Manchester City’s big-ticket players keep the attacking juggernaut rolling, while Charlie Austin’s vicious personal circle of goals and injuries returns and there are vital wins for Stoke City and Newcastle.
The Fantasy Premier League (FPL) transfer market was dominated by Man City assets ahead of their home match with Bournemouth, with three of the top four acquisitions coming from Pep Guardiola’s side.
One now-routine 4-0 demolition later, most managers would have been happy with their lot.
Raheem Sterling was the most signed player going into Gameweek 19, and his 415,000+ new owners were rewarded with a second consecutive double-digit display courtesy of a goal, an assist and two bonus points.
The midfielder is now owned by 28.4% of managers, 8% of whom captained him as he made it five goals and as many assists from his last nine starts.
Sterling currently seems as undroppable as Kevin De Bruyne – the third most popular buy of the week – who failed to produce either a goal or an assist for only the third time in his own last nine starts.
City’s 13-point lead at the top the table, the packed festive programme and their favourable schedule (new cry WAT) all suggest that Guardiola can afford to rest his key assets in the short term.
Sterling’s form and De Bruyne’s consistency remain hard to resist, but if anyone’s up to the challenge of making unpopular rotation decisions, it is the Man City manager.
Pitch-time worries certainly continue to cloud Sergio Aguero’s season.
The striker scraped into the top ten transfers-in for Gameweek 19, and his extra 114,000 new owners were treated to a pre-Christmas feast of two goals, an assist and maximum bonus for 16 points.
Aguero has now started the last three league matches and is in prime form.
Unfortunately for his 17.4% ownership, the Argentine has not started four in a row all season and the Boxing Day trip to Newcastle looks tailor-made for the return of the rested Gabriel Jesus.
Aguero has started just four of City’s nine away fixtures this campaign, the Brazilian seven, so even the former’s 7.1 points per match – top for forwards and bettered only by Sterling, Philippe Coutinho and Mohamed Salah – might be put on ice for another Gameweek.
Silva service resumes
David Silva made a welcome return to the fray after missing the Spurs win due to personal reasons.
But it ended up being a low-key match for the Spaniard.
He’d produced scores of nine, eight and 16 prior to his enforced absence from the Spurs fixture, but a lack of clear news as to his circumstances prompted some 327,000 managers to make him the second most sold player behind Chelsea’s Alvaro Morata ahead of Gameweek 19.
A rare blank – only his third in eight matches – justified those sales, but that one-match rest could well mean Silva is a busy man over the remainder of the festive fixture list. However, we’re still in the dark as to how his off-field circumstances may influence his selection.
Elsewhere Leroy Sane was hooked early against Bournemouth. Embroiled in an ongoing battle with Cherries right-back Adam Smith, Guardiola’s decision to withdraw the winger may well have been to protect him on two fronts. Smith had been booked for an agricultural challenge on the winger, arguably a “tackle” that warranted a red card.
With Sane and Smith clashing, Guardiola may have been wary that the German was one booking short of a suspension and removed him with that in mind. Sane would seem likely to start at Newcastle on Boxing Day.
Another highly likely to be in consistent post-Christmas action is centre-half Nicolas Otamendi, who was the week’s fourth most bought player.
City’s defensive resources remain stretched, although Vincent Kompany was fit enough for his first start in three on Saturday, with the Argentine the rock at the heart of a not always dependable rearguard.
Otamendi has started all but one match this season – he was suspended for the other – and a second clean sheet in three matches kept things ticking over nicely for his 27.5% ownership.
He was also in the bonus points yet again and now has 12 of those which, together with the four goals he’s scored, mean the returns keep coming from an impressively varied set of sources.
Austin bows out
More than 90,000 managers invested in the budget delights of Southampton striker Charlie Austin (6.3) going into Gameweek 19.
He responded with a fifth goal in as many starts in the Saints’ 1-1 draw at home to Huddersfield.
The rest, alas, was classic Austin history.
The injury-prone forward lasted 78 minutes yesterday before a hamstring issue forced him off and probably out for the foreseeable future, with Southampton manager Mauricio Pellegrino confirming post-match that Austin is likely to be sidelined ‘for two or three weeks minimum’.
The only bright side – and it’s a dim one – is that the retrospective ban the striker may now have to serve (after his boot to Huddersfield goalkeeper Jonas Lossl’s face went unpunished) will coincide with that latest spell on the treatment table. The club confirmed today that Austin had been charged with an alleged act of violent conduct following his challenge. A three-match suspension looks imminent.
As for the Terriers, they continued their recent solid form thanks to the scoring exploits of Laurent Depoitre.
The Belgian international made it three goals in as many matches and was handed maximum bonus points at St Mary’s as well.
Austin owners could do worse than transfer their affections to Depoitre.
The 5.3-priced striker has both form and fixtures (STK BUR lei WHU sto) on his side and, while Steve Mounie may get the nod for one of those matches, Depoitre has surely done enough to warrant his place as David Wagner’s first choice lone striker.
