Scout Notes – Gameweek 6 – Saturday

The transfer frenzy involving Sergio Aguero bears fruit, but not as much as some of the big-ticket strikers he replaces, while other Man City assets also outscore the Argentinian.

The main men for Spurs and Chelsea deliver, Man United return to their manager’s defensive default setting, but Liverpool keep on scoring – and conceding – prodigiously.

The omens are not good for Crystal Palace, Stoke City or Bournemouth, Everton have a new, if unlikely, hero and Burnley and Huddersfield barely deserve a mention at all.

Here are the notes from an eight-fixture Saturday packed with incident.

Aguero delivers, but so do rivals

In the end, the three quarters of a million new owners of Sergio Aguero could look back on a transfer well made.

Their man notched 11 points from a goal, an assist and two bonus points, although there was the expectation of more to be had from the 5-0 win over Crystal Palace, particularly after the 20 points he harvested in the 6-0 hammering of Watford just seven days earlier.

Aguero now has 52 points, he remains top of the forward standings and Man City have a fine fixture list to come.

Owning the Argentinian is to be in a good place.

But it might have come at too high a price for some.

Harry Kane lost more than 190,000 managers going into yesterday, with 141,000+ swapping him for the City man. The Spurs striker promptly brought in 13 points with two goals and the maximum bonus award in the 3-2 win at West Ham.

Over 148,000 sold Chelsea’s Alvaro Morata, with just over half of them switching to the City talisman. The Spaniard hit a hat-trick and also brought in maximum bonus for a 17-point haul in the 4-0 win dismissal of Stoke City.

Sticking on those strikers, rather than twisting to Aguero, would have caused anything but the pain many feared. And those who were forced to take a hit to fund a move to the Argentinian were left doubly disappointed.

He could be hampered by a testing Gameweek 7 trip to Chelsea, although after that he arguably has the stronger schedule of any of the big-hitting strikers.

But the threat of rotation surely only applies to Aguero.

His strike partner Gabriel Jesus took the fall for that yesterday, much to the chagrin of the 183,000 who’d brought him in and the 271,000 who gave him their armband. The reaction has been instant – over 54,000 have shifted him out of their squads as the second most sold player so far.

But Aguero’s turn to sit alongside Pep as a spectator will surely arrive at some point – maybe even for the plum Gameweek 8 fixture with Stoke City prior to a Champions League tie with Napoli.

In contrast, Kane and Morata, along with Romelu Lukaku, must surely rank as untouchable.

It’s been a forward-dominated start to the FPL season, with the game’s top three scorers all strikers. Finding the right combination in our attack looks like being the key to our campaigns and, based on Saturday’s events, that remains anything but straightforward.

This week’s City slickers

If owning Aguero was a generally positive experience, there were team-mates who brought in even more – and for a lot less.

Leroy Sane (8.2) had managed a couple of goals from a fractured first five Gameweeks involving one start and a bunch of cameos from the bench.

Handed the full 90 minutes against Palace, he was superb, bringing in 16 points from a goal, two assists and the full bonus award.

Raheem Sterling (7.8) started his third match in four and responded with two goals for 13 points. He’s now scored in all bar one of the five matches he’s been involved in this season, and the only blank came in a 12-minute run-out at the end of Gameweek 1.

Both players have under 4% ownership, despite finding themselves in the top eight for overall points from midfield.

Pep Guardiola will no doubt continue to use the pair sparingly. But when they’re in, they’re on it and, more significantly, their form may convince Guardiola that he can afford to rotate his strikers. Certainly Guardiola left us in no doubt with his post-match comments…

“I have five strikers who all deserve to play. Gabriel Jesus is amazing, Bernardo Silva always creates, there’s also Raheem, Leroy and Sergio… Some of them are going to rest. I need them sharp, especially in the second half of the season.”

David Silva (8.3) remains the steadier option. His 19.4% ownership were treated to a second consecutive 11-point haul yesterday as he again provided a pair of assists and was awarded two bonus points.

