Gameweek 1-3 Review
With 3 games played by each team in going to dive deep into reviewing the season so far.
Newly promoted Hull are the only team in the 4 flights of English football to not concede a goal. Keeping 3 clean sheets out of 3. Impressively picked up 3 points in the first game of the season against Manchester United. Defensively Hulls 5 at the back looks very strong with standout players like Egan priced at 4.1M securing a DEFCON bonus in ⅔ games with a whopping 21 Defensive contributions against Manchester United. However they struggle to create going forward with only 2.3 XG in these first 3 games. With notable mentions to Nobel Mendy (4.0M) with 0.15XG per game and Semi Ajayi (4.1M) with 0.15XG per game compared to Oli Mcburnies (5.5M) 0.18XG per game. Shows not only do they offer a strong cheap defensive option but also offer an attacking presence.
Carrick's charge hasn’t been what he was hoping for a loss to Hull. A hammering win against Ipswich and a draw against Everton. Giving them a total of 4 points Probably wasn’t what he planned to have after 3 games. Most standouts and the most predictable player to perform was off course Bruno Fernandes (12.0M) with a hat trick and an assist against Ipswich reminded everyone what he is capable of. But has blanked in 2 out the 3 games struggling to really create any chances. In the draw against Everton and the loss at Hull but I’m sure as we saw against Ipswich he’ll find form over the course of the season. Mbeumo (7.9M) looked a must have at the start of the season a midfielder starting leading the line for United starting there most of pre-Season. But we have seen Cunha start the first 3 games up top. Although Mbeumo has scored ⅔ games so far and has an XG 0.77 per game. Whereas XA sits at 0.17 per game. With the selection of 6.0M midfielders, how good of a pick is Mbeumo for that price compared to the likes of Foden, Cherki, Gibbs white, Rogers. But defensively man united haven’t looked strong once so far and always look like they're going to concede. Conceding 6 goals in 3 games. I’d personally be staying well away from United Defenders.
Talking about bad defences Xabi Alonso the newcomer to the premier league hasn’t failed to entertain us so far this season bringing a new dynamic to this Chelsea side however how much there attack excites me their defence is a worry 7 goals conceded in 3 games 3 against Brighton looks a worry. But now with new Signing Martínez (5.0M) looks hopeful he’ll sort out some of the defensive issues. But attacking wise Chelsea look a massive threat with a front 3 off Palmer (9.6M) Pedro (7.7M) Rogers (7.6M) this front 3 have got off to an absolute flyer with 10 goal contributions between the 3 off them. With Palmers XG of 0.36 Per game and 0.12 XA per game, Pedros XG of 0.62 Per game and 0.05 XA per game with Rogers XG of 0.41 Per Game and 0.40 XA per game shows Rogers (7.6M) at the moment is the cheaper of the 3 and is offering more of a goal threat. The real question is do you own all 3 or just own 2 but which 2 do you choose ? Pedro (7.7M) is a must have in my eyes. There isn’t in my eyes a striker which offers what Pedro offers for that amount of money. But who out of Palmer and Rogers? Palmer at the time of writing this 21.8% owned Rogers 28.1%. Palmer is priced 2 whole million more than Rogers. With Rogers over 3 games offering the more goal threat and being 2M cheaper looks the better pick. But Palmer over the course has had 3 more shots and 3 more shots on target over Rogers and is also on Pens. Is the 2M more for Palmer and being 6.1% less owned worth the money ?
Artertas Arsenal on the charge again ? Lots of questions can Arsenal go back to back. And they backed that with a very good transfer window and have come flying out the blocks with 3/3 wins. Seeing 2 clean sheets out of the 3 games. With Calafiori (5.7M) impressing with 2 assists. Ben white (5.5M) with 1 assist. The trouble with Arsenal with such a large squad is trying to predict their squad each game and who their nailed on starters are going to be especially with the Championship league games. Who will be rotated ? Odegaard (6.6M) and only 13.2% owned has looked impressive so far this season scoring twice in the 3 games and could become a heavily picked player in the next few weeks. Raya (6.0M) was always going to be worth the 6.0M it’s just so you really want a 6.0M keeper ? Same with Gabriel (8.0M) you know he’s nailed you know his goal threat and his DC potential but is he worth spending 8.0M on. Konsa (4.4M) currently looks a great pick and is a cheap way into Arsenal's defence until Saliba is back fit. And when he is what happens with Konsa could we see him move over to RB and replace Ben White ? Arsenal's assets are hard to judge who to have. Who’s going to create goals, who’s going to score the goals and who’s going to start it really is difficult to say. Declan Rice (7.4M) looks like he’ll be a nailed starter like last season has been on corners again and offers the threat of an Assist and the potential to gather up DEFCON points is probably one of the safer picks but isn’t going to haul week in week out. Talking of Hauls Saka (9.5M) has looked sharp to start the season with 2 goals and an attacking presence. 0.54 XG per game and 0.12 XA per game he looks good down that left wing he’s also averaging 1.82 shots on target per game and is finding himself in positions he thrives in. Havertz or Gyökeres at the start of the season was the question and many left both out not knowing who was likely to start up front or if they’d both start with Havertz in the 10. After 3 games it appears Havertz (7.5M) has secured the starting spot for upfront also scoring 2 goals in 3 games. He’s shown how clinical he can be but hasn’t really had a lot of opportunities, only 5 shots in 3 games 2 on target and 2 goals. Is his 2 goals enough to convince you you’ve seen enough ?
