GW Points: 152
Overall Points: 740
Overall Rank: 7,231
Really frustrating game week, I remained fairly stable on the overall leaderboard in a decent position given where we are in the season but my transfers cost me points again. Ironically it’s been the Diaz in-and-out transfer that has really done damage in the past 2 weeks and it just shows how unpredictable the game can be. Across the 2 weeks, I’m 22 points worse off. The logic was that Rashford was due to rise and had good fixtures so I bought him in for Diaz who was due to drop – of course, Rashford had a poor week and Diaz scored big. As a result, I thought maybe I was too hasty to bring Rashford in given Man Utd’s form and decided to correct my “mistake” from the previous week. Rashford then outscores Diaz which is just typical but it does show that maybe my logic wasn’t too far off the week before. I also got the captain choice wrong this week but that really does come down to luck between Haaland and Salah. Beyond this, I’ve been fairly happy with how the team has performed so far this season.
Here is my breakdown of each player:
McCarthy – has to come out, might do it this week.
Robinson – good 9 points for Robinson, will probably keep him for the price rise and remove after.
Gvardiol – very happy with 22 points from Gvardiol, he stays in my team.
Alexander-Arnold – stays in. Good return of 11 points.
Tielemans – not an awful start with 9 points for a bit of an enabler.
Saka – fantastic 25 points, stays in my team.
Eze – 5 points isn’t the worst result from Eze but I may now take him out due to having less fixtures.
Rogers – happy with 12 points from Rogers. Stays in my team.
Diaz – Really not happy with 6 points from Diaz but there’s probably other players that need to come out this week.
Haaland – stays in my team and probably captain every week.
Salah – brilliant 25 points but felt like a bad result as others will have captained him.
Player watchlist
Palmer – 4 goals make him hard to ignore but it’s not an easy decision given that he’s not in Chelsea’s European squad. Extra games don’t always means more points though.
Lewis – I considered him earlier in the season but overlooked him due to concerns about game time but he keeps getting picked and bagging points.
Maddison – had he started in the Europa League I’d almost certainly be putting him in. He didn’t so I’m less keen.
Johnson – certain to rise in value but not sure if he’s a good long term option.
Solanke – seems to have hit some point scoring form, good cheaper option for a striker.
Calafiori – a good cheap way into the Arsenal backline. I’m unsure who is first choice longer term between Calafiori, Timber and White though.
Porro – had another good game week and continues to consistently pick up points.
Havertz – difficult to just ignore his current points total but I lack faith in him being a massive scorer across the season.
Dalot/Mazraoui – continuing to monitor both.
Vicario/Martinez – I need a new keeper – potentially this week. Either one of these two could be a good choice at a similar price due to European fixtures.
Henderson – a good option given his points to date but I’m put off by the fact that he will go down in value this week and plays Liverpool.
Plan for game week 7
Game week 7 is another one of those weeks where everything is a bit awkward. I’d like to take out McCarthy and Eze but there are no obvious replacements. I’m tempted by Martinez but this only leaves 3.5m in the bank for my second transfer. This could be Calafiori or someone like Trossard but I’m not convinced he’s a good long term option. Calafiori could also become a problem longer term if he gets rotated. Another option is to opt for a cheaper goalkeeper in someone like Flekken – who shouldn’t drop in value. This would free up funds to turn Eze into Johnson, Lewis or Solanke. The advantage here is that someone like Johnson leaves 0.7m in the bank to upgrade Robinson next week without needing to worry too much about taking a big name out. Another option would be swap Diaz and Eze for Palmer and Johnson but I’m still stuck with McCarthy and next to nothing in the bank to upgrade both him and Robinson next week. Also there’s nothing to say Diaz won’t score well against Palace. I’m really torn on these options at the moment so I’ll make a decision later today or in the morning.