Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang emerged from a lacklustre first-half Arsenal performance to plunder a brace of goals and reward his wave of recent investors.
Arsenal ran out 3-0 winners over Stoke City on Sunday, a flattering scoreline after a woeful showing in the first period.
Aubameyang had struggled to feature in that opening spell but sprung to life in the second-half.
Having earlier been denied by a Jack Butland save from a one-on-one, he converted a first Arsenal penalty before firing home from a cleared Mesut Ozil corner.
Along with maximum bonus points, that rewarded his new owners with a 13-point return, his biggest haul so far since arriving in the Premier League.
It could have been even better, with the striker allowing Alexandre Lacazette the responsibility to convert Arsenal’s second penalty for their third goal. Aubameyang explained post-match why he surrendered duties to his team-mate, even though that decision denied him his first Arsenal hat-trick…
“I know that Laca is back and I’d scored twice, so I wanted to let him score. It’s normal. I think it’s good for his confidence, and that’s why.”
Over 362,000 managers swooped for Aubameyang ahead of Gameweek 32, identifying the encounter with Stoke, along with the Emirates Stadium clash with Southampton to follow, as ideal opportunities to profit.
Some 195,000+ – just 27.6% of his total ownership – also handed the Gabon international their captaincy.
With the top two armband selections – Mohamed Salah (34.4%) and Romelu Lukaku (13.4%) – producing seven and eight points respectively, Aubameyang’s backers will be delighted with the outcome.
Cup-tied for Thursday’s Europa League tie with CSKA Moscow, the striker will now get another opportunity to maintain a run of four goals in three Gameweeks when he faces the ailing Southampton defence on Sunday. We may even see more of his owners trust him with the captaincy for that encounter.
While Aubameyang will be protected from rotation in Gameweek 33, Arsene Wenger’s line-up will likely remain difficult to predict.
Today’s tweaks from the Arsenal boss involved both Laurent Koscielny and Henrikh Mkhitaryan dropping to the bench in preparation for Thursday’s tie. Aaron Ramsey returned from injury to earn a start alongside the recalled Jack Wilshere as part of Wenger’s changes.
The teamsheet for Thursday’s tie, along with the minutes played and the outcome, will now all be key to anticipating changes for next Sunday’s meeting with the Saints.
Arguably, Mkhitaryan should be well placed for a start. The 99,000+ who brought him in for Gameweek 32 will hoping that this proves to be the case, though some may look to avoid that risk by shipping him ahead of next weekend’s deadline.
Mustafi delivers
In defence, a second successive clean sheet helped Shkodran Mustafi earn two bonus points to produce an eight-point return to follow on from his 12 against Watford.
Some 50,000 new owners will be content with that, though some argued that the German could have earned an assist for Aubameyang’s second goal.
It was deemed that Mustafi failed to get a touch on Ozil’s crossed corner, though regardless, the clearance from Erik Pieters appeared to significantly alter the path of the ball before Aubameyang converted from ten yards out.
It was Nacho Monreal who went into Sunday’s contest as the most popular Gunners defender. He claimed 72,000+ new managers to return his first clean sheet since Gameweek 18. The Spaniard has, however, been limited to just six starts over that run.
Mustafi will likely continue to offer the most secure route into Wenger’s backline. The injury concerns surrounding both Monreal and Koscielny are set to continue to make them candidates for rest while the European campaign continues.
Petr Cech is another currently nursing an injury problem; he missed out on Sunday due to a “sore groin” and will likely be “short” for Thursday’s tie according to Wenger.
Butland excels
Despite the 3-0 margin, Stoke City’s Jack Butland was again their standout performer.
He made eight saves, his second highest tally of the season, to register another two save points.
Incredibly, Butland has now collected save points in 14 of his last 15 Gameweek matches, producing 23 points from stops in total.
Elsewhere for Stoke, there remains little to tempt Fantasy interest.
Paul Lambert’s side are without a Double Gameweek and have testing fixtures over the next four (TOT whu BUR liv).
Indeed, the 11.0% owned Xherdan Shaqiri has already soared to rank third for sales ahead of Gameweek 33.
