after 63 minutes prior to Chelsea’s goal, the centre-back benefited from a clean sheet to return six points for his remaining 1.2 million ownership, although he was benched by 31% of those managers.
Nonetheless, those with the Bench Boost chip in play were no doubt pleasantly surprised by his contribution, although that enthusiasm could be dampened by the knock that saw him withdrawn.
McAuley appeared to suffer an impact injury blocking a shot from Diego Costa. He’ll now be assessed prior to Tuesday’s trip to Manchester City.
In Decline
Diego Costa
Another Chelsea Spaniard, a rather different prognosis.
Costa was the second most popular Gameweek 37 signing, with 162,000+ managers hoping for great things from the striker.
He was also captained by more than 541,000, or 12.8%, making him the Gameweek’s number one armband choice.
All that faith was rewarded with a seventh blank in nine Gameweeks and a fifth successive failure on the road.
Costa’s understudy, Michy Bathshuayi, grabbed his 15 minutes of fame by securing Chelsea’s title win with the only goal of the match at The Hawthorns and there’s now a chance that Conte gives the Belgian his first start of the season against Watford on Monday.
The coach would certainly be well within his rights to wrap Costa in cotton wool ahead of the FA Cup final – the striker is among the most fouled players in the Premier League.
It would be a logical decision for Conte, but a painful one for the Spaniard’s 36.2% ownership.
Eden Hazard
That logic applies tenfold to Hazard.
The midfielder is behind only Crystal Palace’s Wilfried Zaha as the season’s most fouled player, so why would Conte want to risk his star man with a league and cup double so very much in play?
Hazard was subbed off for the fourth successive Gameweek at West Brom – the 24th time he’s failed to finish a match in 34 starts this season.
The Belgian was signed by 40,000+ and captained by over 304,000 (7.1%) for Double Gameweek 37, and yet his returns from the last three matches now stand at just the one assist.
Those who twisted on compatriot Kevin De Bruyne rather than sticking with Hazard must be feeling increasingly optimistic of seeing a profit from that ostensibly risky deal because the Chelsea man’s pre-cup final pitch-time could now be decidedly limited.
Romelu Lukaku
Fair play to the Fantasy gods – at least they had the good grace to spread the misery beyond just Chelsea’s big-ticket players.
The Everton striker was sold by 260,000+ this week, making him the most sold player of Gameweek 37.
Joy for some, then, as Lukaku blanked for a fourth successive match. But that still left 35.4% of us despairing as the Belgian brought his wretched away form – one goal in the last nine road trips – back to Goodison Park.
He had just one shot on goal against Watford last night on his way to a second successive two-point haul at home.
That’s hardly ideal preparation for a final day trip to Arsenal.
The Golden Boot remains his to lose. But on current form, he won’t be adding to his 24-goal tally.
Mason Holgate
The young Everton defender made his eighth straight start against Watford.
That was as good as it got.
Holgate was seen by many as a key asset in the Gameweek 36 Wildcard, with Gameweek 37’s Bench Boost very much in mind.
To be fair, Everton did their bit by keeping a clean sheet last night. Unfortunately for the 7.2% of managers with Holgate in their squads, their man wasn’t around to take advantage.
He was hooked on 45 minutes in a tactical swap that involved Tom Davies at right-back. The move helped turn the tide for Everton, but left 322,687 Fantasy managers floundering in a sea of frustration.
That cost five precious points as Holgate’s lack of an attacking thrust delivered a horribly early blow to many Bench Boost plans.
Throw in all that concern over Chelsea rotation, and Holgate’s 45-minute one-pointer added up to yet another inauspicious Friday for Fantasy managers.