Man City had a lot of question marks over what life would look like without Pep. And all right they’ve won 3/3 but they haven’t looked anywhere near their best. A lot of new faces and time to gel but we're going off what we’ve seen in the first 3 games. Haaland (15.5M) in his expectations has had a pretty slow start to the season compared to usual. But with the amount of games he played from last season it’s not a surprise he has still managed to pick up 3 goals in 3 in 3 Games. A huge Haaland haul is coming, it's just a case of when. With an 0.82 XG per game and 14 shots, 5 shots on target and 3 of them goals. A hat-trick is just around the corner. Cherki (7.8M) everyone knew this man was a magician but a lot left him out of their drafts in pre-Season and then out there confirmed squads due to uncertainty on minutes. And for those he put him in enjoyed the rewards in Gameweek 2 when he scored 2 goals. And in Gameweek 1 a 27 minute cameo where he assisted 2 goals. I love Cherki but as a pick I’m just unsure about him especially now when the signing of Ndiaye (5.9M) city has got so much attacking rotation who are guaranteed the minutes with Foden, Doku,Ndiaye,Semenyo,Cherki. O’Reilly (6.5M) looks we’ll still does look (depending on injury news) a great pick with 2 starts in the CM role offering an attacking threat but his minutes with the signings of Enzo and Bouaddi is he going to start every game CM or is he going to go back to LB will he replace Gvardoil (5.6M) ? Defensively they haven’t really been tested as such yet with Bournemouth and Palace where they conceded in both but kept a clean sheet against Coventry which was expected but even so Coventry had a few great chances where they could and probably should have scored from. We see how their defence copes with one of the big boys.
Frank Lampard Championship flyers come into the premier league with not a lot of expectations that they'd stay up. Although they have looked promising in spells it just doesn’t look like they’re going to have enough to stay in the prem this season with 3 losses. But saying that they have faced Arsenal and City out of the 3. But a 1-0 defeat to their newly promoted rivals Hull wasn’t what Lampard would have wanted. With an XG of 2.86 in 3 games where impressively they had an XG of 1.37 against city just couldn’t put the ball in the city net. Bobby Thomas (4.0M) looks to be the best asset for Coventry who looks good defensively and actually went off the pitch against Hull in the 78th minute for Hull to only goal and score 4 minutes of his substitution. He’s had 6 shots all being off target but for a CB to have 6 shots across 3 games shows his attacking threat but can he make one of these opportunities count and find the back of the net. He also hit DEFCON in 2 of his 3 games and at this moment looks the best Coventry asset if you want to own one.
Onto the other newcomers Ipswich who started fast with a 2-1 win over Sunderland and had people thinking they got enough to stay up. To then go and get thumped 5-2 by Manchester United and lose 2-0 to Liverpool. The signing of Diop (4.0M) showed everyone’s intent that Ipswich plan staying in the prem signing and Experienced prem CB but have looked terrible defensively. Stand out players for Ipswich would be Enciso (5.5M) and Emersonn (5.5). With the new signing of Flemming (5.5M) could become a great value pick in the future with his history in the prem last season with struggling Burnley.
