It is time to draw a line under Gameweek 6 by assessing the player, team and talking point in the latest edition of The Digest.
The Player
In just six Gameweeks, Alvaro Morata has been our featured Digest player on two occasions.
It’s rare for us to revisit a topic in this very article but the Spaniard – who earned the accolade as recently as Gameweek 3 – has somewhat forced our hand.
A three-goal demolition at Stoke City took him up to 48 points in Fantasy Premier League and has persuaded over 217,000 new owners to take the plunge ahead of a tricky home match with Manchester City.
Sitting above the likes of Romelu Lukaku (44 points) and Harry Kane (32), Morata’s outstanding start to life in the Premier League has strengthened the idea that a premium three-man frontline is the way to go this season.
Given that another pricey striker, Man City’s Sergio Aguero, sits atop the FPL standings, we face a real conundrum when assembling our attacks.
Yet Morata’s relatively kind 10.3 price tag – 1.4 cheaper than Aguero and Lukaku and 2.2 less than Kane – is clearly weighing in his favour.
Granted, there’s also the Eden Hazard factor to consider, with the winger yet to start for Chelsea this term.
The Belgian’s spot-kick duties could sway some when assessing the best route into the Blues attack for an excellent stretch of fixtures from Gameweek 8 onwards.
But as we witnessed with Diego Costa’s output last season, it’s not as if Hazard is the be all and end all of Chelsea coverage.
Assessed against Costa’s numbers from 2016/17, Morata is firing shots at a quicker rate. His average of 1.5 big chances – or gilt-edged scoring chances – is three times Costa’s 0.5, meaning he’s been more accurate and more clinical.
In a season where the “must-haves” change from one week to the next, Morata’s form – and upcoming fixtures once the City match has passed – look increasingly difficult to ignore.
The Team
There must be something in the water in north London.
After Harry Kane failed to break his Premier League scoring drought in the month of August, Arsenal’s form in September has also stuck to the script.
The Gunners, it transpires, have never taken more points than in September under Arsene Wenger – averaging 2.15 from a total of 73 top-flight fixtures.
After shipping eight goals in the first three Gameweeks, Arsenal embarked on a run that has harvested a trio of clean sheets and seven points, helping them clamber up the table.
That resolve has forced a reassessment of their defensive prospects.
While premium picks Sead Kolasinac and Hector Bellerin offer attacking potential in the wing-back berths, Nacho Monreal – at just 5.4 – has earned bonus in each of the last three Gameweeks from his new spot in the back-three.
Elsewhere, as we wait for Alexis Sanchez to rediscover the form – or appetite for playing – that took him to the top of the FPL rankings last season, there are cheaper options available in the Gunners attack.
Aaron Ramsey has now produced points in all three home outings ahead of Brighton’s weekend visit. If you’re shopping for a mid-price option in the centre of the park, only two midfielders priced at 7.0 or under have bettered the Welshman’s nine efforts in the box.
And four goals from spot-kick taker Alexandre Lacazette – all at the Emirates – suggest that if he can find form on the road, we could have another name to consider in the premium bracket up front.
What’s all the more encouraging for Wenger – and Arsenal’s Fantasy suitors – is that they prefer playing in October too. Because they have also averaged 2.15 points in the tenth calendar month.
And matches against Brighton, Watford, Everton and Swansea City during that stretch grants the Gunners another chance to maintain their fine autumn record.
The Talking Point
It says everything about the fickleness of Fantasy managers that Harry Kane was sold by 196,000+ FPL managers ahead of last week’s trip to West Ham.
Meanwhile, Chelsea’s Morata was given the elbow by more than 148,000 for the trip to injury-hit Stoke.
The clamour to acquire Aguero for Man City’s home clash with Crystal Palace meant that, for many, those two were surplus to requirement.
Yet while the Argentine justified the massive 784,000 transfers in with an 11-point haul – his second successive double-figure tally – he was still eclipsed by Kane and Morata, who recorded 13 and 17 points respectively.
With so many prolific options at our disposal this season, those moves exemplify that fine line between chasing last week’s points and looking at what’s just around the corner.
Last week’s man of the moment, Aguero has now scored 31 points in two appearances. But with a trip to Chelsea up next, he’s the fifth most transferred-out forward in the Gameweek.
That’s regardless of the fact that he’s registered five goals and an assist in his last four visits to Stamford Bridge. And then hosts Stoke and Burnley in the subsequent two league fixtures.
As highlighted by this Hot Topic regarding the FPL “what-if” machine, showing a little more caution with our transfers and affording our chosen picks patience, rather than looking to the market to steer our selections, is perhaps the savvier path to tread.