Nonetheless, it’s still worth bearing in mind that recent rotation has meant that it’s been Mounie who has started his side’s last two home matches, scoring twice in a Gameweek 16 win over Brighton. By comparison, Depoitre has played 21 minutes of the Terriers’ last two at the John Smith’s.
Gross back in profit
Six long matches without a return had shrunk Brighton midfielder Pascal Gross’ ownership to below the million mark for the first time since Gameweek 11.
Those who stuck by their man were rewarded with a fourth goal of the season yesterday.
The German also created six chances in the 1-0 win over Watford – a Gameweek high – and took home maximum bonus as a result.
There was equally good cheer for Lewis Dunk owners.
The absence of his suspended defensive partner Shane Duffy had led many to believe the Seagulls would struggle to keep a second consecutive clean sheet.
But their fears proved unfounded and Duffy will now be available for the rather more taxing task of shutting down the Chelsea attack at Stamford Bridge on Boxing Day.
His understudy against the Hornets, Connor Goldson (3.9), had a Premier League debut to remember, although it will surely be back to the bench for the former Shrewsbury Town man.
Richarlison fading badly
Marco Silva’s Watford are in a dark place at present, the defeat at Brighton meaning they’ve managed just one point from the last 18 available.
That’s been bad news for the 19.0% of FPL managers who have stuck by midfielder Richarlison (6.6) through thin and thinner.
The Brazilian has produced one assist in the Hornets’ current slump and although his base has remained relatively loyal – only 62,000+ have sold him in the last two Gameweeks – the exodus ahead of Boxing Day is already on.
More than 30,000 managers have transferred him out as Watford prepare to take on Leicester City next.
Concerns that the midfielder is due a rest – he’s played at least 78 minutes in every match bar Gameweek 1 – might well accelerate those sales further.
But there are a couple of key factors still in Richarlison’s favour.
He managed five shots, four of which came in the area, against Brighton, which were Gameweek-leading figures for a midfielder.
And Leicester have major issues on the right side of their defence for Richarlison to potentially exploit, with Danny Simpson injured and his understudy, Daniel Amartey, suspended following his red card against Man United.
Choupo-Moting back with a bang
While one budget midfielder continues to flag, another enjoyed a welcome return to form.
Stoke City’s Eric Choupo-Moting (5.4) had been an early-season rival for Richarlison in our squads, only for six successive blanks to cool that ardour.
The Cameroon international emphatically stopped the rot in the Potters’ much-needed 3-1 win over West Brom yesterday, producing a goal, an assist and maximum bonus for his second double-digit haul of a hot and cold campaign.
His ownership is currently down at just 3.6% and the next four matches (hud che NEW mun) are unlikely to persuade many to reverse that trend.
But the fixtures improve markedly from Gameweek 24 and if Stoke can build on yesterday’s victory, Choupo-Moting could well be back on our radars once more.
One of last season’s surprise hits, Joe Allen, flourished in a more advanced role against the Baggies.
The midfielder was used as support for Peter Crouch in a 4-2-3-1 formation and responded with a goal, an assist and two bonus points.
His 12-point tally was his best of the season and, at 5.1, he could be another to watch if Stoke can kick on and Mark Hughes continues to utilise Allen in a more progressive role.
Atsu’s blast from the past
Newcastle midfielder Christian Atsu’s appeal had been rather more current than last season’s man Allen.
The Ghanaian international started the season well enough, with a goal and an assist from his first four starts.
But just one assist since Gameweek 8 had seen his ownership plummet from a high of close to 260,000 to just 65,335 going into yesterday’s 3-2 win at West Ham.
Atsu was at the heart of the victory, scoring one goal and setting up the other two for a 15-point extravaganza.
The Magpies’ most owned asset, goalkeeper Rob Elliot (23.3%), was also in credit thanks to a penalty save and two bonus points.
Unfortunately, some 89% of his remaining 1,295,000 owners dropped him for the trip to the London Stadium and therefore watched nine points sitting on their benches.
Not that too many of them will be calling on their man consistently in the foreseeable future anyway.
Newcastle have kept just three clean sheets all season and will face Man City twice over the next five Gameweeks, starting with a visit from Guardiola’s goal machine on December 27.
They will, however, entertain Brighton and Swansea City and travel to Stoke as well, so there is some hope for Elliot’s owners.
As for West Ham, just when we all thought it prudent to buy into David Moyes’ men, they went and fluffed their defensive lines by failing to keep a fourth consecutive clean sheet.
That was a less than timely occurrence for the 155,002 mangers who had made Angelo Ogbonna Gameweek 19’s sixth most popular purchase, although a second succeesive goal for Marko Arnautovic kept his slowly growing fan club happy enough.
The Hammers travel to Bournemouth on Boxing Day before a blank fixture to end 2017 heralds a double Gameweek 22 involving West Brom at home and a trip to Spurs.
