Harry Kane ends another August on a low, while Liverpool’s front three put a bewildered Arsenal to the sword.
Chelsea’s Alvaro Morata continues his impressive start to the season, as do a Burnley side who have finally found a taste for travel, but there’s defensive woe for Baggies’ backers and a chastening end to a tough week for Everton.
Here are the notes from a busy Sunday schedule.
Alli takes up Kane’s slack
And so Harry Kane’s August hoodoo is complete for another year as he blanked for the third consecutive match, much to the chagrin of his 29.0% ownership, 741,000+ of them who captained him.
But it wasn’t for the want of trying.
The England international had 10 attempts against Burnley – four more than any other forward in the Gameweek.
In fact, over the first three Gameweeks, Kane has fired in an incredible 24 fruitless attempts – 10 more than his nearest rival, Romelu Lukaku.
It’s early days, but Kane is currently second for transfers out, and it would be no surprise if the mass exodus is maintained over the international break with two, maybe even three price drops on the cards.
As we saw last season, it was Dele Alli who stepped up to assume goal scoring duties while Kane suffers. His second strike of the season, plus two bonus points, garnered a nine-point haul that keeps him within touching distance of team-mate Christian Eriksen.
Alli now has 19 points, the Dane 22, but it was the Englishman who offered the major attacking threat against the Clarets, firing six attempts to Eriksen’s three.
The Dane was perhaps hindered by Mauricio Pochettino’s decision to go with a back four and use Son Heung-min in the attacking midfield three slots.
The general consensus is that Alli offers the greater goal threat, while Eriksen delivers more consistently via set-pieces and deliveries.
In Gameweek 3, it was the former who emerged victorious.
Liverpool trio blow Gunners away
Roberto Firmino and Sadio Mane have previous for taking Arsenal to the cleaners, and they were joined yesterday by Mo Salah as Liverpool had way too much firepower for the Gunners.
Mane scored for the third league match running, Salah made it three in his last three starts in all competitions and Firmino scored, provided an assist and took home the maximum bonus in a 12-point display that elevated him to the top of the forwards’ chart.
All three are in the top six for transfers-in as a result, with Firmino’s 8.5 price tag looking irresistible for a “striker” in such strong form – he now has two double-digit returns from his three starts.
More than 112,000 managers agree, making him the early front-runner for new signings as we head into the international break. Mane, in fourth, has 70,000+ new backers, while sixth-placed Salah is now in nearly 65,000 new teams. This represents a back pedal by FPL managers, with the Egyptian suffering 212,000+ sales prior to Gameweek 3.
The result was a disaster for the Gunners, raising huge doubts over what Arsene Wenger considers his strongest side.
Alexis Sanchez returned after a fractious summer of transfer talk, but he did so at the expense of record signing Alexander Lacazette – a bitter blow for the 15.2% of managers with the Frenchman in their teams. He has been sold by over 41,000 managers in the last 24 hours – only Kane and Kevin De Bruyne have suffered more exits.
Things were equally confused at the back. Laurent Koscielny’s return was expected, the benching of Sead Kolasinac anything but, with Rob Holding preferred to the big Bosnian.
Wenger has now started five defenders at least once in his back three this season, but only Nacho Monreal has played in all three matches.
That lack of continuity was ruthlessly exploited by Liverpool’s pacey attack and represents a major headache for managers hoping to bank on Arsenal assets during what should have been a mouth-watering run of upcoming home fixtures involving Bournemouth, West Brom, Brighton and Swansea City.
Back-to-back losses and eight goals conceded – the only thing Arsenal can be relied upon for at the moment is teamsheet turmoil and defensive instability.
Morata finding his feet
Chelsea striker Alvaro Morata’s fine start to the season had gone almost unnoticed by many Fantasy managers.
The Spaniard hit a goal and an assist in the Blues’ 2-0 win over Everton, the second successive home match in which he has achieved that feat.
His 12-point haul against the Toffees briefly put him top of the strikers’ table before Firmino ousted him following the rout of Arsenal, and yet eight forwards currently have a bigger ownership base than Morata’s 10.1%.
The theory that he would take time to settle and miss out on spot-kicks has undoubtedly hampered his early appeal. Morata has done enough to quash at least one of those concerns. However, Eden Hazard’s absence and Chelsea’s immediate schedule – lei, ARS, sto, MCI – could also have been deterring potential suitors.
