We love green arrows! Whilst Chris showed off his Free Hit chip to claim 92 points, I brandished my wildcard whilst soaking up the sun to claim a slightly less mighty 89 points. That made up for a very average game week 5, and saw a move up to 32,805th out of 5.1 million players. It’s not bad, but as ever, it could be better. The average was just 60, so there were green arrows a plenty at Tales Towers. I’ll get into my Wildcard picks later on, but now let’s shift our focus to Game week 7 – and the always difficult second album.
The Dilemma
Two of week six’s big scorers go head to head as Chelsea host Man City. Morata and Aguero had contrasting fortunes in Europe midweek, Aguero missing a penalty in City’s 2-0 win over Shakhtar whilst Morata netted in Chelsea’s 2-1 win over Atletico. I very much doubt this match will be 0-0, which is probably putting the kiss of death on it, but I’m in no rush to transfer out either attacking talent. It’s also the week before an International break, which should mean minimal rotation risk.
Elsewhere, Man Utd welcome goalless and pointless Crystal Palace to Old Trafford which will have Romelu Lukaku owners licking their lips. The Belgian striker scored twice in Europe as his excellent start to the season continued. Palace did ok for 40 minutes last week but once one went in, several more followed and it may well be the same story this weekend. Poor Roy. Bargain defender Phil Jones is injured though, he is considered a huge doubt for Saturday. Arsenal have to wait until Sunday lunchtime to face Brighton at The Emirates, but with Alexandre Lacazette having netted in every home game so far you’d back him to continue that run. There’s also the small matter that Alexis Sanchez is now back in the starting lineup – at what point will he burst into life and shower us all with points? Liverpool face an awkward looking trip to Newcastle for a reunion with Rafa Benitez, and a certain Sadio Mane returning from suspension should assist them going forwards but who knows what will happen in defence.
The weekend all starts with Tottenham’s trip to Huddersfield. With the form Harry Kane is in away from Wembley, it promises to be another goal-laden weekend for the England striker. Huddersfield have been tough to breach but they haven’t faced a striker of Kane’s quality on many occasions this season. Christian Eriksen will hope to recover from illness if he is to continue his superb form whilst Dele Alli landed two assists last week and will be fresh having been banned in midweek.
Bargain Bin
Oumar Niasse has to come into contention – the Everton forward has been left out of Ronald Koeman’s Europa League squad meaning he is guaranteed to be fresh for Sunday’s home clash with Burnley. At 5m, Niasse wasn’t even on the FPL game ahead of his double against Bournemouth, which makes him a massive differential. He’s not guaranteed to start, unfortunately, as there’s plenty of attacking talent in the Everton squad. Everton’s unconvincing form continued with a 2-2 home draw in the Europa League last night, so if you have Burnley’s attacking players you may still get some returns from them on Sunday.
West’s Brom and Ham both have enticing home games against Watford and Swansea respectively, but both opponents have fared pretty well on the road this season. You can never rule out a 0-0 when West Brom are involved, though Watford’s Richarlison is a midfielder on the game and priced at £6.1m. West Ham have a patchy record at the London Stadium, and Swansea have yet to concede a goal away from home. Fabianski at 4.5m is an excellent choice in goal, or defenders Naughton (4.6m) and Fernandez (4.5m) are solid options for your defence.
Captain
The standout option this week is Romelu Lukaku. A home clash with current whipping boys Crystal Palace cannot be ignored. If you have Harry Kane I see no reason why he won’t fill his boots away at Huddersfield – his midweek hat-trick in Cyprus really proving he can score goals anywhere except Wembley.
So, as mentioned earlier I played my wildcard last week and I was extremely relieved with the outcome. With all the strikers scoring goals, my front 3 of Aguero, Morata and Lukaku all came up with the goods whilst my two premium midfielders Salah and Eriksen also netted. But how does that translate to this week?
I have £0.3m in the bank, which was intentional as I’d like to get a Chelsea defender back in for Monreal at some point but it’ll require some price changes.
De Gea, Evans, Monreal, Fernandez, Eriksen, Atsu, Salah, Brady, Lukaku, Morata, Aguero. Subs: Elliot, Mbemba, Mee, McArthur.
I have a transfer to use but I’m hoping to save it for after the International break, when I may need two. Eriksen has apparently recovered from the illness that kept him out midweek, at the moment he is my only doubt.
Keep an eye on the team news on Friday afternoon just in case there are any late blips, but whatever you decide to do, as ever I wish you luck and may all your arrows be green.