GAFFR Fantasy Championship GW6 and GW7

It’s been a very busy couple of gameweeks in GAFFR, so we are back to round up some of the key points from GWs 6 and 7.

Perfect for two, positive for plenty

A number of teams came out of these two games with at least three points but only two came out with six out of six, Bournemouth and Coventry. Bournemouth had an impressive 3-0 win against Barnsley, before a tougher 2-1 win against QPR. The standout from these two games was left back Jordan Zemura (5.2m) who got 20 points in the Barnsley game alone. This was down to him getting two goals in that game to go along with the clean sheet. The main man up top Dominic Solanke (11.2m) scored a goal in each game to register 20 points across the two gameweeks. The other standout performance came from young forward Jaidon Anthony (6.2m) who got a goal and an assist in the victory over QPR. He also seems to be in possession of the shirt now, still holding off the likes of Jamal Lowe (8.4m). New man Ryan Christie (8.0m) came into the side against QPR, while experienced defender Gary Cahill (6.0m) seems to have helped to improve things at the back for the Cherries. They have risen to third in the table, level on points with West Brom, with some very good options for GAFFR managers to consider.

The other team to claim two victories were Coventry. Mark Robins’ side have made a fantastic start to the season and currently sit fourth in the table. In these two games, they beat Middlesbrough at home 2-0 and then Cardiff, also at home, 1-0. The first thing that jumps out there is the two clean sheets for owners of the likes of Simon Moore (4.0m) and Kyle McFadzean (4.1m). The main man for them at the moment is striker Viktor Gyokeres (5.7m), who got a goal and an assist against Middlesbrough and followed that up with the only goal of the game against Cardiff. Martyn Waghorn (7.0m) has formed the other part of a really good partnership with Gyokeres and he scored the other goal against Boro. Callum O’Hare (5.0m) finally notched his much deserved first attacking return of the season as well, assisting the goal against Cardiff. There are currently a number of good options at Coventry, not simply in terms of value, but in terms of actual performance as well.

Reading, Sheffield United, Blackburn and Stoke all picked up 4 points from the two games. For Reading, the main man yet again was John Swift (6.8m). In the first game of the two, he scored a hat-trick against QPR and followed that up with a goal and an assist against Peterborough. He was ably supported primarily by Tom Dele-Bashiru (5.4m) who got an assist in the first game and then two goals in the second. Reading have conceded 20 goals in 7 games though, so things will need to improve on that front before their defenders become an option! Sheffield United United beat Peterborough 6-2, before drawing 2-2 with Preston. In the first game, there were multiple attacking returns for all of Ilman Ndiaye (5.6m), Ben Osborn (6.5m), new signing Morgan Gibbs-White (8.0m) and Billy Sharp (8.1m). Gibbs-White scored again against Preston and they would have thought Sander Berge (5.6m) had given them the winner, but they conceded a 95th minute equaliser for a disappointing draw. Blackburn drew 2-2 with Luton before beating Hull 2-0 and it was their main man, Chilean superstar Ben Brereton Diaz (8.1m), who got an attacking return in each game and is the main asset for GAFFR managers. Finally, Stoke beat Huddersfield 2-1 before drawing 1-1 with Barnsley. Jacob Brown (6.6m) was the only Stoke player to score in the first game (there was also an own goal), while in the 1-1 draw with Barnsley it was Sam Surridge (6.4m) who got the goal and was involved in a duel with Barnsley keeper Bradley Collins (5.1m) all night, including diving for a penalty which was saved by Collins to deny Mario Vrancic (6.6m). There was also a blow for GAFFR managers late in that game, with Tommy Smith (5.1m) picking up a red card.

Absences playing a key role

One of the biggest stories of Gameweeks 6 and 7 was the number of players who missed one or both of their teams games in the last week that will have made a big difference to GAFFR managers. Nowhere was this more evident than with Fulham. Talented teenager Fabio Carvalho (5.2m) missed both games with a foot issue, Harry Wilson (9.6m) missed the first game after international duty (although he more than made up for that against Birmingham) and Antonee Robinson (6.6m) was surprisingly left on the bench in the second game. This was in addition to the absence of Kenny Tete (6.0m) who had previously been highly owned. A lot of GAFFR managers will also have been left frustrated by the rotation at West Brom, where Callum Robinson (9.1m) was left out of the starting lineup for the first game and Grady Diangana (8.9m) was replaced at half time, while in the second game Matt Phillips (7.6m) was on the bench, with Karlan Grant (9.5m) and Robinson being replaced at half time. This certainly presents GAFFR managers with difficult questions about their West Brom attackers going forward. Some of the other impactful absences included Kieffer Moore (10.0m) only coming off the bench in Cardiff’s first game, Ryan Giles (4.8m) missing both of Cardiff’s games, Paddy McNair (6.1m) missing both of Middlesbrough’s games, Fred Onyedinma (5.6m) missing both of Luton’s games, Elijah Adebayo (6.1m) missing the first of Luton’s games as well and only coming off the bench in the second, as well as Charlie Austin (9.0m) and Lyndon Dykes (8.0m) both missing one out of two for QPR. Keep an eye out for press conferences, as well as on Angus’ injury spreadsheet, for news on the players you own or want to own ahead of GW8.

Hughton out at Forest

Finally, a brief mention of the sacking of Chris Hughton at Nottingham Forest. Forest had only picked up 1 point from their opening 7 games, coming from behind to draw with Derby. For a team that had reasonable hopes around it coming into the season, the mix of not creating chances in attack and not keeping teams out at the back was something that could not be allowed to continue for much longer. They are already 4 points off getting out of the relegation zone and with reports before and after the move of the players not responding to Hughton, the club clearly felt a change was necessary. It remains to be seen who comes in, but GAFFR managers will be hoping they can get more out of players like Philip Zinckernagel (8.0m), Brennan Johnson (5.6m) and James Garner (5.5m). For now though, it will be Steven Reid who is in temporary charge and we’ll see what that brings this weekend against Huddersfield.

GW8 captaincy options

We’ll finish off with a few of the better captaincy options for GW8. The obvious place to start for this is Fulham, who host Reading this weekend. Aleksandar Mitrovic (11.1m) and Harry Wilson are the two standout options there against what has been a very fragile Reading defence so far this season. Elsewhere, Ben Brereton Diaz against Barnsley is potentially a good option this weekend, or if you’re feeling particularly bold, West Brom attackers have a good fixture against Preston. We won’t be going there, but if you’re feeling brave, it could work out for you!

That concludes our article on Gameweeks 6 and 7, we hope you’ve enjoyed it. We’ll be recording a roundup pod again on Sunday and we’ll see you back here again next week!

The EFL Fantasy Podcast (@EFL_Fantasy)