GW Points: 121
Overall Points: 733
Overall Rank: 451
Game week 7 was another successful week, the team dropped slightly on the leaderboard, however, this was by less than 100 places. It’s still holding a very good position despite being let down by Casemiro, who had an awful first week in my team. I was also really disappointed that Saka didn’t take Arsenal’s penalties. A hat trick would have really projected my team higher on the leaderboard considering how many people took him out based on his injury risk. Overall I’m delighted with how my season has started and I don’t see any reason to change my approach to the game for the time being. It’s also worth considering that most of the people above me on the leaderboard have also played boosters, whereas I’ve not used any yet. I don’t see a reason to rush into using them either when I’m already so high up.
Here is my breakdown of each player:
Sanchez – another clean sheet, should rise in value, has a favourable fixture and is the second highest keeper on the game. Absolutely stays in my team.
Saliba – 9 points was a half decent week but I’d hoped he would keep two clean sheets. After an injury scare, it was just good to see him start at the weekend though. Probably stays in but Arsenal do have tough fixtures ahead.
Colwill – delighted with another 12 points from a 2.7m player. Chelsea have a good fixture this week so I’ll hold him for now and take the price rise. Remarkably he’s the 6th highest scoring defender yet his overall value has only gone up by 0.2m. Stays in my team.
Cash – happy with 11 points overall from the game week. Annoying that he didn’t start in Europe again but can’t argue with 11 points from a 3m player regardless of this. Stays in my team.
Saka – glad I risked it and kept Saka in my team. 14 points is a decent return despite him having to come off injured in the Champions League. Will monitor this situation and may take him out if he’s a doubt for the weekend.
Ward-Prowse – very happy with 16 points for Ward-Prowse in his first game week in my team. Good swap for Eze he didn’t score as many points and is now injured. Stays in my team.
Casemiro – disastrous start in my team, another sending off after Rodri did the same last week. Only 3 points, I’m thinking he has to come out.
Fernandes – 9 points wasn’t great but he will consistently keep picking up points. I’ve probably got bigger problems with Casemiro and a potential injury to Saka to worry too much about Fernandes at the moment.
Haaland – stays in for the season unless he gets injured despite a quiet week.
Salah – 6 points is a poor return given Salah’s value but he is still the third highest scoring striker. Stays in my team.
Alvarez – another really good week for Alvarez, 20 points despite being on the bench midweek. Highest scoring striker and due another rise. Stays in my team.
Player watchlist
Trippier – I’m trying to ignore him as I don’t like his price tag but he’s now scoring well every week which causes a problem. Having said that, we do need some perspective. Someone like Colwill is worth half his value and we don’t have an unlimited budget. If we made every else equal and doubled Colwill’s value and his points, he’d actually be ahead of Trippier so on a points-per-million basis Colwill is adding more value to the team currently. On this basis, I don’t see Trippier as ‘essential’, especially considering that I’ve not owned him so far this season and I’m still doing well. Despite this, he still needs to be considered.
Maddison – as I’m looking for a replacement for Casemiro, Maddison seems an obvious choice with Luton to play at the weekend.
Son – I’d love to get Son in for the Luton game at the weekend but Salah is the only one I could take out. I’m not sure if I fancy the risk.
Walker – is getting a lot of game time at City and is their highest scoring defender but realistically he’s still only on 44 points. Could kick on if City keep more clean sheets but I’m unsure about him at the moment.
Foden – appears to be hitting a patch of form with 15 points this week but as players come back from injury I’m wondering if he will be a rotation risk.
Odegaard – continues to consistently score well. At his price tag, I’d struggle to have both him and Saka but we will see if Saka is injured or not first.
Nunez – was on my watch list last week and I watched him pick up 2 points this week – glad I didn’t bring him in but will continue to monitor him due to those easier Europa League fixtures.
Plan for game week 8
As with most weeks, I’m going to need to check for injury news in the press conferences on players such as Saka. Other than that, with it being a single game week, I’m likely to take a punt on Maddison for Casemiro. Casemiro should drop in value, I’m not sure Maddison will rise but making the transfer should at least prevent the team from losing value. I also really like the look of Spurs facing Luton. Until we know more about Saka, I’m not sure what I’ll do with my second transfer. If Saka is out, I could potentially swap to Trippier for a week but I can see West Ham scoring in that game. I don’t really fancy bringing in Odegaard with Arsenal playing City. For the same reason, I don’t really want to bring in Foden or Walker for such a difficult fixture. I’d love to bring Son in but this would mean taking out Haaland or Salah – very risky. I’ll have to come back to this one later today or tomorrow morning as I’m stuck at the moment while we wait for further injury news.