Five Players Primed to Haul

We’ve reached mid-September and the season is finally starting to feel like it’s in full flow, the first round of Champions League fixtures have passed and with it the inevitable rotations in the latest premier league gameweek. Unless you filled your bench with Livramento and Brandon Williams, then there’s a good chance you fielded less than 11 scoring players this weekend. 

That Frustration has inevitably led to many rage transfers and a number of managers deciding to activate their wildcards, with that in mind it’s worth taking a moment to think about some of the players that we may be overlooking for the coming gameweeks. 

Wilfried Zaha (£6.9m)

The Crystal Palace talisman has not exactly burst into life at the start of this season but he did haul 12 points against Spurs in Gameweek 4 in a performance full of promise. The Ivory Coast international is seemingly on penalties for the Eagles this season and of players valued at £6.9mil or under, only Ismaila Sarr (£6.1m) has had more touches in the final third than Zaha. 

Adding to this, the Palace fixture run is about to quietly open up with only 2 of their next 9 fixtures notching above a 3 on the Fixture Difficulty Rating chart on the FPL website. There are other options at Palace for sure, both Conor Gallagher (£5.6m) and Odsonne Edouard (£6.5m) have made positive starts to their Crystal Palace careers, but last season was the first time that Zaha notched more than 10 goals in a Premier League season and I think he may be set to beat that this term with the more attack-minded manager in Patrick Vieira now at the helm. 

Adam Armstrong (£6.0m)

Southampton’s replacement for Danny Ings could be about to burst into action and now might be the time to jump on to Adam Armstrong express as the Saints fixture run begins to ease. Ralph Hassenhuttl’s men have been up against it at the start of this season playing 3 of last seasons top 6 and losing the likes of Jannik Vestergaard and Danny Ings to Leicester and Aston Villa respectively, but they have fought admirably and they are now primed to attack the next seven gameweeks which include fixtures against 4 of the current bottom 5. 

One of their main goal threats is Adam Armstrong and with 23 penalty box touches he leads the standings for attackers under £6mil and stands seventh overall for forwards of all values. Armstrong had 33 goal involvements in the championship last term and now looks the time to take a chance on the former Blackburn man as we look for point scoring enablers to squeeze the likes of Lukaku and Ronaldo into our matchday squads. 

Bukayo Saka (£6.3m)

The England man is the darling of English football currently but in an FPL context he’s simmering at best currently. Saka has notched just 13 points so far this season but returned an FPL assist against Burnley in Gameweek 5 and surprisingly has had 23 penalty box touches despite completing 90 minutes just twice so far this season. This upturn in Saka’s form is in line with Arsenal recording their first two victories of the season and their fixtures in the next six include 4 home games adding to that, they don’t play anyone above a 3 in the FDR during that period. Saka’s versatility and directness will go a long way in giving him starts and at just £6.3mil we could be looking back at a missed opportunity if we don’t get him in now. 

James Tarkowski (£5.0m)

Don’t stop reading! Burnley may not have started well, but that is not uncommon in recent seasons and their fixtures are about to turn for the better. With just two fixtures from the next 13 notching above a 3 on the FDR this is the time to get on the Clarets and James Tarkowski may well be the one to get. He scored on the opening day against Brighton and with 12 penalty box touches he ranks 8th for all defenders and is getting a chance every 64 minutes for a Burnley team that score their fair share from set-pieces. Tarkowski’s ownership stands at only 1.3% and if you’re looking for a player to get you back up the rankings or just above your mini-league rivals then James Tarkowski may help you in that quest. 

Ollie Watkins (£7.3m)

The Aston Villa man notched 23 goal involvements last season and looked dangerous in the Villains game at Chelsea in Gameweek 4 despite the 3-0 loss. From Gameweek 8 they embark on 6 very favourable fixtures and Watkins may just be the man to take full advantage of this. Of those players with comparable minutes (150-210) mins so far this season, only Cristiano Ronaldo (13.8 minutes) has had more chances per minute than Watkins (23.8 minutes) and with his fledgling strike partnership with Ings yet to hit full stride it seems likely that we have seen the best of Watkins yet in the Premier League and as such, I think he’s a player we should all be looking at after Gameweek 7. 

*All Statistics taken from Fantasy Football Scout Members Tools.