The Digest – Gameweek 1

We bring the curtain down on Gameweek 1 with the weekly digest.

Manchester United’s new frontman makes his presence felt at Old Trafford. Huddersfield Town’s performance changes our perspective on their potential, while we analyse the Harry Kane exodus, as the transfer market is quick to escalate.

The Player

Any concerns over how quickly Romelu Lukaku would settle at Manchester United were swiftly dispelled after a weekend double at home to West Ham.

Entering Gameweek 1 as the top owned and most captained player in Fantasy Premier League, the Belgian justified that collective show of faith with a 13-point haul in his first league appearance for the Red Devils.

Now owned by over 51% of managers, he’s garnered more than 115,000 transfers-in since Friday’s deadline.

The fixtures certainly offer the chance to maintain momentum – with Swansea, Leicester and Stoke up next – his armband appeal is obvious.

The competition for places in our three-man frontlines could barely be stronger after a host of premium picks delivered. Yet Lukaku’s immediate impact in Jose Mourinho’s new-look attack ensures he remains a prominent figure in our thinking for now.

As witnessed on Sunday, there is also the hope that the new boy’s pace as the focal point could unlock United’s under-performing midfielders as Fantasy options.

At home, in particular, they were dire last season – Mourinho’s men scored a mere 26 times at Old Trafford, netting more than twice in just two of 19 fixtures.

If Henrikh Mkhitaryan and Paul Pogba can build on promising weekend displays, our attentions may not be solely focused on Lukaku.

The Team

As the first side to gain promotion to the Premier League with a negative goal difference, few had considered Huddersfield Town for their initial squads.

Handed a season opener away to Palace, the general assumption was that Wilfried Zaha and Christian Benteke would run riot against a defence that managed just six clean sheets in 23 away outings in last season’s Championship.

Yet David Wagner’s side wasted no time in proving the doubters wrong.

Indeed, their 3-0 win at Selhurst Park suggests that the Terriers’ high-pressing style of play could prove more efficient in the top flight, where far fewer opponents operate with route one tactics.

What’s encouraging is that they stuck to their tried and trusted approach despite installing target man Steve Mounie up front.

The new boy is a monster in the air – he averaged 8.4 successful aerial duels on his way to netting 14 times for Montpellier last season – but his new team-mates didn’t resort to launching aimless long balls and deep crosses. Indeed, only Brighton and Swansea (eight apiece) produced fewer crosses than the Terriers’ 14 in Gameweek 1.

The early-season optimism is emboldened by a run of favourable fixtures – along with Man United, Huddersfield are the only side to avoid all of last season’s top six in the first six Gameweeks.

Having scored twice against the Eagles, Mounie (6.0) is clearly the main bandwagon, claiming over 78,000 new owners thanks to a 12-point return.

But three home fixtures in the next four (NEW SOU whu LEI) look promising at both ends of the pitch, with centre-half Zanka and set-piece taker Aaron Mooy also subject to investment in light of a goal and assist respectively.

And the search for value picks could soon see more of Wagner’s regulars make their way onto our radars. Raiding left-back Chris Lowe mirrors Zanka’s 4.5 price point, while new boy Tom Ince equalled Mounie’s pre-season tally of four goals.

The Talking Point

One match into the season and Harry Kane – the winner of back-to-back Golden Boots – has already been given the elbow by over 91,000 FPL managers after failing to score against Newcastle United.

The fact that Kane produced more shots and more efforts inside the box than any other striker in the opening round of fixtures seems to have been dismissed.

Similarly, he’s now poised to face Chelsea’s decimated defence and then Burnley in back-to-back home matches.

It says everything about the current market activity that proven Fantasy royalty like Kane can be so quickly cast aside.

He may be last season’s top scoring forward and number one for points per match (7.5) in 2016/17, but that record fails to protect him.

Judging by the current trends, the form of premium priced forwards could make the market particularly volatile this season.

Eleven strikers were priced at 8.5 or over at the start of this season’s FPL. Of the ten who took to the pitch in Gameweek 1, only three failed to find the net – Kane, Gabriel Jesus and Michy Batshuayi.

Jesus, who was second only to Kane for points per match up front last season, has been sold by nearly 50,000. Meanwhile, Batshuayi has already fallen in cost to 8.4.

Perhaps Kane’s poor scoring record in August, or the fact that Spurs have to play their home matches at Wembley, are the bigger factors at play here.

So often in Fantasy football, patience is a commodity that can pay off for those who avoid knee jerking.

But with such a luxury of forward options at our disposal this season, there’s a high chance that we will have to ride out and absorb price drops in order to stick to our guns.

A blank against Chelsea, with further returns for Lukaku at Swansea, would cause significant tremours.

Kane’s appeal centre’s around his infallibility as a captain candidate. Should Lukaku begin to show the potential to match him home and – more crucially – away, then the Spurs striker will suffer another blow and, for some, he may not be given the Burnley fixture to address the balance.