The Spaniard is one of a select few who has started all six matches in the league for City. That consistency of selection, and his own fine form, has led to a league-high six assists.

He might not be as explosive as his midfield colleagues, but slow and steady is winning that particular race and only one player, Spurs’ Christian Eriksen, is above him in the midfielders’ standings – by just a single point.

Another ever-present in Guardiola’s side, Kevin De Bruyne (10.0), blanked yesterday to further strengthen Silva’s allure.

But as we marvel at all the glittering riches in a side that’s now hit 16 goals in their last three league matches, the fact that City have now kept three consecutive clean sheets – and four in six outings – should not be ignored either.

Nicolas Otamendi (5.6) is the only City defender to have started every league match to date and he now sits fifth in the defenders’ chart with 34 points.

Chelsea away and a trip to Arsenal await over the next five Gameweeks. Other than that, there are many more fixtures offering the potential for further shut-outs all the way through to early December.

Benjamin Mendy’s (6.5) performance against Palace was one of the few lowlights, however.

An early booking was followed by a 28th minute withdrawal with a knock to his knee that left his 1.9% ownership with a zero-point haul. Guardiola has stated that the player will undergo scans ahead of Tuesday’s Champions League tie with Shakhtar Donestk.

Spare a thought for Palace

Keeping out a rampant Man City for nearly all of the first half was as good as it got for Roy Hodgson’s men.

Once Plan A went south, however, they collapsed and there’s really nothing bright about their immediate future.

Christian Benteke was forced off with what Hodgson described as ligament damage. The striker will undergo scans today, but his manager is already ruling him out of a Gameweek 7 trip to Man United.

That leaves the 4.9-priced midfielder Bakary Sako as their only real option up front; hardly ideal for a side yet to score this season.

A visit from Chelsea follows in Gameweek 8, and the Eagles also have to travel to Spurs before the final international break of the year in November.

After their mauling at Man City, you could be excused for thinking that things can only get better for Palace.

Hold that thought for now.

More than just Morata

Morata’s hat-trick grabbed the headlines, and the Spaniard is now the early front-runner for Gameweek 7 transfers-in, with over 94,000 managers jumping on board, many in exchange for Jesus and Liverpool’s Roberto Firmino.

But there were sub-plots aplenty in the win at Stoke.

The 5.9% of managers with Cesc Fabregas in their teams had to make do with a 22-minute appearance from the bench, but Pedro (1.4%) scored his first goal of the season.

It was at the back, however, where the story got interesting.

The 4.0%-owned Gary Cahill was benched, while Marcos Alonso’s 20.5% ownership were lucky that their man didn’t end up with negative numbers as he came painfully close to being dismissed at the bet365 Stadium.

Not that they were feeling overly fortunate as the wing-back was hauled off just a couple of minutes shy of earning a clean sheet.

Alonso has suffered 34,000 sales so far, more than any other defender, with 11,000 making the swap to Cesar Azpilicueta.

He has now scored nine points more for 0.6 less in outlay than Alonso.

Azpilicueta played every minute of last season and has been an ever-present again this time round.

Three clean sheets from his last four matches has been his bread and butter, but he’s added an increased creative element to the menu this year.

Having recorded five assists over each of the last two campaigns, Azpilicueta has four this season already, with two of them coming at Stoke.

And all four have led to Morata goals – an attacking partnership that nobody could have envisaged.

Alonso has been billed as the offensive threat from the Chelsea backline, and he has the big-ticket price to back it up.

Azpilicueta’s consistency and durability are rather less sexy attributes, but while sex might sell, ‘Dave’ delivers.

Eventful times for Spurs

Kane’s double kept the 27.2% of managers who stayed loyal to him happy enough, although it could have been even better had he not hit the post twice at West Ham.

The England striker has now hit the woodwork five times this season, but until he breaks his league duck at Wembley, doubts as to his consistent potency will remain.

