Review of Game Week 4

GW Points: 144
Overall Points: 485
Overall Rank: 3,175

Overall I’m delighted with the game week and the season so far. I managed to half my position on the overall leaderboard and jump up to nearly within the top 3,000 which is a fantastic position to be in considering I’ve been focussing on team value a lot. The big highlight of the game week for me was Digne getting two starts and instant returns. Really good result for a punt on a differential that I only really picked for the 0.3m price rise. My other cheap players also continued to do well with Smith-Rowe and Rogers scoring 8 and 9 points. Can’t ask for much more than that from players worth less than 3m. I was also delighted with 20+ return from Eze, however, he’s got fairly high ownership so wouldn’t make a huge difference. The only real frustration for the game week was Diaz only picking up 4 points. He was the other player I bought in to build team value and may need to come straight out as he could drop significantly.  

Here is my breakdown of each player:

McCarthy – if he was playing I’d stick with him as 4 points from 1 game is OK for a very cheap goalkeeper. Unfortunately, he’s not so will have to come out this week or next.

Robinson – another consistent 6 points from Robinson. I’m not in a major rush to move him out but without double game weeks, he’s probably going to have to go at some point.

Gvardiol – he was on the chopping block after not starting against Brentford but he picked up 10 points against Inter so is now not a priority to transfer out this week.

Digne – brilliant returns from a punt on Digne. Still don’t see him as a long term option but he stays in for the price rise this week. Good to be ahead of the curve for once as I’m a very safe player normally who usually just misses out on performances like this.

Diaz – can’t see 4 points being enough for Diaz not to drop. Probably a transfer out. 

Saka – 3 points in the Champions League wasn’t ideal but hopefully, he doesn’t lose value. Stays in my team. 

Eze – fantastic 24 points, stays in my team for the time being but conscious of only having single game weeks.

Smith-Rowe – I planned to move Smith-Rowe on after this week but he’s performed well again. I may hold for another week.

Rogers – 9 points isn’t an awful return from Rogers, happy to hold with another double game week coming up. Frustratingly, it was a toss-up between Rogers and Onana when I bought Rogers in and Onana has gone on to perform very well so I’ve missed out on points there despite Rogers doing OK for me.

Haaland – another typical Haaland performance, stays in my team and probably captain every week.

Salah – 9 points not great from Salah and he could drop in value. I’m not tempted to take him out at the moment with Bournemouth coming up at the weekend though.

Player watchlist

Garnacho – almost certain to rise by the full 0.3m and could get a good run of games now. Can always hop back off him if this doesn’t work out.

Onana – still a good option but would probably only swap him for Rogers. Which isn’t a transfer I’m going to be able to make this week.

Rashford – another risky one but simply an option for a price rise. Question marks over his consistency so may not last in the team long.

Watkins – appeared to come off in the Champions League with a knock but apparently he’s OK. Still a slight risk with Duran looking lively anyway but he’s another that should go up in value. Don’t see him playing twice this week though.

Tielemans – should go up in value and has been performing well. Not sure I want to go too heavy on Villa players though.

Dalot – performed well last season and had a good game week. Will probably want to see more consistency from Man Utd before bringing in any of their defenders.

Szoboszlai – could be a good option to retain Liverpool coverage if Diaz comes out. Has been scoring well so far.

Timber – solid game week and should rise in value, if he was a certain starter week in week out he would be a great way into the Arsenal team but there are massive questions marks over this.

Alexander-Arnold – hard to ignore but very expensive. Not sure I can justify bringing him in just yet.

Martinez – I’m going to need a new keeper at some point. Martinez is the cheapest who will be starting in Europe. 

Plan for game week 5

There are a lot of options this week and I’ve not really settled on what I’m going to do just yet. I’m definitely going to take Diaz out as I don’t want a big price drop. In terms of who I bring in, it will either be Garnacho, Rashford, Watkins or Szoboszlai. They’ve all got their pros and cons and it will largely come down to luck in terms of which one does best over the next week or two but I’ll put a bit more thought into it before making a decision. I could then lose Smith-Rowe and bring in two of the 4 names mentioned above. Or I could lose McCarthy now and being in a different keeper. I’ve got until 11am tomorrow to decide so I’ll either lock this in later this evening or in the morning.