The big-name strikers deliver to justify price tags as the template squad spend is revised, but the cream of the perennial midfield crop have added firepower and are ready to rip things up. Here are my observations and learnings from a free-scoring Gameweek 6.
The template is dead and we don’t know which way to turn
When Sergio Aguero belatedly picks up a goal, assist and two bonus points in Crystal Palace’s latest capitulation and hundreds of thousands of managers still curse their misfortune at transferring him in, you know the FPL world is scaling the mountains of madness.
However, such is the electrifying start to this season’s Golden Boot race that Aguero’s Gameweek tally of 11 points still left him languishing behind Alvaro Morata (17), Alexandre Lacazette (13) and Harry Kane (13), while the Argentine was unable to better the round score of three of his City team-mates, or indeed Liverpool’s prodigal son Philippe Coutinho.
How long the stellar forwards can maintain this form – with European distractions, injuries and rotation inevitably taking their toll – remains to be seen. Last season, only three players finished the season with more than 20 goals.
This year, five players are currently ‘on course’ to exceed 30, with Gabriel Jesus, Mohamed Salah and the resurgent Kane also looking to top 20.
So it’s all about the three man strike force then?
Pricey wing-backs like Marcos Alonso and Ben Davies are so last week, darling, so the smart money is now being diverted into a heavy-hitting front three which could swallow over a third of your squad’s total value.
Who, though, will be your odd one out from Aguero, Morata, Kane and Romelu Lukaku, even assuming you can’t live without just two in your side.
Lukaku’s solitary goal ostensibly buries him at the bottom of the list based on the dubious ‘last game is everything’ rule, but having enjoyed more Big Chances (ten) than any other player and hosting a Palace side next which has given up more big chances to opponents (19) than any other side, Lukaku seems the stand-out candidate for captaincy this weekend.
Still value to be had in a cheap third striker
It is refreshing to see that the FPL community, like several Premier League managers, has not even settled on a template formation.
We are certainly spoilt for choice up front, but packing a heavy-hitting front three is by no means the only solution.
Granted, strikers in the Champions League teams are all firing at the moment, but there is an argument that you can achieve a better team balance, and harvest enough points, with a striker who costs half as much.
Shinji Okazaki has already equalled last season’s goal tally (three) and has an uncanny knack of being in the right place, when that “right place” is not the bench.
Tammy Abraham was another value striker to find the net this week, but now appears to be battling for starts. Meanwhile, Oumar Niasse has come from literally nowhere to emerge as an option for Ronald Koeman and us Fantasy managers. We’re both eyeing him with caution, no doubt suspicious that Saturday’s output was an outlier.
Tomer Hemed also produced a match-winning performance at the weekend, but unfortunately found the TV cameras captured what referee Andre Marriner missed and may have taken himself out of our thoughts for the near future.
Which to my mind leaves Joselu as the ‘safest’ sub 6.0 million striker.
With just one goal all season and having still not completed 90 minutes, the Newcastle striker comes with some major health warnings, but as we saw with Kane, underlying statistics usually bear fruit eventually and, incredibly, only Lukaku (14) and Kane (13) better the Spaniard’s ten shots on target.
Rafa has alternatives to his misfiring compatriot, but he doesn’t seem to trust any of them, no matter how many times Joselu’s inaccuracy causes the Geordie faithful to flinch.
So don’t overlook the midfield mammoths
Christian Eriksen (nine points) and Deli Alli (eight) have renewed their personal battle to be the Spurs’ midfielder of choice and, like Kane, are coming into form just ahead of a mixed run of fixtures where they will no doubt continue to confound our expectations.
Man City boast at least four viable midfield options in the mid-to-high price range, if your nerves can withstand regular teamsheet anxiety. Meanwhile both Man United and Liverpool offer us strong midfield cover which can help us to keep an even balance of funds in our squad.
All this without even mentioning two of last season’s highest points scorers, Eden Hazard (224) and Alexis Sanchez (264), who have barely featured so far, but are more than capable of convincing us of their “near-essential” qualities.
The power is with the strikers for now, but I can’t help but feel that the “template” will shift regularly and that the true winners will be those wise souls who can retain their Wildcard long enough for the marathon runners to emerge from the fog and leave the hasty sprinters trailing.
Pep’s perpetual points and pain
183,000 FPL managers failed to enjoy City’s weekend goal fest, as Jesus provided a timely reminder that the Etihad’s land of plenty has a sting in the tail.
We knew it was on the cards from the moment the teamsheets came through for Wednesday’s Carabao Cup game against West Brom, and yet the reality still hurt.
Even those who enjoyed a slice of City’s latest points pie will not have enjoyed the emotional roller-coaster which ownership of their assets demands.
Danilo’s 28th-minute entry to proceedings in place of the stricken Benjamin Mendy saw him scrape clean sheet points, Raheem Sterling also had barely an hour in which to bag his brace, while even Aguero owners were looking nervously at both the clock and the City substitutes’ bench before he redeemed himself with a goal and assist.
With a fifth of the top-scoring FPL spots occupied by Sky Blue sirens, it is easy to be enchanted by their beguiling tunes.
But if we are tempted in, we have to accept that we’ll be dashed against the rocks from time to time.
As an Aguero owner, I am looking covetously at the home fixtures with Stoke City and Burnley in the full knowledge that he will probably face restricted minutes in at least one of these.
Are Liverpool losing their shine?
Talk of sharing pitch-time and points brings us inevitably to Liverpool.
With Coutinho back with a bang in only his second start of the season, the infuriating Mohamed Salah following his traditional script by missing the sitter and then netting the improbable, and Sadio Mane ready to make up for lost time, Roberto Firmino has been the latest fall guy. Over 140,000 have parted company with the Brazilian since the weekend.
Three consecutive blanks and his failure to complete a league match this season seem like compelling reasons to trade Firminho up to one of the fabulous four (or five, for those who fancy Lacazette’s form and fixtures), or even sideways to Leicester City’s Jamie Vardy.
But we seem to have forgotten how much Klopp’s players relish inflicting agony on their sellers.
True, Liverpool face three of the league’s five tightest defences next, with Anfield eyes also distracted by European matches, but if there is one team which consistently seems to flourish in unfavourable fixtures it’s Liverpool.
No team has had more attempts than them (120), and only City (47) have hit the target more than Klopp’s attack (46), so we shouldn’t be too surprised if the faithless amongst us are punished.
