The curtain raiser of another season of the English Premier League is now behind us. Chelsea took on Liverpool, with Ben Chilwell involved in some serious attacking display, while Arteta benched Gabriel against Nottingham Forest after a run of seventy-two games for the Gunners.
The new season had little change on a certain Erling Haaland, starting the season with a brace, helping Manchester City in their victory at Turf Moor.
Fantasy Premier League managers, finally after months of tinkering, witnessed their drafts being tested out in the practicalities of the real world from where the actual points will be driven.
Bruno Fernandes disappointed his owner’s meantime Maddison, did all the right things for throwing his name in for the next bandwagon to rise. Much was said and debated about the best assets in the £6.5m midfielder category.
There is indeed a plethora of options in the mentioned price bracket.
Harvey Barnes:
Arguments can be made about concluding the ranking of the best £6.5m category of midfielder after the first game week being wrong. The sample size is just too small to draw logic. Harvey Barnes would probably fall as the prime example of such reasoning.
The former Foxes’ midfielder came on from the bench registering a goal and an assist to him. He had the best statistics amongst midfielders on Saturday with an xGi of 1.07 including two big chances created. Barnes’s xG non-penalty against Villa was 0.56.
It would be probably hara-kiri to jump immediately on Barnes after one good showing. If anything, his good substitute appearance doesn’t solidify his place in the starting line-up at all.
Anthony Gordon, his chief competitor for the place in the team had a good game as well. Besides Newcastle’s face, Manchester City is away followed by Liverpool at home.
The highest FPL point provider in the £6.5m category of midfielders remains a no-buy for the time.
Karou Mitoma:
The Brighton winger was the most popular in the category being discussed going into game week one. It made sense as well.
The Seagulls under De Zerbi have been an incredibly attacking side with Mitoma assuring of minutes. The opening three fixtures of Brighton are great.
Against Luton Town, Mitoma registered an assist and no bonus. Perhaps this is a sign of things to come for the Japanese international.
Mitoma registered a single shot on goal but created five chances along the way. He had an xG non-penalty of 0.02 while his xA after the game was 0.62. He had an xGi total of 0.64 in the match with one big chance created.
For owners of Mitoma, he remains a must-hold, for non-owners, with the best fixture against Luton Town now gone before Brighton’s tough start post-game week three begins, there are better assets elsewhere.
Pascal Gross:
Gross might not be hugely popular as an FPL asset, but he did have a good display and deserves his name mentioned in this given category.
Even though the German didn’t register an attacking output from the middle of the park, Gross had three shots on goal, two from inside the box, being involved in one big chance created. He had an xG of 0.50 against Luton Town and a high xGi of 0.96.
Gross might not ever become a consistent points acquiring asset but he will probably become similar to the likes of Ward Prowse in the past. His xA of 0.46, emphasizes there is plenty of assist potential as well.
Eberechi Eze:
Crystal Palace started their campaign with a fixture against the Blades away from Selhurst Park. Eze, another popular asset in this category did some serious Fantasy points dodging through the game.
Even though he finished the game without any returns, Eze had eight shots on goal with five being from inside the box.
He had an xGi of 0.91, an incredibly high number with an xG of 0.51 and xA of 0.41. The Eagles with the loss of talisman Wilfred Zaha and the injury to Olise are operating with Eze as the fulcrum of their attack. Much of their forward movements under Hodgson are channeled towards him.
Yes, the opening game was against newly promoted Sheffield but given pre-season and the first game, it can be anticipated Eze will have a high team goal involvement statistics this season.
Bryan Mbeumo:
Brentford’s match against Spurs was for many how it was to be expected at least initially under Ange. Spurs were incredibly attacking with Maddison registering a double assist, but their defense is not an easy watch for heart patient fans of the club.
Wissa and Mbeumo started up front for the Bees in the absence of Ivan Toney both getting in the score sheet. Mbeumo’s goal from the spot akin to Joao Pedro of Brighton highlighted again the importance of penalty-takers as assets in Fantasy Premier League. Mbeumo missed a big chance early on in the match, and had three shots on goal, all from inside the box, with two on target.
He had a xGi of 1.41, this was largely due to the penalty, his non-penalty xG was 0.61, still high numbers for a £6.5m midfielder. Mbeumo created two big chances for Brentford, and with the fixtures now quite good, owners will be expecting points.
Outside the main names mentioned, De Zerbi’s go-to man, the previous season, Solly March opened the campaign with a goal from a Mitoma assist. It will be interesting given his low ownership how he fares in the coming matches.
