GW 29 turned out to be a reasonably high scoring week with quite a lot of ups and downs. On Saturday, Swansea thrashed the Hammers with four goals while Spurs and Liverpool sealed their respective games with two goals each.
Arsenal were defeated yet again and Etihad saw a low-scoring encounter between Man City and the Blues. The Monday night fixture of United vs Palace saw a 91st minute screamer by Matic favouring the Reds for a 3-2 victory. We know look at some lessons learnt this week from an FPL point of view.
Salah outscores Kane yet again.
Mohamed Salah continues to deliver once again for both, Liverpool and his huge FPL ownership. On the other hand, the one million plus fantasy managers who handed Harry Kane with their armband were left disappointed.
The Egyptian beat Kane both for popularity and yet again for points, but it could have been more emphatic had a late penalty appeal gone in Salah’s favour.
Salah, incredibly, has now blanked in just one of his last 11 gameweek starts but once again failed to grab bonus points at the weekend. However, the Egyptian is now well over 50 points than any other player in FPL.
Alex- Oxlade Chamberlain marked his third successive start by setting up Salah’s opener, making it back-to-back assists for the Enlgishman. He is continuing to adapt well to life at Liverpool and has been involved in seven goals over his last 11 starts.
Roberto Firmino failed to score this week but kept his 42% ownership quite happy assisting Sadio Mane’s clincher.
Liverpool’s three-pronged attack delivered again making a very strong case for blank gameweek 31 investment. Also, managers who went with the Reds’ defensive were rewarded with a third clean sheet in five matches.
City strike gold against an ultra-defensive Chelsea.
Embed from Getty ImagesThe big game of the weekend at Etihad saw the league leaders beat the Champions emphatically. Raheem Sterling missed out once again while City’s differentials delivered for fantasy managers.
Bernardo Silva got the winner and was assisted by playmaker David Silva- both are owned by 1.5% and 8.2% managers respectively. That makes it two goals and an assist in four gameweeks for Bernardo Silva, while David produced his first assist since gameweek 12 and now has 9 for the season.
On the other hand, the two FPL favourites and City firepowers, Sergio Aguero and Kevin de Bruyne blanked at the weekend. The Argentine had just one shot and has now failed to score in three of his last four fixtures.
City face United and Spurs in Gameweeks 33 and 34 and Aguero owners planning to wildcard the week before should now think again over holding on to the striker. However, City face Brighton at home in gameweek 34 but with the title wrapped up by then and Gabriel Jesus fit again, Guardiola will be far more liberal with his rotation.
Embed from Getty ImagesComing to City’s backline, Nicolas Otamendi was sold by 150,000+ FPL managers the last two weeks and has produced back-to-back clean sheets over that period. He was partnered by Aymeric Laporte as Vincent Kompany was dropped out.
Things get slightly complicated for City post their gameweek 31 blank. A visit to Goodison Park precedes their Champions League quarter-finals, with vital domestic matches against United and Spurs following each league of the CL tie. As a result, gameweek 32 could be a rotation hot spot.
As I end my piece here, I would like to give some general advice which could probably help many readers. Managers looking for some Blank GW 32 players should monitor Huddersfield and Bournemouth assets with Van la Parra, Schindler, Ake, King looking good recently from the lot. For the captaincy options this week, I currently favour Kane over Salah because of some dangerous tactics Mourinho could play over the weekend. Hazard, De Bruyne and Aguero too remain good options for the armband with favourable fixtures. I wish you all the very best for gameweek 30 and may your arrows always be green.
Written by Nekzad Bajan (@nekzaDd)