Liverpool who have picked up their first 3 points of the season in 2-0 win against Ipswich have looked leaky at the back in their first 2 games in 2-2 draws on both outings. Isak (9.0M) what Liverpool fans will hope they’ve got is the player they signed from Newcastle this season. Has so far got off to a flyer scoring 3 in 3 games. And has looked a threat in all 3 games. Even against Newcastle in the game he didn’t score he had 4 shots 2 on target with an XG in that game of 1.09. Has an XG of 0.87 across the first 3 games and only 20.3% selected is proving to be a great punt. There was a big debate before the season started with Wirtz (7.5M) vs Szoboszlai (7.0M) who the better pick was and was Wirtz worth 0.5M more. Most went safe and picked Szoboszlai and so far it has paid off seeing Szoboslai outscore him points wise in the first 3 games. Szoboszlai expected stats are also better Szoboszlai XG 0.39 over 90 minutes compared to Wirtz 0.25 and XA 0.16 to Wirtz 0.11 shows Szoboszlai is more of threat and with him being on set pieces he’s shown he’s well worth the 7.0M value and is better pick. Will he continue to be a better pick than Wirtz ? With a player who’s silently been chilling in on the goals and has been under looked in pre-Season probably due to rumours about joining spurs is Cody Gapko (7.2M) 14.2% owned has seen with 1 goal and 3 assists in 3 games. Which sees him top of the most assists this season and joint 1st with GC this season. As more games go on could we see more people moving over to Gapko ? Defensively they looked poor in their first 2 games but looked better against Ipswich which you could argue is Ipswich you’d expect them to keep a clean sheet. But Ipswich actually had a total of 14 shots 5 on target; it's not like Ipswich didn’t cause an attacking threat. After concerns Szoboszlai was going to start RB ahead of Frimpong who’d I guess will have a more attacking role from off the bench now. We actually saw Arajuo (5.4M) make his full premier league debut and made Liverpool’s defence look better then the previous 2 games and also hit DEFCON with 10DC. He could be a cheaper alternative to VVD (6.5M) who has only got 9 points in 3 games playing 270 minutes compared to Arajuo who’s played 123 minutes and has already achieved 9 points in 147 minutes left than VVD.
Moving into Tottenham a season forgot last year and the year before saw Spurs splash the cash all summer bringing in some big names. Have spurs overloaded with 2 many new players that they need time to gel or can we see them finishing in the bottom half again this year ? Spurs have conceded 5 goals in 3 games despite signing players like Van Hecke (4.9M) Sensi (5.9M) and keeping hold off VDV (5.0M). As well as signing 2 time premier league winner, champions league winner, fa cup winner and 2 time EFL cup winner in Andy Robertson (4.5M). Saw them keep their first clean sheet vs Nottingham Forest. We haven’t seen an awful lot from spurs so far to judge them of having spurs assets in our teams. Marmoush (7.0M) 2.2% owned could be a massive green arrow and differential pick. But statistically his stats have been poor seeing his XG of only 0.17 per game. And XA of 0.04 We’ve seen him only have 1 shot on target in 2 games out of 5 shots. I would imagine Spurs to improve and after a few more gameweeks we’ll be able to see who the best Spurs Assets are. But they face a tricky run of Everton (H), Villa (H) Man United (A) Coventry (H) Chelsea (A).
Again another team which is hard to judge which players are good assets are Aston Villa with the departures of key players Like Morgan Rogers, Ollie Watkins, Konsa and Tielemans have seen them recruit a lot of new younger players for a rebuild. But how long is it going to take Emery to get them playing again. Which saw them smashed 4-0 by Brighton a narrow 1-0 loss to Arsenal which saw them in the game and could have equalised a numerous times and then a 0-0 at Hull. The worrying sign for Villa who just like spurs have failed to hit the net. With 14 shots against hull and only 1 on target. It’s hard to judge who will be the man to score Villa's first goal. What we know is players like Nicolas Jackson (6.5M) is more than capable of scoring in the prem. Which in the 24/25 season saw him score 10 goals and get 5 assists. Saw him achieve 0.50 XG per game. It is only a matter of time before he finds his form you would think. Buendia (5.9M) looks good value and has played well against Arsenal and Hull with a good run of games. Could he find the same form of Rogers last season ?
A winless Bournemouth so far with 2 draws and 91st minute heartbreak goal to deny picking up a brilliant point against City. A Marcus Travernier (6.0M) can he perform like Semenyo ? So far he’s started well with 2 goals in 3 matches. With 9 shots in 3 games and an XG of 0.50 per game. The worry for Bournemouth is their squad depth in all 3 games they’ve conceded past the 87th minute mark to lose points. With European football starting how will they cope with playing Thursday and the quick turnarounds ? Alex Scott (6.0M) has lived up to expectations and the hype around him in the transfer market with Chelsea heavily interested and are rumoured to be offering around the €80 million mark for him. Standout Scott has seen him register a goal already and hit DEFCON against Everton hitting 15 DC and coming close against city hitting 11 and then again against Newcastle. As said my only worry is with Bournemouth playing in Europe and how much will it affect them ?
