We take a final glance back at Gameweek 10 with our usual look at the key player, team and talking point to come out of the weekend’s action.
Leroy Sane’s ascent to the top of the Fantasy Premier League standings and Leicester City’s new-look attack under Claude Puel both merit our attention.
Meanwhile, it was a poor Gameweek for captains as Harry Kane’s rivals failed to convince in his Old Trafford absence.
The Player
Leroy Sane’s recent transformation as a Fantasy force has been nothing short of remarkable.
Handed just a single start in Manchester City’s first five league matches, the German had hinted at what was to follow in Gameweek 4, emerging from the bench to score twice in the 5-0 home win over Liverpool.
Yet he was back among the subs the following week, claiming 12 minutes and one point in the 6-0 rout at Watford.
Sane’s brace in a 2-1 Carabao Cup win at West Brom – just four days after that Vicarage Road victory – turned his season on its head.
From that point onwards, he’s started eight of the ensuing nine matches in all competitions, with a role off the bench against Wolves in the Carabao Cup last week the only exception.
From Gameweek 6, he’s produced at least a goal and assist in four of his five league appearances, serving up 10+ points hauls on each of those occasions.
After starting the season with 18 points from the opening five, Sane has provided 53 in the next five to soar to the top of the FPL standings.
Over those last five Gameweeks, he is the league’s number one player for touches in the box (54), is joint-top for big chances created (five) and second for big chances (six).
He’s also the only player to register double figures for key passes (12) and shots inside the box (11) across that time frame.
With Pep Guardiola continuing to manage the minutes of forward pair Sergio Aguero and Gabriel Jesus, and with Raheem Sterling handed just 29 minutes in the last two Gameweeks, Sane’s bandwagon is at full pace ahead of Sunday’s visit from Arsenal.
He’s the most transferred-in (175,000+) player in FPL as he goes in search of a fifth successive double-figure home haul this weekend.
In a team where rotation is more or less an inevitability, the City flier has arguably made himself as close to “untouchable” is it gets under Guardiola right now.
The Team
Claude Puel wasted no time in making his mark on Leicester City’s starting XI.
The Frenchman’s decision to afford Riyad Mahrez the freedom of a support role behind Jamie Vardy paid off in just 18 minutes when the pair combined for the forward’s opener in the 2-0 win over Everton.
Mahrez now has a goal and three assists in three Gameweeks and scored against Leeds in the cup last week, while Vardy’s strike helped end a three-match barren league run.
That pair have failed to hit the heights of their 2015/16 title-winning campaign, but Puel’s intentions to make Mahrez a central figure in attack could reignite both players’ Fantasy potential.
And with Mahrez playing through the middle, the Foxes’ options on the flanks now require a reassessment.
The new manager’s decision to turn to youth out wide, bringing Demarai Gray and Ben Chilwell in from the cold, bodes well for both Leicester and Fantasy managers.
At a cost of just 5.3, Gray – in only his second league start of the season – needed just 29 minutes to justify Puel’s teamsheet by firing the hosts’ second.
Meanwhile, Chilwell, as a 4.3-priced defender in FPL, is now a definite target to monitor if he cements the role on the left wing as a budget out-of-position prospect.
His potential is boosted by the fact that Sunday’s win harvested only a third clean sheet of the campaign, which could also bring Harry Maguire and Christian Fuchs into contention as attack-minded options in the Foxes’ rearguard.
While visits from Man City and Spurs in the next six will offer far sterner tests, clashes with Stoke City, West Ham, Burnley and Newcastle over that run give Puel the chance to build on Sunday’s triumph.
The Talking Point
With Harry Kane hamstrung and ruled out of Spurs’ trip to Old Trafford, a host of in-form options vied for our Gameweek 10 armband.
But in Kane’s enforced absence, we were left underwhelmed.
Alexis Sanchez and Richarlison boasted strong underlying numbers ahead of their home clashes with Swansea City and Stoke’s obliging defences, but both drew blanks.
Mohamed Salah fluffed a spot-kick at home to Huddersfield – potentially losing penalty duties in the process – and had to make do with an assist.
As did Romelu Lukaku and Alvaro Morata, who have both now failed to score in three of their last four league appearances.
Only three of the top 15 armband picks for Gameweek 10 – Sane, Vardy and Roberto Firmino (with a first goal in seven league outings) – managed to score. Among the 10m+ priced contingent, Eden Hazard was the only player to find the net, bagging Chelsea’s winner at Bournemouth.
This was compounded by Guardiola’s decision to bench Aguero, the most transferred-in player in the Gameweek, for the entire match at The Hawthorns. Instead, the Man City rotation saw Jesus, second only to Kane for transfers-out, start but fail to pick up meaningful points in the 3-2 victory.
Farmed out by 750,000+ FPL managers last week, Kane is now back in training ahead of Spurs’ clash with Real Madrid tonight.
With his rivals struggling for consistency, Kane’s return to action would be perfectly timed as Spurs prepare for Sunday’s home encounter with Palace.
Four double-figure hauls in his last six league outings underline his near-peerless consistency as an armband pick.
Arguably Sane, with five big hauls in seven, has emerged as the strongest challenger to Kane right now. Yet experience tells us he’s only one Guardiola teamsheet away from making that statement sound ill-advised.
All eyes will be on Pochettino’s line-up at Wembley later this evening, then.
Ideally, with both sides six points clear of their two Group H rivals, the perfect scenario would be for Kane to confirm his fitness with minutes off the bench late on, keeping him ready for the Palace clash.
Having banished his Wembley hoodoo with a season-high 16-point return in his previous home outing, Kane’s contribution will surely be vital as Spurs attempt to whittle down City’s eight-point lead at the summit.
In a Gameweek where the rest of the top five go head-to-head, a fit-again Kane would take some beating as a captain contender. Based on what we saw last weekend, that can only be a good thing.