Just behind him, the hoary old tale of who to pick out of Dele Alli and Christian Eriksen rumbles on.

The general feeling is that Alli provides the explosive option with his goal threat, while Eriksen’s craft and guile makes him the slow-burning assist king.

Those roles have been reversed so far this season, and so it proved again at the London Stadium.

More than 209,000 managers sold the Alli prior to Saturday and he responded with a pair of assists and eight points.

The Dane, meanwhile, scored for the second time in three matches and added two bonus points for a nine-point haul.

Eriksen is outscoring Alli 42-33 this season, with two goals and three assists, compared to two and two.

Bonus points again swing it Eriksen’s way (7-2), with Alli’s more dynamic, dribbling-based game consistently penalised in the Bonus Points System for being tackled and losing possession.

One thing that continues to be in Alli’s favour, in the short term at least, is his European ban. He will sit out the next two Champions League ties, which should lead to longer pitch-time compared to Eriksen.

That was certainly the case yesterday. The Dane came off around the 70-minute mark for the second time in three Gameweeks, while his team-mate went the distance for the fifth straight match.

One of the reasons for Eriksen’s substitution was Mauricio Pochettino’s need to reorganise following the dismissal of wing-back Serge Aurier.

The defender’s first league start ended in -2 point ignominy. He will now miss next week’s trip to Huddersfield, with the 3.2%-owned Kieran Trippier back in the box seat at right wing-back/full-back.

As for West Ham, their two-match unbeaten mini-run came to an end, but there was some heartening news for those who stuck by striker Chicharito.

The Mexican had been sold by 264,000 going into the Gameweek, but he started as the main striker against Spurs – at the expense of the benched Andy Carroll – and notched his third goal of the season as the Hammers fought hard to salvage something from the shock of going 2-0 down.

A groin injury sustained by Michail Antonio forced Slaven Bilic to introduce Carroll midway through the first half, but Chicharito’s first goal since the two strikers have played together will provide a touch of hope for the 19.6% who have stayed loyal to their man.

West Ham’s schedule – SWA, bur, BRI, pal – is pleasant enough for that hope to blossom further still, although the lure of shedding Chicharito as a mid-price striker and opt for three big-hitters is stronger than ever.

Mourinho reverts to default setting

Up until yesterday, you couldn’t separate the two Manchester sides on points, goals scored and goals conceded.

That all changed when United ground out a 1-0 win away at Southampton.

Gone were the free-flowing days of the first five Gameweeks, with Jose Mourinho’s men specialising in late bursts of goals against tiring opposition.

At St Mary’s, it was a case of scoring fairly early – Romelu Lukaku making it six in six matches for his new club – and then holding on through a second 45 minutes of increasingly attritional football.

The 74th minute substitution of the 33.4%-owned Henrikh Mkhitaryan for centre-half Chris Smalling told you all you needed to know about Mourinho’s mindset.

It also strengthened the case for having a United defender in your ranks.

The Red Devils have now kept five clean sheets in six matches this season, with the three of the top four slots in the defenders’ table occupied by Mourinho’s men.

Phil Jones, at 5.2, remains the bargain option, and he delivered nine points yesterday thanks to a maximum bonus award.

Conversely, David de Gea (5.5) is one of five top-priced goalkeepers in the game. But his eight-point haul against the Saints included a bonus and a save point, taking him to the top of the keepers’ rankings.

Whether you go for the budget-friendly Jones or the high-priced pedigree of De Gea, investment in the United defence looks wise, although clashes with Liverpool, Spurs and Chelsea await over the next five Gameweeks.

Choices abound at gung-ho Liverpool

It’s never boring watching Liverpool these days, as their 3-2 thriller at Leicester City made abundantly clear.

Jurgen Klopp’s men fired in 23 attempts at the King Power Stadium. Their hosts managed only 12, and yet had seven shots on target to the Reds’ six.