A team who missed out on European football from last season Brentford pushed away Spurs on the opening Day 3-0 and then followed it up with in their eyes two disappointing 1-1 draws. With a massive surprise Brentford have scored 5 goals and Thiago (7.9M) hasn’t had a single goal involvement. His stats prove tho it is only a matter of time with an XG of 0.79 per game actually having the 4th highest XG per 9p minutes. Janelt (5.0M) owned by 1.5% has 21 points in 3 games averaging 7.0Pts per game. Scoring 2 goals so far and hitting Defcon in 2 games. Talking of defcon monsters Brentford Sangare (5.7M) was a monster at DC at Lille last season and has carried that into the premier league achieving Defcon in his first 2 games and then being subbed at half time vs Sunderland. Brentford have team filled with good value players with great potential it’s just a case of picking the ones who will star.
The super seagulls Brighton started the season with 1 of everything: a win, a draw and a loss. Despite the results there joint highest scorers in the league with 8 goals in 3 games. With De Cuyper (4.8M) being one the main men. Who if you had at the start of the season you're flying however I don’t think he’s a great pick long term. Once Mitomas back from injury I’d expect him to be straight back into the LW spot. The safest 5.5M asset in the game Gross (5.5M) hasn’t failed to live up to his expectations and I think has given everyone what we expected of him. A goal and assist against Brighton saw him pull in 13 points. Showing us why he’s well worth the 5.5M. However Brighton's fixture run isn’t nice for them seeing them play Coventry and then Arsenal then Sunderland followed by a European match then into Palace then another European match then face Liverpool and Man City. How many points can this Brighton side get with a fixture run while also balancing Europe ? A great Defensive Brighton asset Vuśković (5.0M) only owned by 2.9% offers a great threat going forward last season scored 4 from set pieces as well a free kick and a penalty. Gross move aside there’s a new penalty taker !
Struggling Sunderland. Well that’s what it looked like with an opening day defeat against Ipswich but they beat Fulham 1-0 and got a late equaliser to draw with Brentford 1-1. Enzo Le Fee (5.9M) looks their main threat going forward with an XG of 0.42 per game and being on penalty’s is a great value pick. Their main man upfront Brobbey (5.9M) hasn’t hit the ground running but his performances have been fine if you are thinking of sticking or getting rid. Against Brentford he had the most touches in the opposition box, joint most shots and joint most chances created. The worrying signs is he’s had 6 shots at goal none being on target and only an XG of 0.24 Per game there’s better options around that price for sure. How will Sunderland cope with their squad depth and Europe could we see them closer to the bottom 3 this season ?
Crystal Palace’s new manager bounce only took 2 games to get started beating Fulham in an exciting 3-2 win. But lost their opening 2 one being a 4-2 defeat to city. Out of all the attacking players it was 2 full backs that scored the weekend In Mitchell (4.5M) and Chillwell (4.5M). At the start of the season there was lots of talk about the best 4.5 Million defenders and Mitchell looks to be trying to get involved in the conversations. But his 15 point mega haul shouldn’t be overshadowed by his 1 pointer and 0 pointer in the first 3 games. But long term Mitchell looks to be more attacking this season than last season. Last year we saw him start 36 games having 19 shots which saw an average of 1.89 shots a game. Whereas this season we’ve seen him have 5 shots in 3 games averaging 1.66 shots per game. If your times his average of 1.66 by the 33 games (3 played all ready and compared to his 36 starts last year) he’d finish the season with 54 shots. Is he going to be more of a threat in the final third ? Again Crystal Palace are in Europe again this season but the Europa League so will be a much harder test will they cope ? One to keep a close eye on who looks very exciting is Pino (5.5M) at only 0.3% owned. He’s averaging 9.38 DC per game but created 2 big chances against Fulham 1 against Man City. It looks only like a matter of time till he gets a good return. With Ipswich,Leeds,Forest,Brighton coming up he could be worth a punt.
