Yikes. A bad week with a score 5 below average and a significant red arrow (-177k). Main culprits this week were Sterling and Martial, who did not manage to return to fitness and play, forcing me to play Lunny for the 3rd consecutive week, this time against Chelsea. Another shocking United performance also saw Wanny-B return a meager 2 points, while King remains uninterested in scoring goals. I’ll be evaluating each of my players performances individually.

Goalkeepers

Nick Pope: 2 points

I have nothing but patience and appreciation for the pope. A game against the second most potent attack in the league obviously would not let him get a clean sheet, but once again he was excellent on saves, and was only one away from getting an additional point.

Michael McGovern: 0 points

Didn’t play.

Defenders

Virgil van Dijk: 7 points

A clean and a bap. Finally. Liverpool bank their first clean of the season, and kept Burnley relatively quiet on the expected goals front. Hopefully this is the turning point for them, and we’ll get what we paid for with these premium defenders.

Oleksandr Zinchenko: 6 points

Well would ya look at that, both City and Liverpool managed a clean sheet in the same week. Worryingly, Laporte hobbled off early with what looked to be a long-term injury, which obviously would have a negative effect on City’s clean sheet probability, as Otamendi and Stones aren’t quite as comfortable in possession as the frenchman. This does however make Otamendi (5.4) a very appealing option going forward, as unlike Zinchenko, he faces almost no risk of rotation.

Lucas Digne: 5 points

He can do no wrong. Clean sheets were gone early doors, but Digne once again proved his worth by delivering a delicious cross for Richarlison to tuck away. The somewhat fortunate late red to Willy Boly (5.0) allowed Digne to sneak a bappé. He’s the second highest scoring defender, with two cleans and two assists in 4 weeks. Need I say more?

John Lundstram: 1 point

The minuteman Lunny is called upon once again at the last minute, this time in a very unfavorable fixture. He returned one measly point, but its one measly point more than Martial got me. Cheers John, back to the bench you go.

Aaron Wan-Bissaka: 2 points

I am a big dumb idiot. I will admit, I got fully caught up in the hype here, being blinded by the red arrows that not owning the ever-so-popular Manchester United players brought, I got two in. Wanny-B himself is a class footballer, but the club is just rotten to the core. Another miserable performance makes me want to show Wan the door, as the next few fixtures don’t really suggest many cleans anyways.

Midfielders

Mohamed Salah: 6 points

Quiet day at the office for Moham, but still managed to bag an assist. He was widely criticized for his selfish play on the weekend, refusing to pass to Mane and taking a harder shot for himself leads me to believe he has himself in his own FPL team. Love to see it, keep on hogging the ball mate.

Raheem Sterling (C): 3 points

Ouch. The first blank from Raz frustratingly came in a 4-0 demolition. He looked a bit off pace in the last game, but it seems like its finally caught up to him. That being said, he easily could have had an assist on the day if David Silva could hit a barn door. Lets hope Sterling finds that killer instinct again, sooner rather than later.

Kevin de Bruyne: 13 points

I had the armband on Kevin until Thursday. Sometimes its just better to go with your gut than to choose a captain to protect your rank, and this was one of those times. Kevin once again has looked sharp and involved in absolutely everything. Truly essential, and now a bit more viable as a captaincy option in my eyes.

Anthony Martial: 0

As previously mentioned, I am a big dumb idiot. As I was about to be priced out by the Barkley drop that never ended up happening (thank you FPLStatistics…) I took the ill advised decision to bring in Tony before he even played. He got hurt in the 90th minute, because of course he did. Benching him led to a big drop in my rank, and he probably wont be in my team much longer, injured or not.

Leander Dendoncker: 2 points

A thrilling match for Wolves got the CDM another reliable 2 points, were it not for his yellow flag, I would have played him this week. Alas, 1 entire point down the drain.

Forwards

Teemu Pukki: 2 points

A blank, alas. The Pukki party inevitably took a quick break, rather surprisingly against the defensively suspect West Ham. Supposedly, Issa Diop had the fantastic Fin in his pocket the entire match, could teams be figuring out how to keep him quiet? Anyways, I digress, you cannot be expecting the man to keep firing at the rate which he was for a long amount of time, and I fully expect him to find the back of the net again soon. Maybe after the City game though.

Josh King 2 points

Every week I come on this blog and write mean things about Josh King. At what point does it become bullying? The man just doesn’t help himself, another rubbish performance which had him less involved in goals than the right back and part time economist Adam Smith. Bournemouth as a whole had a week to forget, generating only 0.59 xG as a whole.

Mason Greenwood: 1 point

Another spectacular week for everyone’s second favorite young premier league player named Mason. He moved backwards rather than forwards in his quest for the elusive two points, playing only 6 minutes this week, despite Martial being unfit. Maybe if Rashford, Lingard and Periera are all out Ole will give the lad a chance!