We’re now spoiled for choice, as well as entertainment, when it comes to Liverpool.

Philippe Coutinho marked his second league start of the season with a 13-point masterclass involving a goal, an assist and the maximum bonus award.

Mohamed Salah scored his fourth goal of the campaign while, typically, missing a huge chance to add to that tally as well.

And with Sadio Mane having now served his three-match suspension, the question is not if to have a Liverpool attacker, but who.

Salah edges that argument. His 41 points for the season is just one off the midfield summit currently occupied by Eriksen.

A Gameweek 8 visit from Man United and a trip to Spurs the week after will tell us just how potent Liverpool’s attack truly is, but they’ve scored three or more goals in three of their six matches so far.

The one player missing out on all of this action is Firmino.

The Brazilian has provided his 27.2% ownership with three consecutive blanks now and is vying with compatriot Gabriel Jesus for the most sales leading in to Gameweek 7.

Again, the lure of deploying three premium strikers, and Morata’s haul in particular, has severely damaged Firmino’s stock.

At the back, Simon Mignolet’s penalty save was the only reason to be cheerful.

It also cost Jamie Vardy’s 10.8% fan club dearly, although the striker did score for the third straight match and he now has five goals for the season – from just 13 attempts. He is one mid-price option that could hold his own as our third striker.

Shinji Okazaki is very much back in favour under Craig Shakespeare and the Japanese international notched his third goal of the campaign, while Harry Maguire is starting to show that last season’s offensive threat was not a one-off.

The centre-half scored two goals and provided three assists at Hull City, and already has a goal and two assists for the Foxes.

Leicester have an excellent run through to Gameweek 18 now, with visits from Man City and Spurs their only major obstacles.

If Shakespeare can tighten things up at the back, Maguire’s 5.1 price tag could offer some appeal.

Elsewhere…

Everton finally got back in the goals against Bournemouth, but they came from the unlikeliest of sources.

Substitute Oumar Niasse wasn’t even registered in FPL before his two-goal entrance yesterday. He’s now been installed as a 5.0 option and, together with Dominic Calvert-Lewin (also 5.0), has the potential to offer a lot for a little as the Toffees’ fixtures finally turn friendly.

That could damage the prospects of Wayne Rooney (7.5), who was eventually replaced early in the second period by Ronald Koeman on medical staff advice having suffered a nasty cut to his eye. Rooney is expected to recover to be in contention for Thursday’s Europa League tie.

At the back, Everton are stretched at centre-half, with both Michael Keane (foot) and Phil Jagielka (hamstring) missing the Cherries clash.

Josh King opened his league account for Bournemouth, but Charlie Daniels, who provided the assist and also has a goal to his name this season, remains the only real tempation in a side with just three points and no clean sheets to date.

Like Everton, Stoke’s defensive resources grow thinner. Bruno Martins-Indi (groin) became the fourth member of Mark Hughes’ backline to succumb to injury, although Kurt Zouma will return for the home match with Southampton having been ineligible to play yesterday against his parent club Chelsea.

Watford’s impressive away form continued with a last-gasp win at Swansea City.

The 4.3%-owned Richarlison scored his second goal of the season to clinch it for a Hornets side that has now won all three of their matches on the road.

Andre Gray finally scored his first league goal for Watford at the sixth attempt, while Tammy Abraham came off the bench to double his tally for the Swans, pouncing on a Wilfried Bony rebound.

The crushingly predictable 0-0 draw played out by Burnley and Huddersfield earned Christopher Schindler maximum bonus points as the Terriers made it four clean sheets from six matches.

The fixture list turns ugly for Huddersfield from now on, however. They’ll face Spurs, Man United and Liverpool over the next four Gameweeks and have a five-match run from late November that includes Man City, Arsenal, Everton and Chelsea.

The previously popular Aaron Mooy (5.7 and 11.4%) is fast losing his appeal as a bargain fourth midfielder, having blanked for the fourth straight match.