Welcome to the Gameweek 13 review. This week it’s a superstar edition. Every team has one. Our fantasy team’s need them. So lets discuss them. Manchester City looked like title favourites in the first few games of the season under Pep. But since then it seems they have stalled somewhat and that has meant we ask questions of the City superstar. Lots of questions. Aguero (12) has been the main man at City since his arrival in 2011. But is it now time KDB takes over as talisman? Not yet on the evidence of this weekend. Sergio still has a say and with a brace against Burnley he reminded us all of his unparallelled powers. That is 10 goals in his last 10 Premier League games. Incredible consistency. But he needs to perform like this for the price he costs us.
It wasn’t just Kun. Arsenal have their own superstar, who I watched very closely as he was my captain. On Sunday Sanchez (14) was head and shoulders above the rest of his team mates and inspired them to victory. His constant industry puts some of his team mates to shame but it is his quality on the ball which is so vital to the Gunners. Walcott (9) also got on the scoresheet although his performance was a lot less impressive.
Liverpool’s superstar has problems. Coutinho (1) went off injured early in their game against Sunderland which they won comfortably by 2 goals to nil. The big news was the injury to Liverpool’s main man and he looks likely to be out until early next year. As fantasy managers we can not dwell on this. We move on and we need a replacement. Quickly.
There was a crazy game at the Liberty where Swansea ran out 5-4 victors over Palace. Not so good if you had defenders from either side. Swan’s superstar, Siggy (10) was involved but not as heavily as Fer (14 ) and Llorrente (15) who each got a brace. The Spaniard added an assist and therefore max bonus which meant he was the highest scoring player of gameweek 13.
Shall I talk about the Chelsea game? The Spurs fans I know have all been very quiet since Saturday. The Hotspurs started brightly and looked dangerous especially once Eriksen (10) fired in a cracker from just outside the area. However just before half time Pedro (7) curled in a beauty. Spurs were rattled and looked fragile. Chelsea took full advantage in the 2nd half and one of this season’s most unlikely heroes, Victor Moses (9) got the winner. Lovely stuff. Chelsea didn’t even need their own superstar Hazard (2).
Can you remember back to gameweek 1? We have been doing a bit of reminiscing in the WhatsApp group this week about our teams at the start of the season. How many players have you got that you have owned since the beginning? Boro’s Spanish superstar Negredo (12) would have been a good pick, although he waited until this weekend to show us once more what we could have for just 6.2 with a couple of goals against the Champions.
Super. Let’s now look at what is happening in the FFUK league…
We have a new leader! Congratulations to Stuart Newton (1st) who, with a whopping 83 points tops the table. Aguero (24) was his main man as captain but Stuart also had attacking points from Sanchez (14) and Zaha (10) plus his defence contributed too with Matip (6), VVD (7) and McAuley (10). His team was so good he didn’t even need Burnley’s superstar Heaton (0) to play.
There were other good scores in the top 50. In fact the best score was by Andrew Coombes (40th) who accrued a mightily impressive 86 points. Round of applause for Andrew. How did he do it? Amazingly Hazard (4) was his captain. Benteke (1o) and Austin (9) lead the line well. Moses (9), Sanchez (14) and Zaha (10) provided the points from midfield whilst McAuley (10), Bertrand and Pieters (6) kept it tight at the back.
Kudos also to Matt Reid (14th) with 74 points largely thanks to Sanchez (28) Captain with supporting roles from Aguero (12), Austin (9) and Matt was another with the WBA superstar McAulay (10) who scored his 3rd goal of the season. Only WBA could have a superstar centre back.
James Prebble (11th) also managed a very respectable 72 points with Mane (12) captain ably assisted by Aguero (12), Austin (9), Milner (9), Pieters (6) and even a clean sheet from Forster (6). Well played Jimmy!
However it wasnt all superstars there was, as there always is, some poor scoring on show. Lets dissect.
Lowest score of the gameweek this time goes to Sam Blake (46th) with just 36 points. Not a good weekend for the Spurs fan. Sam was not alone with his pick of Coutinho (2) as captain. Moses (9) and Aguero (12) were the only scores worth noting. Ouch. I wont mention his 4 point hit which means his score is in fact actually lower.
Blakey might find comfort in the fact that there were other sub 40 scores. Jason Beale (22nd) only managed 39 points. Bealer was another who went with Coutinho captain. Haroon Rashid (50th) with just 38 points clings on to page 1 of the league, just.
Those in the top 10 were not immune to it either John Harper (6th) with 42 points was the lowest scorer at the top of the league. Aguero (24) captain looked good but everything else did not work out so well.
Welcome to the top 50 to our very own Liverpool expert, Duncan Hannigan (46th) who is in the upper echelons for the first time. Also quick mentions for some other impressive scoring in the league: Well played Tim McEwan (91st) with 85 points although even more impressive was Samuel Calton (95th) who Triple Captained Sanchez for 42 points! Great pick Sam!
That’s it for another week, thanks for making it this far. Pete will bring you a full FFUK Cup and Challenge Cup update later this week with all the latest details.
Finally, check out the TV series Superstars from the 80’s. Do you remember it? This is brilliant and not just for the theme tune. Imagine if we could get some of the Premier League’s Superstars to get involved in something like this…
PREMIER LEAGUE SUPERSTARS
I have suggested a few in this article, can you fill in the gaps?
- Arsenal: Sanchez
- Bournemouth: ?
- Burnley: Heaton
- Chelsea: Hazard
- Crystal Palace: ?
- Everton: ?
- Hull: ?
- Leicester?
- Liverpool: Coutinho
- Man City: Aguero
- Man Utd: ?
- Middlesboro: Negredo
- Southampton: ?
- Stoke: ?
- Sunderland: ?
- Swansea: Siggy
- Tottenham: ?
- Watford: ?
- WBA: McAulay
- West Ham: ?
FFUK 