Review of Game Week 5

GW Points: 42
Overall Points: 271
Overall Rank: 90,542
Transfers: None used

Game week 5 was probably one of the worst weeks I’ve ever had in the competition. I’d been debating going for Hazard during the entire international break. I opted not to in the end as it also had its drawbacks. Ultimately it was going to cost me two transfers and weaken my defence. I thought the worst case scenario was that Hazard might get two goals but I could live with that. What I didn’t expect was a hat trick (only the second of his Chelsea career). This cost me a huge number of positions on the overall leaderboard. It also wasn’t the only thing to go against me this week (more details below). However the bottom line is it has been a truly awful game week with a drop of around 65,000 places on the leaderboard. Considering I went into the game week with a team that had guided me to 25,000 on the leaderboard during the first 4 weeks I didn’t think there was a huge rush to make any changes.

Positives:

Hart had an encouraging performance for Burnley. Had they kept a clean sheet he could have possibly been on for star man and I understand that he kept them in the game at times.

It was good to see Shaw back in the starting line up for Man Utd and picking up 8 points with a clean sheet.

A goal from Silva was a positive after a very quiet weekend of point scoring.

Where it went wrong:

Robertson and Van Dijk were denied a clean sheet against Spurs at the very end of the game. Bitterly disappointing after deciding to keep Van Dijk. They didn’t manage a clean sheet against PSG but that was to be expected.

Mendy missed out on a clean sheet after picking up an injury. Had news of an injury broke before kick off I’d have almost certainly swapped him for Laporte. This cost me 8 points at the weekend.

Pedro appeared to have a decent game in the Europa League, had he converted one of his chances he looked certain to take the star man award from Willian.

Across 6 games to not get a goal from Kane, Salah or Aguero was a huge blow. These are the player I’ve invested in to make a difference to my team. I’d put the lack of success on the leaderboard down to these players not firing this week.

Hazard getting a hat trick with high ownership cost me massively.

Potential Issues:

Potential injuries to Mendy and Pedro.

Not having Hazard in the team.

Tips for Game Week 6

Looking forward to game week 6, I’m still having the same dilemma as last week. Do I go for Hazard or not. The decision not to bring him in last week was based on the lack of European football, as I imagined he might be rested. Ultimately this cost me, however it still remains a valid point as there is another round of European fixtures before the end of the month. It’s also worth noting that Hazard has had his easiest game of the month against Cardiff. On the flip side, he may well be one of the highest scoring players across the season despite the lack of additional fixtures so regardless he could be essential going forward. My plan for the remaining transfers is to hold fire for now. I’d like to see if Mendy and Pedro are likely to be available at the weekend before deciding who to take out. Ideally I want to use the fact that I’ve got transfers remaining to my advantage. Fixtures coming up at the weekend may also play out to my advantage:

Cardiff V Man City
Brighton V Spurs
Liverpool V Southampton
Man Utd V Wolves
West Ham V Chelsea
Arsenal V Everton

I plan to retain Kane, Salah and Aguero. I’m also leaning towards getting Hazard in to avoid falling further behind as it’s hard to imagine him not being a huge scorer this season. If Mendy doesn’t start and B. Silva does against Cardiff, my transfers could well be:

Mendy out, Laporte in
Van Dijk out, Maddison in
Pedro out, Hazard in

With only two game weeks left this isn’t such a huge risk but I still think it could go either way. I wouldn’t be surprised to see Liverpool keep a clean sheet against Southampton. However if Mendy and Pedro weren’t to feature due to injury it could be a good chance to pick up some points. I appreciate it’s based on a lot of “ifs” but if Mendy and Pedro don’t play I could be looking at:

Mendy: DNP 0 points
Van Dijk: 8 points
Pedro: DNP 0 points

Laporte: 8 points
Maddison/Hazard: Should both play so anything they score would be a bonus

It appears so easy when it’s written down before hand but it could easily backfire. Liverpool may keep a clean sheet but City may not for example and Hazard and Maddison could draw a blank. Pedro could then play on Sunday and score. However I think the bigger risk is Hazard getting a couple against West Ham and Maddison scoring against Huddersfield. Whatever I decide to do, if my luck is out you can be sure it will go the other way but I’ll be sure to post my changes up before they are made.

As always, feel free to share your own progress in game week 1 below, suggest any players to look out for or provide any other useful comments below.

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