Where on earth do you begin with this gameweek!? It had more highs and lows than the French Alps. Some people, including a certain Maverick, claimed that this would be one of the lowest scoring gameweeks. How wrong I was and all thanks to an absolutely flying Egyptian in the Old Trafford Massacre.
But I digress. We really should head back to the beginning of the gameweek and start there. We all should have probably guessed that this was going to be a strange gameweek when Arsenal actually looked pretty decent in the opening game on Friday evening. Before you come at me, I’m an Arsenal fan so if anyone can self deprecate, it’s me!
While it may not have been a particularly impressive performance from a very fluctuating Villa side, the Gunners looked sharp going forward, with Aubameyang and Smith Rowe looking the most threatening.
The Englishman especially is a very encouraging prospect from an FPL perspective given how cheap he is. Lacazette playing in a slightly deeper role certainly helped the team but whether that is a long-term strategy or just a one-off remains to be seen. All Saka owners can count themselves slightly unlucky too, as he really should have scored, but for a smart save by Martinez.
With some very promising fixtures on the horizon and various big budget strikers currently injured, is it time to turn to Aubameyang? It may sound bold, maybe even a bit maverick, but he could be well worth considering. Villa’s fixtures also turn soon, so players like Ings, Watkins and Bailey could become potential options too.
At Stamford Bridge, Saturday’s opening fixture kicked off with the Blues’ absolute demolition of Delia’s Norwich. Unfortunately, for all those unlucky FPL managers who brought in King Kai, he left his crown at home, putting in a very poor performance and being outshone by the rest of his team-mates.
When Mason Mount puts in the sort of performance that he did on Saturday, it begs the question as to why Tuchel chose to bench him for various games towards the start of the season. He was simply unplayable at times and helped himself to not only a hat-trick but an assist too. If you captained, or even triple-captained him (as I saw a few times on Twitter over the weekend), very well done to you!
From a defensive perspective, it was certainly a shock to discover that Azpilicueta was benched but I assume that was only to rest him. Chilwell scoring for his fourth successive Premier League game treated his backers to a lovely haul and James scored a delightful chip to leave FPL managers pondering whether to downgrade Azpi to the young Englishman too.
I mean no disrespect to either of them, but it shows just how bad Norwich are that even Jorginho and Kovacic scored attacking FPL points against the Canaries.
Given the amount of goals scored in the opening two games, you’d have been forgiven for expecting a dry Saturday afternoon but you’d have been wrong; the goals just kept flowing.
At Selhurst Park, we went back in time, with Christian Benteke reminding us of the glory days in 2016/17 with an outstanding performance. The Belgian had seven shots and even created three chances for others too. Dare I say it, an option in FPL again? Maybe we’ll have to wait and see on that one.
At the other end, one of the goals of the season was scored by Callum Wilson; an absolutely stunning bicycle kick. Boy, Newcastle are going to have to rely on his goals once again this season (well, until the big bucks are spent in January anyway).
One of the biggest surprises of the weekend came at Goodison Park. Despite taking the lead twice, Everton managed to end up losing the game 5-2, giving Ranieri his first win at new Watford manager. Joshua King came back to haunt his old side, scoring three and looking very threatening, even aside from his goals. Everton started the season with very strong fixtures, leading many of us to back players from the Toffees but not be often rewarded. With harder games on the horizon, is it time to move away from the Blues? Conversely, is it now time to start backing the Watford boys? They looked incredibly dangerous against Everton and given their very cheap prices in FPL, it’s not necessarily a huge gamble to bring one or two in. The caveat I will add though is that the most threatening player for them at the start of the season, Ismail Sarr, has been pretty poor recently so he may be one for the ‘Avoid’ category.
At Elland Road, has a potential 4.5m forward revealed themself? Joe Gelhardt came on with only 27 minutes left on the clock, but managed 3 shots and one chance created and it was the young Englishman who was fouled for the equalising penalty in the 90th minute. If Bielsa was suitably impressed, and there was no reason why he couldn’t have been, he could be a potential cheap third striker option moving forward. Aside from Gelhardt, this game didn’t really tell us much we didn’t already know. Leeds have struggled to perform to the same standards they set last season but in fairness to them, they have been missing Raphinha and Bamford for the majority of the season. For Wolves, they are now heavily relying on Hwang and Jimenez to perform and grab all the goals for them, with their midfield lacking much goal threat even with the mazy and never-ending runs from Traore.
