The Knee Jerk – Gameweek 5

This Sergio Aguero chap looks a good option.

Twenty goals in 25 starts last season; he’s scored 24 and 26 goals in his two previous campaigns.

Priced at 11.4, cheaper than he’s ever been – he looks useful.

Of course, we all know this, it’s just that today’s devastating hat-trick at Watford has provided us with an almighty jolt and left us questioning our logic.

Seven days ago I wondered whether we will ever need look beyond the Harry Kane/Romelu Lukaku combination up front.

In true “knee-jerk” fashion, a week later, I’m now left asking if we can afford to overlook Aguero.

We can’t beat ourselves up; our reservations to this point were understandable.

Pep Guardiola’s plans with the Argentine, working in tandem with his apparent darling Gabriel Jesus, were shrouded in uncertainty.

Aguero has started up with Jesus in four of five Premier League matches. However, he was dropped to the bench at Bournemouth – a decision that appeared to confirm our fears that we could not rely on Aguero and Pep.

But today’s treble took Aguero to four goals since the south coast “rest” and the impact has been instant.

Over 74,000 have already moved to acquire Aguero, with Lukaku the major fall guy. The Manchester United striker has lost over 16,000 owners to his City rival before he’s even kicked a ball in Gameweek 5.

Some are clearly convinced, and the rest of us are left wondering if we should follow suit. City’s fixtures are more than enticing, and the prospect of watching Aguero run riot clutching FPL armbands is a petrifying thought.

Indeed, the only consolation today was that Aguero’s ownership remains relatively modest. He was part of just 502,000 squads ahead of Gameweek 5, and captained by 39% of those managers.

His 20-points will still make waves across mini-leagues and ranks, but it’s surely the least impactful hat-trick of Aguero’s illustrious FPL career.

But the haul hit even harder as a result of Kane’s bitterly disappointing blank.

Almost a million (20.1%) of FPL managers trusted Kane with the armband and were left frustrated by Spurs’ inability to breakdown a stubborn Swansea at Wembley.

Everything – the form, fixture and the statistics – all pointed to Kane being the Gameweek’s must-own, high-scoring option.

But there’s that logic again.

The same thought patterns that can perhaps persuade us that David Silva, Kevin De Bruyne or Gabriel Silva can cover Aguero’s future tallies.

Maybe, like a good few struggling Premier League managers, we just need to go back to basics.

Selecting Aguero in your Fantasy Football team used to be our rule number one. It was our basic instinct.