The Toffees trying Everton saw 2 absolute worldies get a point against Manchester United after being pegged back twice. 5 goals scored and 3 conceded after 3 games. The worry signs are the players they lost and the lack of players they signed replacing them. But we did see the return of Jack Grealish (6.5M) on loan who could take the right mockery out of that price if he finds his form he’s shown he’s capable off. But with departure of Beto and no replacement it was a bit of a worry but has given Barry (5.5M) a new lease of life who has the best XG per 90 in the prem this season with XG of 0.87 per 90 minutes. We saw him score in his first game against Crystal Palace. KDH (6.5M) was in a lot of people’s drafts to start the season who has looked a threat and has got on the score sheet once. Averaging 3.01 shots per game. And 9.70 DC per 90 minutes could we see his goal threat improve with Jack Grealish alongside him ? The king of Defcon James Tarkowski (6.0M) hasn’t failed to disappoint with a clean sheet in the first game just missing out on DEFCON with 9 DC. Then a goal against Bournemouth and hitting DEFCON with 10 DC than again against Manchester United hitting 12. I said at the start of the season if you're struggling to pick a 6.0M defender this ma’ is a must.
Leeds keep plucking results out with 2 draws and a win against Nottingham Forest. They haven’t had any major standouts but one of the players I’ve picked out Stach (6.0M) surprisingly only owned 2.8%, and has seen him score once in 3 games. Hitting 16 DC in his first 2 games. And is a good differential option for that price point. DCL (6.0M) has been a little underwhelming but has got himself a goal. But has only registered 6 shots in 3 games with 2 being on target. At the start of the season Harry Wilson (6.4M) looked a great pick given his form for Fulham last season but has only started 1 in 3 games. Now as it stands doesn’t even look like he’s an option. Leeds have a tricky run ahead facing both Arsenal and Manchester United in their next 4 games.
New manager Newcastle a lot of people avoided Newcastle assets with the amount of quality players they lost. But that’s come back to bite the majority of us because boy have they got up and running and look a really exciting team again. A draw on the opening day against Liverpool which was a shock for a few people. I think many expect an easy Liverpool win. A 2-0 win against Spurs and 2-2 Draw with Bournemouth. There have been some outstanding performances from Newcastle individually
. We've seen Wissa (6.2M) look back on form scoring 1 and 1 assist in 2 games but looks a massive attacking threat. With an XG of 0.46 per game can he find the form he had at Brentford ? Lewis Hall (5.1M) has started the season strongly and looks a great option he gives the potential to give you DEFCON but is also looking to get the wing on the overlap to whip crosses into the box and this has seen him register an assist already. Newcastle players are great options long term with a favourable fixture run with a running off Leeds (A) Hull (H) Coventry (A) Villa (H) Palace (A). I’d be getting your Newcastle assets sooner rather than later.
Not much joy for Nottingham Forest with 1 loss and 2 draws. But a good point earned against Liverpool with the result finishing 2-2. Morgan gibbs-white (7.9M) has been a standout as expected. Scoring and getting an assist against Liverpool. However at his price point how many options are better for cheaper is he worth the value ? Nottingham Forest's goal threat is a little worry with only scoring 2 goals 1 of which was a penalty. To back this Nottingham Forest average 2.30 shots on target per game which is the 18th worst in the premier league so far this season. Neco Williams (5.0M) owned by 8.3% was spoken about a fair bit and compared to Muñoz of Crystal Palace last season and the questions where asked would he be as attacking as Muñoz and would he offer that attacking threat Muñoz did. Williams has performed well but in my opinion hasn’t made it an easy picking. In 3 games he’s had one shot but has created an average of a chance a game. But with Forrest struggling to score from open play his attacking presence is pointless if they can’t put the ball in the back of the net. And is averaging 8.00 DC per game. Forrest have got a few better fixtures facing Coventry, Ipswich and Crystal Palace in their next 5 games.
Sacked in the morning he’s getting sacked in the morning. Fulham also appointed a new manager after the departure of Marco Silva and have seen themselves on the end of 3 defeats. And I’m struggling to see a way Arbeloa isn’t sacked by Christmas. Where are Fulham’s goals going to come from in their 3-2 defeat to Crystal Palace saw them have 25 shots with only 6 of them being on target. With the way the game was played Fulham should have secured all 3 points. They are currently 7th For team expected goals in the premier league with 5.40 XG but currently sit 19th in XGC at 6.20. With the chances Fulham create will their new man Garcia (6.0M) become their new talisman because they need a goalscorer to win games and one sooner rather than later. Their run of fixtures on paper improves, facing all 3 newly promoted sides one after another could be a good time to pick Garcia for these fixtures. After 3 games tho of watching Fulham I’ve not seen enough to warrant having a Asset in my team.
