The Premier League is back! Long live Fantasy Premier League! Let's see together what this first fixture of the EPL 2017/18 season had in store for us!
Summary
- Chelsea mounts another dire title defense
- Big signings who deliver! Salah, Laca, Lukaku, Morata
- The assists boys: Eriksen, Mkitarian and Xhaka !
- The sure values: Aguero, Firminho, Rooney and Vardy
- The little guys proving everyone wrong: Vokes, Mounié
Chelsea mounts another dire title defense
Maybe side tracked by his recent divorce, Roman Abramovich has completely taken his eyes off Chelsea's recruitment during the summer – to the obvious disappointment of Paolo Conte who has had to see his team being pickpocketed by ingenious and stubborn Burnley. Lead 0-3 at half time, Chelsea did its best to up its game in the second half, but in spite of the help of the old boys David Luiz and Willian, it ended in an ominous 2-3 defeat. Don't be surprised if Paolo Conte eventually obtains that "carte blance" to splash on one or two more signings before the end of August.
What it means for your FPL team? Well... You can bet that a lot of people will offload Gary Cahill, Azpilicueta and Alonso, who were some of the most expensive defenders of the league. Actually, just look at FPL's transfers out:
Big signings who deliver! Salah, Laca, Lukaku, Morata
However all was not black for Chelsea: MORATA has adapted rather well to his new team and delivered an assist and a goal already, for a total of 10 points! Encouraging!
In the same fashion, Mohammad Salah of Liverpool score and provided an assist during the 3-3 thriller against Watford. You can expect his initial price tag of 9.0m to rise imminently!
Another thriller in the Emirates Stadium: Arsenal won by the skin of its teeth in front of Leicester City, and Lacazette – the Arsenal record-signing – has scored the first goal of the season, an encouraging feat which should ensure that most people will stick to him for the time being.
As for Romelu Lukaku, he has done what he always done against West Ham: scoring! With the 4-0 thumping of Man U, Lukaky has scored in 10 straight game against West Ham. A brace is enough to send him to the top of the charts and I bet he will be a golden boot contender this year!
Here are the transfers in just fresh from the oven:
The assists boys: Eriksen, Mkhitaryan and Xhaka !
Eriksen delivering two assists during Spur's victory at Newcastle? Just same old story all over again! I feel a bit stupid having taken Alli rather than the Dane, however time will say if Eriksen can really be that consistent.
Henrikg Mkhitaryan had an easy afternoon against West Ham and seems to have thrown the shackles of last year: 2 assists already, which means 11 points for the Armenian!
And the surprise of the day comes to Granit Xhaka of Arsenal: in spite of being more an enforcer than a playmaker, the Swiss midfielder delivered 2 assists for Arsenal to acquire double digit points (10).
The sure values: Aguero, Firminho, Rooney and Vardy
In spite of stubborn Brighton, Aguero has done his thing against little teams: scoring. Let's see if he can follow up on this trend in the coming schedule.
Firminho still remains a decisive and incisive forward, scoring and delivering an assist for Liverpool, and bagging a healthy 12 points!
Rooney is back from the limbo of last year and has helped Everton secure a 1-0 victory, enough to justify a modest 7.5m price tag! Let's see if he can capitalize on that to become more than a joker in our teams!
Last but not least, Vardy shows he can still bite: 2 goals for him against the usual brittle defense of Arsenal! Not bad at all... 13 points!
The little guys proving everyone wrong: Vokes, Mounié
As I predicted in my last article, Huddersfield's Steve Mounié was the guy to keep an eye on: 2 goals for the Benin striker during his first match in the EPL! Ok, it was against Crystal Palace, but you can expect his price tag of 6.0m to seriously increase in the coming weeks!
Just like the price tag of Sam Vokes, who laughed all the way to Chelsea's nets (twice!) and will probably beat his 10 goals tally of last season thanks to that brace! Another 6 millions tag player who would be a fair addition to your team!
The Leagues
Which leads me to the Steemit leagues:
Steem Fantasy Premier League
That's the best start I ever had on FPL! But my guts tell me it won't last. Congratulations to everyone anyway, the standard is VERY high, it will be a very interested season!
As for my own league..
STEEMIT FANTASY LEAGUE
On another side, take a look at the highest point team of the fixture: 128 points! And the funny thing is that he even had Mkhitaryan but left him on the bench! Had he time fielded Zaha, he could have more than 130 points!