GAMEWEEK 7 REVIEW
Gameweek points: 56
Gameweek average: 46
Overall Points: 462
Overall rank: 432,983
Gameweek rank: 2,180,449
Free transfers remaining: 1
Transfers made: 0
Gameweek 7 finally marked my first green arrow in FPL in four Gameweeks and this came at the perfect time just before the next international break. With my Gameweek 7 score of 56 points and the average being only 46, I managed to catapult myself back up into the top 500,000 of managers in the game, moving from 666,032 overall up to 432,983 an increase in rank of 233,089. The international break brings another unwelcomed pause in Premier league action but does give us FPL managers a bit of a rest bite which is appreciated. Having said that, I will still be checking if the players I own are not injured playing for their countries and will be looking at my plan for the next few Gameweeks. Gameweek 8 is also a time where some managers may again look to wildcard, while I am not currently thinking of doing this (but never say never) I will be releasing a draft for a Gameweek 8 wildcard.
Now though onto my Gameweek review of number 7- I cannot believe we are already at this point in the season. Overall I am absolutely not complaining about a fairly large green arrow, however, if some things went a little differently it could have been even better and even if I had got my team right in terms of benching players.
In goal, while Dean Henderson did not get a clean sheet in Crystal Palaces’ 1-0 defeat to Liverpool, he did haul me three points- better than I thought. I was concerned Liverpool could put 3 three or four past Palace- and on a different day they could have- but I will take his three Gameweek 7 points. Trent Alexander-Arnold once again picked up a clean sheet and two bonus points in the same game against Crystal Palace although I am still looking for him to return more in an attacking sense he has been a really solid pick and continues to tick over nicely, this week with eight points. But for 7 million I am hoping for a little more from him. Elsewhere at the back the positives were that Lucas Digne finally returned with a clean sheet and two bonus points against Manchester United in the 0-0 draw- hauling me 8 points, a very nice week. However, Tottenham’s collapse from 2-0 up against Brighton at halftime to losing 3-2 killed me a bit with Pedro Porro only scoring one point due to Spurs conceding three goals.
In the midfield, I will start with the one shining light as with Salah and Haaland both blanking my captains armband going on Bryan Mbeumo felt justified as he scored eight points, doubled to 16 points as my captain this Gameweek from scoring his penalty against Wolves. However, as Brentford scored five goals I was hoping that he would have at least got another attacking return but it was not to be this week.
Elsewhere, Mohamed Salah, Harvey Barnes and Morgan Rogers all only notched three points from the playing points and one point for a clean sheet with their respective teams so this week was far from ideal in midfield. Finally, Emilie Smith Rowe was benched against Manchester City and came on as a sub for one point, all the more frustrating as Wout Faes, my first player on the bench this week, kept a clean sheet against Bournemouth with Leicster- so could have added five extra points to my score. While I am a little concerned about the returns, especially with Smith Rowe being benched I do think that he will come back in as it looked like Fulham simply went with a more defensive strategy against Manchester City and unfortunately he was the player to miss out. I fully expect him to be back in the starting 11 next time around. Having said that, if his minutes are now a risk there are other options I will look at around his price point such as Antoine Semenyo of Bournemouth at 5.7.
The forwards once again were a mixed bag too, very much summing up this Gameweek of a good one which could have been a great one. Kai Havertz continued his fine home scoring form at the Emirates with the equaliser against Southampton notching eight points as he also received two bonus points. Erling Haaland however blanked with just two points for the second Gameweek in a row. While it is Erling Haaland and we have seen him go through mini goal or attacking return droughts before I do hope it does not last too much longer as his price tag now of 15.4 is too high if he continues to blank but I have full faith he will return again soon.
Overall I’m pretty happy with the Gameweek, there will always be things in hindsight I could have done differently but a green arrow was the goal this week and that is exactly what I got. I will say though I do think it will be time soon to sell either Salah or Haaland to free up some funds with other more budget premiums and players in the points. As a Liveerpool fan selling Salah from my team is hard but the money it frees up will most likely improve my team so it will most likely be him who gives way but I will wait on this for a couple more weeks at least.