Winners
Leicester – You would have thought Man City’s 8-0 win over Watford would have been the highest score of the season, but last Friday became a record-breaking night for the Foxes and the Premier League. Brenden Rodgers side have been outstanding so far this season but took it to another level at Saint Marys defeating Southampton 9-0. They may have been playing against 10 men for most of the game, but the relentless way they kept attacking to me spoke volumes about the kind of side Rodgers is moulding. You see many sides just take their foot off the gas and keep it simple, so it was refreshing to see such an approach. It was a fantasy football paradise for the owners of Ben Chilwell, Jamie Vardy, Youri Tielemans and those extremely patient owners of Ayoze Perez. Vardy and Perez both bagged a hat-trick so the argument about who keeps the match ball will be an interesting one!
The story of Vardy is truly remarkable, but it is his consistency which really stands out for me. The 32-year-old has scored 21 league goals in 2019 only being beaten by Kylian Mbappe, Lionel Messi and Robert Lewandowski. He now has nine in ten games this season this season and since Rodgers took charge of Leicester back in January no player has scored more goals in the league. Leicester are serious contenders for the top four make no mistake about it.
Marcus Rashford – In a brief respite for Manchester United in what has been a tough season so far, they finally won an away game defeating Norwich 3-1 at Carrow Road. The return to form of Rashford will be of great relief to United who have been very toothless so far this season. The England forward has now scored in back to back games and managed an assist in this one. Despite having his penalty saved by Tim Krul, he recovered quickly to take the next chance that came his way very well. What was interesting to me is that Rashford was not playing centrally and it was Anthony Martial who played that role. The two combined all game and seemed to be getting the best from each other, Martial’s goal highlighted that the two of them are on the same wavelength. Rashford now becomes in an interesting option FPL wise for the next few weeks, he is currently at 8.4M and has games against Bournemouth, Brighton, Sheffield United and Aston Villa coming up. As long as Martial remains fit then you could reap some rewards as it seems he is the key for Rashford, but as we all know Martial is sadly injury prone.
Christian Pulisic – The American winger was signed before the transfer ban hit Chelsea back in January for 58M but would only join up with them this season, he was met with a lot of FPL interest at the start of the season but Frank Lampard used him sparingly for a while. Midweek in the Champions League Pulisic came on and created the winning goal and shone for time he was on the pitch. He was then rewarded with a start away against Burnley which is usually an unforgiving place to go if you are not up for the physicality. The young Chelsea side, however, took it in their stride and Pulisic continuing the theme of the week it seemed scored a hat-trick. Not just any hat-trick either a perfect one, taking his goals extremely well. This could well be the American’s breakthrough performance but with competition from Callum Hudson-Odoi and his relatively low scoring record in league football (13 in 90 for Dortmund) then I would not be looking to fit him into your teams just yet.
Losers
Southampton – Obviously the Saints had to be on here not just for the score line, but also for how pathetic the players were. Conceding and going down to 10 men is tough yes but to show zero effort, organisation and fight is unforgivable. This is the bare minimum supporters want to see from their sides and this kind of result will get things going toxic rapidly. Everybody knows how poor the Saints defence is but to see them ripped to shreds with at times minimal effort must have had Southampton fans wondering if Halloween came early. They look at real threat of going down this season given their lack of quality in general but especially at the back. If you have Southampton players in your FPL side, you should be looking to offload ASAP. Things get no easier either for Southampton as they travel to Man City next weekend and if they feel like it then City could be looking to eclipse the eight, they put past Watford.
Arsenal – Unrest at Arsenal is nothing new and the storm has been brewing for a while, but it looks like the winds of change are about to blow through the Emirates. After losing to Sheffield United the pressure was on Unai Emery to beat Crystal Palace at home. It was looking straight forward as the Gunners were 2-0 up through David Luiz and Sokratis, but as Palace tend to do away from home they come back and manage to get a point from the game. The atmosphere turned extremely toxic when Granit Xhaka the captain of the team was substituted leading to boos, which then prompted an angry response from him. He started waving his arms dramatically to ramp up the boos and cupped his ears towards the crowd, before telling them to “f*** off”. Safe to say this went down well with the fans and Emery himself seemed unsure with how to deal with the situation. This was a feature in his time at PSG where he could not control the dressing room and it looks to be rearing its head again. The fact he got the players to elect a captain this season tells you that he himself cannot select a leader from his players which is not a good sign. Emery is on borrowed time.
Lucas Digne owners – Since he has been in the Premier League the French left-back has been at what FPL managers would call a troll but also at times a real asset. His crossing ability combined with his free kick taking make him an attractive proposition for attacking returns. However, as easily as Digne can get double digit scores he can just as easily end up with zero or even minus. The element of being trolled by him was perfectly encapsulated when he was given an assist for Everton’s opening goal to only to have it taken away when it was then deemed an own goal by Brighton’s Adam Webster. To top it off at the very death Digne whilst trying to stop a cross on the way to Glen Murray inadvertently stuck it in his own net. His price has now dropped to 5