Here’s a few thoughts on what the incredible FA 4th round meant to our fantasy premier league teams
fantasy premier league – 10 things we learnt from the FA Cup
1. There’s no answer to the Man Utd scoring conundrum
Such good fixtures, so much talent but no one standing out to take advantage. Falcao and Di Maria started and RVP came on in 67 minutes. Rooney was rested. The game was 0-0 and no one really stood out to go into our teams to take advantage of these fixtures. See our “ones to watch” articles for rankings and sta breakdown
Leicester (H)
West Ham (A)
Burnley (H)
Swansea (A)
Sunderland (H)
Newcastle (A)
2. Chelsea can’t do without Terry and Matic
Chelsea were a defensive disaster without Matic and Terry against Bradford. Azpilicueta and Cahill started as the regulars in defence but solid they did not look without Matic’s protection and Terry’s organisation and leadership. Cahill in particular looked all at sea and must worry about his place except Zouma was no better. It’s hard to see any significant premier league rotation for either Terry or Matic after this performance
3. Will the old Aguero please stand up?
Another unAguero like performance against Middlesborough and despite having a pretty much full supporting cast only really had 1 clear cut chance. Away to Chelsea will be interesting. However Aguero has so much credit in the tank that it’s impossible to see the purchases slowing down.
4. The Man City defence continues to falter
They did have Boyata and Caballero in the defence who wouldn’t normally play. However a string of 5 games without a clean sheet in the premier league and another unconvincing game shakes our faith in their defensive assets despite some good underlying stats. Rotation and high prices for the players doesn’t help either
5. The end of CB Gardos for Southampton
After a fantastic performance against Man Utd the £4.8m Southampton CB looked like he should at least provide a short term stop gap until cheaper Alderweireld returned from injury. However a terrible defensive performance saw Southampton lose 3-2 and Gardos taken off at half time after being criticised by his manager. With CB Yoshida coming back for the GW23 Gardos’ stint at CB could be at an end.
6. Palace continue scoring
With recent hero Diwght Gayle on the bench £5.2m forward Chamakh stole the show and Palace have now scored 8 goals in 3 games since Pardew joined. Puncheon, Gayle and now Chamakh are on our FPL radars.
7. Liverpool still stutter in attack
There may have been a fantastic GK performance from Bogdan and they were definitely unlucky but it’s all wearing a bit thin. Sterling again played up front and while having a midfielder playing as a striker should be FPL gold it’s only 1 goal in his last FPL 16 games. No sign of changes in the transfer window so far either
8. Bellerin or Chambers?
There is great value at the RB spot for Arsenal and 1 of these 2 will fill it. Bellerin after being part of the Man City win should be the favourite. However an injury scare saw Chambers lineup. Although no vintage Arsenal defensive performance is Chambers being rested or is Bellerin now the number 1 replacement for Debuchy. Unfortunately home to Villa is a great time to have 1 of them in your squad.
9. Sakho is back
A goal against Bristol City from the subs bench announced the cheapie West Ham strikers return from ACON. However the fixtures will probably preclude his selection
Liverpool (A)
Man Utd (H)
Southampton (A)
Spurs (A)
Crystal Palace (H)
Chelsea (H)
10. The negative effect on potential double gameweeks
The FA Cup quarter finals is about the time that we get a number of postponements for future double game weeks. However this year with the later finish only the semis clash with an FPL round. With Chelsea, Man City, Spurs and Southampton out the last thing we want is a double gameweek where we are looking to load up with Leicester, Sunderland, Stoke and Fulham assets. Lets just hope the draw for the 5th round doesn’t see Arsenal v Man Utd and Liverpool v West Ham so all the half reasonable options are removed. It could have gone better for those still holding a wildcard.
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