New Options
Leeds United and Southampton are on the double this round, although if you’re short on trades there’s not many who you’d want to bring in with a view to retaining. That list is arguably topped by Danny Ings, while James Ward-Prowse is a decent scorer. Other options may be Stuart Armstrong and early season popular Leeds pick Mateusz Klich who is cheaper.
Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang is back! The Gabon striker netted a hat-trick against Leeds United last weekend, seeing him post a big score and his value begin to skyrocket. Whether he’s actually turned the corner is unknown but it’s a gamble some may take.
New Fulham acquisition Josh Maja also put his name up in lights with a double for the Cottagers at Everton, while cheap keeper option Kepa Arrizabalaga returned for Chelsea and kept a clean sheet.
Previous week lessons
You simply cannot trust Liverpool to not leak goals! Normal Fantasy favourites Alisson Becker, Trent Alexander-Arnold and Andy Robertson have not offered their normal value this season and may be time to give up on them, if you’ve not already.
Also when it comes to keepers, Manchester City’s Ederson looks the pick of the bunch now and that was reiterated when he got an assist last matchweek Also his City teammate Phil Foden is a gun.
Speaking of trust, you cannot trust new Chelsea boss Thomas Tuchel defensively, with Ben Chilwell benched again. Likewise Carlo Ancelotti with James Rodriguez, who started on the pine against Manchester City in midweek.
The other big lesson last matchweek was that the fallen forwards may be back, including the aforementioned Aubameyang and Chelsea’s Timo Werner who ended his own goal drought. Jamie Vardy and Ings are reasonably priced too.
Who to captain?
With no one jumping out from Leeds or Southampton, it feels like a normal weekend for captaincy options. However, the Whites and Saints play in the first two games of the matchweek, so if you own someone like Patrick Bamford or Ings, it might be worth putting the VC on them to see how they go.
If that doesn’t pan out there’s a few obvious options on Sunday, led by Bruno Fernandes with Manchester United taking on struggling Newcastle. The Portuguese midfielder netted a double in the Europa League in midweek.
Ilkay Gundogan’s fitness will be the key issue around him as a captaincy option when Manchester City go to Arsenal on Sunday, while Mohamed Salah has still been scoring during Liverpool’s poor run and may be a decent VC option on Saturday. Harry Kane’s Tottenham go to West Ham who are a tough opponent.
Injury front
One of the big injury talking points this week has been Everton’s Dominic Calvert-Lewin although Ancelotti said late in the week that he “think he can start” against Liverpool which is positive but not overly convincing.
Arsenal’s Kieran Tierney is back from injury and came off the bench for the Gunners in their midweek Europa League game, so he’ll be available against City.
Gundogan is the other big issue for Fantasy coaches having missed City’s midweek win at Everton after picking up a groin problem against Tottenham. City boss Pep Guardiola said: “For Arsenal he should be ready.”
The good news is Kevin De Bruyne returned as a late sub against Everton so he’s back in contention to start and may slot in for Gundogan.