GW Points: 139
Overall Points: 225
Overall Rank: 8,369
Very good game week 2, a big rise on the overall leaderboard and decent points across the board for my team. Ironically Gvardiol was my lowest scoring player – someone who I transferred in. Hard to predict that City would fail to keep a clean sheet against Ipswich. Can’t complain though as my other transfer paid off with Smith-Rowe grabbing 10 points. Very happy with that from a cheap enabler. Fulham also have a good fixture coming up against Ipswich before the International break as well. It always takes time for the leaderboard to settle down at the start of the season but I’m actually ahead of where I was this time last season so fingers crossed the good fortune continues.
Here is my breakdown of each player:
McCarthy – happy with 5 points considering he’s only valued at 1.5m. Should get a price rise this week but will soon need replacing with Ramsdale coming in.
Robinson – very happy with 9 points from a 3m defender. Robinson has been a good pick so far proving that referring to last season’s stats is a good starting point for team selections.
Gvardiol – I wrongly assumed City would be a banker for a clean sheet against Ipswich. I still benefited from the price rise but Porro scored more so I’d have been better off sticking with him. Will hold Gvardiol for now, but I’ve got my eye on him in terms of rotation as well.
Burn – 6 points isn’t great considering Burn started in the cup as well. Will be looking to move him on at some point but probably not this week.
Guimaraes – has done exactly what I thought he would do – consistently pick up bonus points. Shame he didn’t get more in the cup game. Newcastle haven’t made the best start so I’ll probably look to move him on this week with their fixtures getting harder now.
Saka – decent 8 points away at Villa. Stays in my team.
Eze – slow start to the week but came good in the EFL Cup. I was going to take him out instead of Guimaraes but I’ll keep now for the price rise.
Smith-Rowe – very happy with 10 points from a 2.5m punt. Stays in my team for the Ipswich game at least.
Haaland – typical Haaland performance, stays in my team.
Isak – managed a double figure return but still not quite done enough across two games to convince me to keep him. Will come out this week.
Salah – happy with 11 points from Salah. Stays in my team.
Player watchlist
Palmer – I wasn’t sure he would keep up his form from last season instantly but he appears to be proving me wrong.
Madueke – very much a bandwagon player but he will go up in value. Should start against Palace and then has an easy EFL Cup fixture against Barrow after the International break. Don’t see him as a long term option.
Diaz – had a very good game week. Personally I’ll probably go Palmer but Diaz looking a good option. Could face rotation though.
Onana/Rogers – I’ve picked these two out for similar reasons. Villa have good fixtures and both look promising for points. Not sure I’m sold on either yet but if I bring Palmer in, I’ll need a 3.5m or below player.
Alexander-Arnold – scored well again but is expensive. I went with Gvardiol instead but need to monitor the situation.
Foden – won’t be bringing him in this week but will be monitoring when he’s likely to be starting games.
Porro – despite only just taking him out, he might be worth looking at in the future as I can see him scoring well across the season.
Mainoo – picked up good bonus points again but probably won’t bring him in against Liverpool.
Jota – if he stays fit and starting for Liverpool, he could hit a big score this season.
Saliba – I’m not sure I’ll ever have the budget to get him in but Arsenal look very solid at the back.
Plan for game week 3
I’ll wait until the press conferences are done tomorrow before I make a final decision but at the moment I’m thinking I need to get Palmer in. I’m fairly set on taking Isak and Guimaraes out, neither have been awful but they’ve had decent fixtures and haven’t quite reached the heights I’d hoped they’d reach. Their fixtures now also get more difficult so I’m happy to lose them. If I go for Palmer, I’m going to need a 3.5m player or below. At this stage I’d be happy going for Mainoo if he had a good fixture at the weekend but he doesn’t. This basically leaves me with Madueke, Rogers or Onana. We know Madueke will get the full price rise and should play against Palace but I don’t see him as a long term option. Rogers seems like a good player but this hasn’t translated into points yet – Villa do have good fixtures coming up though so it could be a risk worth taking. Onana has scored more points and again would get the good fixture run so another worth considering. I’ll ponder on this for another 24 hours or so.