Open Thread: GW8
Rashford is back and Ward-Prowse is out
We’re getting straight into the questions and answers bit with a number of discussion which first popped off over in the Bang Average Pod slack. I, too, am surprised that’s a thing but it really is and the #draftFPL channel is lively.
In this super bantam weight matchup of slight of build, massive in Germany, struggling this season attacking players, everyone is currently losing. Havertz returned from COVID-19 and helped lift the UCL trophy with Chelsea but this has done nawt, NAWT!, for fantasy managers. Sancho’s underlying stats have been massive in his limited minutes but Ole Gunner Solskjaer has seen fit to hand the Englishman just two league appearances fo 65+ minutes.
Each now faces additional competition as Timo Werner has found his scoring boot for club and country, while Marcus Rashford is fit and has already been announced as part of Manchester United’s Saturday squad.
Neither of them have been remotely useful in Official FPL, they’ve both been less than useful in draft formats where managers are compelled to start them when either starts a Premier League match, suffering from regular returns under 5pts. Kai has been the better of the two which is impressive given that he’s level 17th on the club in expected assists with 0.0. Even Hakim Ziyech (0.1) has a positive return there. I documented my love of Sancho earlier this week, pointing to his Shot Creating Actions / 90’ which are in the top 10 in the EPL. I can’t possibly justify rostering both at the moment, but if forced to choose one I’ll take an under-used and under-appreciated Jadon Sancho who is getting it done when given the chance despite OGS failing to put him in a position to succeed.
Build Yourself A Palace
Conor Gallagher (13 PPM) and Wilfried Zaha (8.71) have been getting it done for FPL managers in the early going, but we’ve all been waiting to see the full-strength Eagles’ side. That may be just around the corner with news breaking this week that Eberchi Eze is closer to a return than expected.
Manager Patrick Vieira has confirmed the winger is training but has declined to put a timetable on the return. That doesn’t matter; the fact Eze is training is a massive step forward after his potentially career-derailing injury last term. Together with new arrivals Odsonne Edouard and Michael Olise, Eze’s return would bolster a side long reliant on the singular brilliance of Zaha. Ownership numbers for these players is still low with Olise (51%) and Ese (31%) the best likelihood of a free agent add ahead of this weekend. Edouard (59%) has seen steady increase despite bad, real bad, FPL returns since scoring a brace off the bench against Spurs in mid-September.
Let’s get after it - I’ll try to answer every question asked before matches kick off. If you haven’t grabbed a subscription yet, you’ve missed the last two articles this week so grab one before you leave a comment.
Q: Hey gaffer...I currently have a defence of Ricardo Pereira, Maguire, Marcal and Cooper in my 12 team fantrax league
... With Maguire out for sometime...I might be forced to play 2 defenders if riccyP doesn't doesn't start... Tried shipping him out but no one wants him...is he droppable to bring in a streamer?
A: Maguire is back training on grass, so I expect he'll be back in the XI in two weeks or so. That doesn't help much, especially since I wouldn't want to start him against Man City in early November in any case. Ricardo is droppable if you need to stream; I love his game but this Foxes side isn't right and his FPL value is fully nerfed until the ship is righted. That leaves him on the outside of the DEF top 20 and anyone out in that wilderness needs to know their number can be called at any time to make room for a warm body and the promise of 6-8 points.
Hey John are we dropping Zouma? Not produced much in fantrax scoring and the fixtures arent greating going forward thinking about opening up a roster spot for him.