Game Week 2: Knee-jerk Time
Last weekend started off with what (on paper) should have been an easy win for Leicester. However, it was Hull who came out on top. A penalty from Mahrez leveled the score after Hull went 1–0 up with superb overhead kick from Diomande. But Snodgrass’ goal in the second half won the game for The Tigers. Later that day Swansea’s Leroy Fer scored the only goal of the match as they beat Burnley. In similar fashion, Rondon was the only one to find the back of the net in West Brom’s 1–0 win over Crystal Palace. Barkley scored an early free kick for Everton against Spurs, but Spurs fought back and secured a draw with a glancing header from Lamela. Spurs dominated the second half and were unlucky not to walk away with three points. There were two more 1–1 draws on the opening day, as Negredo and Shaqiri scored when Middlesbrough hosted Stoke. Capoue and Redmond scored for Watford and Southampton respectively in the third draw of the day. The late kickoff between Man City and Sunderland saw Aguero and Defoe score before a late own goal from McNair gave City the win.
Sunday Man Utd go up against Bournemouth in Mourinho’s first game in charge of The Red Devils. Smith’s goal wasn’t enough to offset goals from Mata, Rooney, and Ibrahimovic as Man Utd won 3–1. Later on in the day Arsenal hosted Liverpool in what was anticipated to be an exciting game. A total of seven goals were scored as Liverpool won that fixture 4–3. Chambers, Walcott, and Chamberlain scored for The Gunners, while goals from Lallana, and Mane as well as a brace from Coutinho won the game for Liverpool, as they put four past an Arsenal defense which had more holes in it than the plot of Interstellar (That’s not how black holes and general relativity Work, Nolan!). Monday saw Chelsea go up against West Ham. Hazard converted a penalty and Collins scored after a corner, making it 1–1 before Costa won the game for Chelsea in the dying minutes of the match.
I’d say that the accuracy of my advice last week should be enough to gain some credibility. So let’s jump into the my picks for GW2.
1. Firmino
I’m going with the Brazilian again. WIth Sturridge potentially being out of Liverpool’s match vs Burnley, I can see Firmino claiming the position of striker as his own. Klopp named him as the player of the preseason. I think it’s only a matter of time before he starts banging in the goals. Firmino took the most total shots out of all the Liverpool players vs Arsenal, and the most within the box. He’s a terrific attacking threat.
Liverpool face Burnley this week and their defense is (to put it lightly) shoddy. Last week, they allowed a rather lackluster Swansea team to have 17 shots throughout the game, a number only beaten by Leicester’s 18 and Southampton’s 24. Swansea also had the second highest number of shots in the box, beaten only by Liverpool.
We’ve seen that Burnley’s defense allow teams to have a lot of shots, and that Liverpool (and in particular Firmino) take a lot of shots. This is pretty much a formula for success.
Firmino looks like a great pick for GW2. I expect him to take a lot of shots, and we saw last season that he can finish well. His current value of 8 in FTSY makes him a particularly enticing option, and I don’t expect his value to drop too much seeing as most people would rather go for Coutinho (who scored twice last week) if they’re looking for a player from Liverpool. Firmino is also a great pick in FPL, his price of 8.5 is a bit of a deterrent, as Coutinho is available for 8.1. But the statistics say that he’s the better choice; it’s up to you if you think the extra 0.4 is worth it. One thing I will say is that Coutinho is one of the most frustrating players in FPL. He’s about as consistent as London’s weather.
2. Costa
Diego Costa probably should not have ended the last match on the pitch. His terrible tackle on Adrian was deserving of a second yellow card (and proved that he’s the only living person more evil than Satan himself), but somehow Costa always manages to get away with it. On the other hand, he did make quite a few FTSY players and all Chelsea fans quite happy when he scored the winner vs West Ham.
Costa managed to have the most shots, and shots on goal for Chelsea last week. Chelsea looked like a much improved squad under Conte. They attacked well, and I was personally impressed by the defensive contributions of Oscar (who managed to successfully complete 6 out of 6 attempted tackles). Hazard also seemed back to his best after a rather poor ‘15/’16 season.
Chelsea go up against Watford in GW2. Watford faced by far the most number of shots last week, which showcased an inability to close players down. Out of the 24 shots they faced, nine came from within the box, and two came from within the six-yard box (which is rather troubling). To Watford’s credit, their defenders put their bodies on the line and managed to block eight of the shots they faced; a further ten were not on target, which left only six to be dealt by the keeper. However, I predict Chelsea to be more clinical than Southampton.
Costa might be hated by almost everyone who watches football, but there’s no doubting that he’s a goal machine. Just like Firmino, I believe he’ll be overlooked by the more popular Hazard. Hazard is probably the more likely to score, but Costa currently wins you more points in FTSY with a value of 7 as opposed to Hazard’s 4. Costa is a good player to have in FPL, but with only three slots available for strikers I don’t think many people will have space in their teams for him seeing as most will go for a combination of Aguero, one other premium striker, and a cheaper option. For only 0.5 more you can get Hazard, who will get you more points per goal and is more likely to assist.
3. Payet
Payet’s back. After a long Euro 2016 campaign he was rested for West Ham’s opening match, and only made a short appearance as a substitute. I’m not going to bother backing this up with any statistics and numbers. We saw in the Euros, as well as last season, that Payet can score whenever the hell he wants.
In GW2 West Ham go up against Bournemouth, who conceded thrice vs Man Utd. Bournemouth’s defense was not up to scratch as they allowed Man Utd to have six shots within the penalty area, and two more inside the six-yard box. Even more worrying is the fact that only two of Man Utd’s shots were blocked, while the majority of them had to be dealt with by the keeper. Boruc only managed to save four of the seven shots on target he faced, which does not bode well for The Cherries.
Payet may be just coming back from being rested, but I expect him to come out of the gates flying. The added bonus of picking Payet is that you can count almost every direct free kick as a very good opportunity to score. The Frenchman currently sits at a value of 7 on FTSY. I would not suggest you pass him up at this point, but if his value drops to under 5, you might want to reconsider. In FPL, Payet is priced at 9.5, which puts him at the same price as the likes of Martial and Ozil, both of whom are great picks on better teams. Payet is an attractive option, but I think you’d be better off with one of the other 9.5 options.
There you have it, another week’s worth of fixtures. Again, don’t blame me if all of this ends up being wrong, we only have one week’s statistics to go off of. I will leave you with one valuable piece of information: the first match of GW2 is on Friday evening. Make sure you make your FTSY picks and FPL transfers before then because I can definitely see people missing the deadline.
