Liverpool vs. Bournemouth
Liverpool recovered from a poor start to beat a decent Bournemouth side at Anfield on Saturday and the FPL points were shared among the popular assets.
Mohamed Salah was probably the go to captain this week; however he returned just five points, scoring a rebound of his missed penalty.
Excluding the penalty and it’s rebound, Salah created less than 0.5 XG, with only one real other chance of note.
Owners have to decide whether to cash in on the Egyptian ahead of a few difficult fixtures, especially with so many mid range options starting the season so well.
Diogo Jota claimed the most points in the same, scoring one and assisting another, with Luis Diaz scoring for a second consecutive match.
Defensively Liverpool were once again shaky, with Trent Alexander Arnold sustaining an injury in the second period.
Wolves vs. Brighton
Once again our under priced Brighton assets returned brilliantly, with Solly March, Kaoru Mitoma and Pervis Estupinan all with two contributions each.
Both Mitoma and Estupinan are heavily owned; however March’s start to the campaign has gone under the radar and the winger remains around 7% owned.
They entertain West Ham United next and their record against the Hammers is superb, unbeaten in all 12 matches since the Seagulls were promoted to the Premier League.
Brighton then go on a relatively tough run, with Europa League also a factor, so GW3 represents the last real chance to buy their options.
Wolves were once again wasteful in front of goal and only Manchester United have under-performed their XG more than Gary O’Neil’s men.
Tottenham vs. Manchester United
Manchester United’s attacking options blanked for a second consecutive fixture and a return of just one goal from 4.42 XG is desperately poor.
Marcus Rashford (0.75) and Bruno Fernandes (0.77) were the biggest culprits in Saturday’s loss to Tottenham.
Same managers own both United midfielders and there must be a real urge to offload, even before a favourable home game against Nottingham Forest in GW3.
As for Tottenham, they recovered well after a slow start and deserved the victory. Once again there wasn’t a return for any of their well owned attacking options and James Maddison was pictured leaving the ground on crutches.
Pape Sarr scored his first Tottenham goal in the win and could prove to be the enabling midfielder this season, coming in at just £4.5m.
Manchester City vs. Newcastle United
Manchester City controlled the game for long periods and deserved the victory, but they were comfortably short of their free flowing best.
They created just 1.23XG in the win, with Erling Haaland producing a rare Etihad blank, with Newcastle restricting him to just four shots.
Phil Foden produced a man of the match performance and he will be high on most managers watch list for the upcoming weeks.
Him and Julian Alvarez combined for the only goal and with limited striker options, the Argentine at £6.5m represents a real cheap route into the City side.
Defensively Manchester City were excellent, with Newcastle failing to create a chance higher than 0.06XG in the game.
As a Nathan Ake owner it was a frustrating game for him to sit out and having the right Manchester City defensive option is key ahead of a nice run of games.
West Ham vs. Chelsea
Chelsea embark on an incredibly favourable run of games from GW3; however most of their assets disappointed once again in defeat to West Ham.
The heavily purchased Ben Chilwell returned just one point and was surprisingly subbed around the hour mark.
Nicolas Jackson has shown promise early on in his Chelsea career, however has back to back one point showings for his worth. He only had one real chance of note in the West Ham loss, but will be heavily purchased going into Luton Town next week.
Raheem Sterling produced a much better performance and would have had an assist return had Enzo Fernandez not missed a vital penalty with the scores level at 1-1.
Should Fernandez have converted the spot kick, at 5.0m he would have been an excellent budget option, but the appeal might have decreased with it unlikely he remains the penalty taker for the Blues.
Crystal Palace vs. Arsenal
Gabriel was omitted once again from the Arsenal XI, a real blow to owners of the popular FPL asset. This time Arsenal kept a clean sheet and the swing between Gabriel and William Saliba is a big 11 points already.
The other main talking point from the game was the fact Martin Odegaard stepped up from the spot, a decision made on the field according to Mikel Arteta, much to the disappointment of Bukayo Saka owners.
Saka and Gabriel Martinelli registered 0.37 XG between them and for a second consecutive week looked short of an FPL haul.
Fulham is up next for Arsenal meaning both are a hold, but given the numerous midfield options this season, soon it could be time to offload either.
Elsewhere
£4.0m keeper Matt Turner found his way into a good amount of starting XI’s this week and owners were perhaps unlucky not to have a clean sheet to show for it.
Gustavo Hamer’s goal for Sheffield United came in at just 0.02 XG and it took a screamer to beat the American keeper, who performed well for Nottingham Forest.
The Bryan Mbuemo train shows no sign of coming to a halt, returning a superb 16 points in Brentford’s 3-0 win over Fulham.
Two spot-kicks in as many games was added to by a tap-in late on and he’s proving to be the £6.5m option of choice.
Aston Villa thrashed Everton 4-0 on Sunday; however there was no feast for Ollie Watkins owners, who returned just five points.
Watkins won a first half penalty, but Douglas Luiz stepped up to convert from 12 yards.
