Manchester City players line up to kill off their rivals, but picking the prime suspect is still proving problematic for Fantasy managers. Midfield marauders stake their captaincy claims, but the most popular asset in the game is shedding owners at pace. Here is my latest attempt to sort the red herrings from the red devils.
It’s murder on the Etihad express
Not content with potentially having the Premier League wrapped up before we unwrap Christmas, Pep Guardiola now wants to see the upper echelons of the FPL standings all decked in sky blue. And we do mean all.
The Citizens have yet to be repelled, scoring more than one goal in every Premier League match except the Everton encounter (which featured Kyle Walker’s early bath) and the recent controlled dismissal of Chelsea.
What is more astounding, though, is the range of players who continue to contribute (despite the well-publicised rotation) to the slaying of their opponents, with at least five attacking returns so far from seven different players, all the way down to £5.2 million Fernandinho’s two goals and three assists.
Ironically, while six City players got in on the act against Arsenal, it was the much-vaunted Leroy Sane who took a back seat this week, although notably he did start his tenth match of City’s last 11 in all competitions and seems as bulletproof as any of Pep’s attackers ever can be.
Once more, owners of Sergio Aguero or Gabriel Jesus were left conflicted about whether to celebrate another goal apiece or lament the strikers’ ongoing job share, while the 100,000+ managers who had drafted in Nicolas Otamendi were rewarded with just one point and an enforced “rotation” away to Leicester City following his fifth booking of the season.
Mahrez is partying like its 2015
Speaking of the Foxes, it was a fourth consecutive attacking return for Riyad Mahrez as both Leicester and the Algerian personally maintained their recent good form.
It’s fair to say that he’s still some way off hitting the heights of his breakout and title-winning season, but let’s not forget that Leicester’s first six matches this season featured four of the last season’s top five sides.
Since then, only Harry Kane, Mohamed Salah and the City duo of Sane and Kevin De Bruyne can better Mahrez’s four attacking returns.
Whether he can continue that streak against three of the league’s tightest defences (City, Spurs and Burnley) in the next four weeks remains to be seen, although his owners will surely be tempted to retain his services through to the trip to the London Stadium in Gameweek 13.
We’re loving Dyche’s dependable defence
Which brings us to the Clarets, tucked in seventh place, level with Arsenal and Liverpool on points, and with five clean sheets in 11 matches.
Burnley’s defensive assets, while lacking in attacking flair thus far (aside from Stephen Ward’s goal and assist earlier in the season), are at least the model of reliability when it comes to their primary duties.
Ward, Matt Lowton and Ben Mee all find themselves in the top four for points per million. Furthermore, with so much frustration at defensive rest and rotation among the “bigger sides”, that trio – plus James Tarkowski – have completed all but ten minutes of Premier League action, providing an unrivalled level of consistency and comfort.
One enforced change was, of course, Nick Pope replacing the unfortunate Tom Heaton in Gameweek 4. However, it has proved very much like for like, with Pope actually recording saves and bonus points more regularly (every 18 minutes and every 98 minutes respectively) than the man he replaced (22 minutes and 150 minutes).
Let’s hope that Dyche doesn’t have his head turned by paper talk and depart Turf Moor. Stability all round is what’s required in the Clarets camp.
Somehow, somewhere, it’s all gone Rom
When it comes to defensive mindsets, Dyche seems more like Kevin Keegan when compared to the bus parker supreme, Jose Mourinho.
We all predicted that there would be very little to write home about as Manchester United entered a run of fixtures featuring three of their title rivals and an aggregate of two goals scored or conceded over those three matches proved the point.
The player who suffered most from this decidedly anti devil may care attitude was Romelu Lukaku, whose two assists in the last four matches is failing to stem the tide of heavy sales.
Whether it’s the Mourinho effect or the absence of Paul Pogba, a comparison of Lukaku’s first four matches to his last four is frightening, with most of the key statistics down by two thirds during that recent lull.
Owners who have gritted their teeth in anticipation of enjoying Lukaku’s emergence into the light at the end of this tunnel will be expecting significant returns against Newcastle and Brighton; sides that, lest we forget, both rank in the top six for restricting their hosts’ shots in the box.
Itchy fingers will be poised to jettison the Belgian should his dry run continue and with form, fixtures and finances turning in Alvaro Morata’s favour, Lukaku may not cross the Watford gap for many managers in Gameweek 14.
We should embrace a front and centre Salah
As one in red flounders, so another prospers.
Liverpool’s Salah helped himself to a pair of goals and a season-high haul against an obliging West Ham from a new central role. He now sits second to only Kane and Aguero in the Golden Boot race and has well and truly spanked the sellers who gained any satisfaction from his blank against Manchester United.
Whether or not he retains a striker’s role, or whether the Anfield penalty wheel of fortune comes around to him again, the Egyptian’s goal threat remains almost unrivalled. Only Kane (39) has unleashed more attempts in the box than Salah (32), while he is (perhaps surprisingly) unmatched when it comes to shots on target (24).
As with City, we can expect Liverpool’s goals to be shared, but Salah appears less vulnerable to rotation and benefitted from Sadio Mane’s return to the tune of two assists.
Those of us who captained Kane cast covetous glances in the direction of Salah’s 15 points this weekend. The dilemma now is not whether we should include him in our squads, but whether he should be trusted with the armband anon.
It’s advantage Murray
Last week, I examined the merits of a handful of budget “enablers” in the form of Glenn Murray, Mame Biram Diouf and Tammy Abraham.
Gameweek 11 proved a mixed bag for the trio, with Swansea City struggling to create chances for Chelsea’s on-loan Under 21 England man and Diouf shuffled back out wide for Stoke City.
Murray, though, continued to justify Chris Hughton’s faith by notching the winner against the toothless Swans, his fourth goal in three games.
With Pascal Gross and an increasingly confident Anthony Knockeart pulling the strings, Murray’s ageing legs aren’t proving a problem, while his finely-tuned goal scoring instincts are bearing fruit.
With a “derby” clash with former club Crystal Palace looming in Gameweek 13, the script is written for Murray to maintain his scoring streak and emerge as the optimum solution for those ploughing funds into midfield.