But Morata is certainly getting the service – only Kane and Lukaku have produced more shots on goal than his total of nine up front.
And that service is likely to improve once Hazard returns to the side, although the Belgian would be expected to grab penalty-taking duties.
As a result, we all seem to be finally cottoning on to Morata’s potential – only the red hot Firmino has proved more popular ahead of Gameweek 4 so far.
Burnley at home away
Burnley’s away from last season – one win and 13 goals scored – was comical.
Two trips into the new campaign and no-one’s laughing now, certainly not Antonio Conte or Mauricio Pochettino.
The Clarets followed up their stunning 3-2 opening day victory at Stamford Bridge with a battling 1-1 draw at Wembley against Spurs – two fixtures supposedly nailed-on as home wins.
Suddenly, trips to Liverpool, Everton and Man City over the next six Gameweeks might not be quite as cut and dried as they appeared at the start of the season.
And in Robbie Brady, Burnley have an emerging talent in the 5.5 price bracket.
The midfielder provided an assist and bagged maximum bonus for an eight-point haul against Spurs entirely in keeping with an outstanding performance.
The Irish international created five scoring chances against Spurs – placing him in the top two among midfielders for the Gameweek.
The debut strike for record signing Chris Wood in a 33-minute cameo was another reason for Sean Dyche’s men to be cheerful.
Brady is owned by just 0.6% of managers, Wood 0.1%. To call them differentials is an almost epic understatement, but that’s precisely what Brady will be if he can take advantage of a home schedule that involves Crystal Palace, Huddersfield, West Ham, Newcastle and Swansea City through to Gameweek 12.
A match too far for Everton
Everton’s evil early schedule continued at Stamford Bridge yesterday, and it all proved rather too much for them.
They’d followed up a fine draw at Man City on Monday with a hard-fought result in Croatia that saw them safely into the group stages of the Europa League.
But a third tough trip in six days proved beyond them, despite a first domestic start for Gylfi Sigurdsson, who operated alongside Wayne Rooney behind lone striker Sandro at Chelsea.
The match turned into a stroll for the home team as Everton ran out of ideas and then legs, with Rooney offering his 20.4% ownership little more than frustrated toil and a yellow card.
Ronald Koeman’s side lacked pace and intensity, which made the manager’s decision to give Dominic Calvert-Lewin a mere 28 minutes all the more baffling, and with Spurs at home and a trip to Old Trafford up next, the time is still not nigh for investment in Everton assets.
The fixtures finally ease with a Gameweek 6 visit from Bournemouth, by which time we might have a stronger idea as to who Koeman favours as his first-choice right full-back/wing-back in the continued absence of the injured Seamus Coleman.
Cuco Martina seemed to be in the box seat, only for Mason Holgate to get the nod against Chelsea and at Man City.
Both are priced at 4.4 and represent a cut-price way into the Toffees’ backline – if Koeman can decide who he is going to favour consistently, that is.
Double trouble for the Baggies
The smart money – and many a Fantasy hope – was on a third successive clean sheet for West Brom at home to Stoke City.
But a mix-up at the back left large swathes of managers ruing the points that got away from popular picks Ahmed Hegazi (25.5%) and keeper Ben Foster (17.9%) – particularly those who doubled up on Baggies’ defensive assets.
The side’s fixtures remain kindly through to Gameweek 9, with even a trip to Arsenal no longer looking quite so daunting given the Gunners’ current chaos.
But there was a distinct feeling that failing to shut out the Potters was one clean sheet that most definitely got away.
Further forward, Jay Rodriguez was stationed on the right as Salomon Rondon came in to lead the line, but the former Southampton man dealt with the switch by scoring his first Premier League goal for his new club.
His 5.9 price remains an attractive one if he can build on that form, although relying on West Brom for attacking product tends to be a thankless task at best.
For Stoke, Geoff Cameron was moved to right wing-back, replacing Mame Diouf.
The US international remains the Potters’ sole 4.5 defensive option to have started all three matches so far this season.
But both Manchester clubs and Chelsea will be on the agenda over the next five Gameweeks, making investment in the Stoke backline a less than comforting prospect.