Following on from Gelhardt, we head to St Mary’s, where another cheap forward is starting to regularly hit the headlines. Broja from Southampton scored the winner for his side in Gameweek 8 and got an important equaliser against Burnley in Gameweek 9 too. At just 5.0m, he could be a juicy prospect for FPL managers wanting to downgrade in attack and improve either midfield or defence. Aside from the Albanian, there is an increasingly beloved FPL gem by the name of Tino Livramento proving too good to bench. The young Englishman looked threatening all match and scored a well-deserved goal against the Clarets. For the opposing team, Cornet absolutely shone and scored two very good goals. The FPL midfielder could be a decent punt if you need a cheaper (and playing regularly) 4th or 5th midfielder.
The final match of Saturday was at the Amex, where the high-flying Brighton took on Manchester City.
Phil Foden stole the headlines, although he was perhaps a little fortunate to score as many FPL points as he did this week, given that the second ‘goal’ went in off his backside from a Gabriel Jesus shot.
I also may be a little salty as I chose between him and Mahrez on my wildcard in Gameweek 8 and sadly chose the Algerian (although he slightly redeemed himself with his late goal this week).
Jack Grealish gave his owners a slight treat with an assist for Foden’s first and probably could have had more, creating four chances for others during the match. For me, the most surprising revelation for the Citizens this season has been Bernardo Silva. I fully expected him to become a regular fixture on the City bench but he’s played incredibly well week in and week out and deserves his place. He also earned his assist for Gundogan’s game opening goal too. I didn’t have a City defender this week but can perfectly understand the frustration from owners for losing their clean sheet. What on earth was Ederson doing for that penalty?!
Sunday’s first two matches took us to the Brentford Community Stadium for Brentford against Leicester and the London Stadium for a London derby between West Ham and Spurs.
Arsenal and Liverpool have already proved that going to Brentford isn’t going to be easy this season, so this was a very encouraging win for Brendan Rodgers’ side. However, FPL managers were then left rueing Jamie Vardy’s half-time substitution, with many of them bringing in the Englishman for an injured Lukaku this gameweek. He might not be a hugely popular FPL option, but Tielemans scored yet another delightful goal. It’s just a shame he doesn’t produce plenty of attacking chances, either for himself or others, week in week out. James Maddison also got on the scoresheet and has performed well in the last couple of games, so could be bringing himself into contention given his set-piece taking duties. At the other end, Ivan Toney may have touched the ball less than anyone else who played 90 minutes but that didn’t stop him creating three chances for others and having three shots at goal.
David Moyes’ Hammers are once again performing better than I expected, especially now that they have to contend with a small squad playing on Thursday nights now too. They thoroughly deserved their win on Sunday, with Antonio once again scoring and making me regret not bringing him in at the start of the season. Aside from him, Aaron Cresswell provided an assist and showed why he’s West Ham’s most expensive FPL defensive option. From Spurs’ perspective, they once again looked lacklustre and Son and Kane didn’t really get many opportunities to threaten Fabianski’s goal.
Then there was just the small matter of a clash between old foes Manchester United and Liverpool at Old Trafford. Ole Gunnar Solskjær was already under pressure but this absolute humiliation will undoubtedly ramp that up even more. Liverpool were absolutely rampant, and although gifted at least two of the goals by horrific defending, they thoroughly deserved the scoreline. Mo Salah saved many FPL managers’ gameweeks, mine included, with a hat-trick and an assist for Keita’s opening goal and is looking absolutely unplayable at the moment. It’s going to be very difficult to go against captaining him any time soon. Aside from the Egyptian, Jota grabbed another goal, playing instead of Sadio Mane, and Alexander-Arnold grabbed an assist too giving his owners another thing to cheer this week. Going back to Jota, the only question mark against him is that it’s hard to tell who will play out of him, Firmino and Mane every gameweek. At the other end, Manchester United were fairly toothless and look as if they might not be playing for the manager any more. If he doesn’t leave before the Tottenham game, I think that could be the final nail in Solskjær’s coffin if United lose that one.
On a personal level, I got a gameweek score of 86 this week, which seems remarkable given how poor my team was doing on Saturday evening. Albeit, most of those points coming from that beautiful Egyptian man, Mo Salah. Now, like many, I have yet another decision to make this week with Vardy and Raphinha now flagged once again. Do I bring in the Gabonese gunner?
FPL Maverick 