I am generally someone who doesn’t pay too much attention to stats (although given my performance in FPL last season perhaps I should) but what I’m going to try and do with this section of the website is to combine my own ‘Eye Test’ with some stats to look at interesting and potential picks for us all moving forward.
So without further ado, here are five players who passed my ‘Eye Test’ during Gameweek 2.
Fornals:
While his two team-mates have taken a lot of the plaudits recently (and with good reason), Fornals has slightly gone under the radar, despite putting in two good performances.
In Gameweek 2 against Leicester, he scored one goal, created 3 chances and had an Expected Goals on Target (xGOT) of 0.65. This is in addition to his 1 assist and 5 chances created against Newcastle in Gameweek 1.
If I didn’t already have Benrahma, I’d be seriously considering the Spaniard. One to watch for sure.
Jesus:
Pep surprised everyone last week by playing the Brazilian striker out on the wing but he once again was proven to be an incredibly smart manager, with Jesus grabbing 2 assists, achieving an Expected Assists (xA) of 0.61 and creating 5 chances for team-mates against the Canaries.
While you would always expect Man City to score well against Norwich at home, Jesus’ performance surely stands him in good stead for starts in future gameweeks, especially given the fact that City have been unable to sign both Kane and Ronaldo in recent days.
While not the cheapest, Jesus may well be an interesting alternative for bolder FPL managers in the coming weeks. (That’s if you can go without both Ronaldo and Lukaku!)
Raphinha:
It’s probably about time that Raphinha made it onto this list. One of my favourite players from last season, the Brazilian looked back to his best against Everton in Gameweek 2, scoring 1 goal, creating 1 chance for his team-mates and taking 6 shots.
A lot of the attacks Leeds mustered against the Toffees came through Raphinha and he looked unplayable at times. With good fixtures on the horizon for Leeds, now could be the perfect time to jump aboard the Raphinha-wagon, especially if you’ve got an itchy trigger finger hovering over Gundogan in your team.
Gray:
It’s not often that two players from opposing sides both shine in a match but that is definitely the case for Demarai Gray and the aforementioned Raphinha.
The Englishman Gray scored 1 goal, had an Expected Goals on Target of 0.59, created 1 chance for team-mates, played 1 key pass and had 1 shot. While these stats may not sound the most impressive, he looked incredibly lively against Leeds and followed another decent performance against Southampton in Gameweek 1. He has certainly impressed me and passed the eye test, perhaps more than his stats indicate.
Livramento:
The last player on this list is certainly an advocate for passing the eye test rather than backing it up with stats. The young Englishman, Livramento, looked very promising against one of the league’s strongest teams in Gameweek 2.
Despite his stats not suggesting much to be excited about, aside from 3/3 dribbles completed, I was encouraged by his performance and he looked more effective than his stats indicate. Also, if he’s going to continue to play, for £4.0m, he’ll be an absolute steal. Especially if he can grab the occasional assist too.
FPL Maverick 