Gameweek 5 supplied us with a few surprises, resulting in mixed reactions across the board during its aftermath.
Following his suspension at the start of the season, Tottenham’s Heung-min Son has been overlooked by fantasy managers and has been selected by a mere 5.1% of teams at the time of writing.
This season, the South Korean forward has made three appearances in the league, tallying two goals and an assist in 258 minutes of football, acquiring three bonus points in the process.
In GW5, Son recorded a 16 point haul during a 4-0 victory over Roy Hodgson’s struggling Crystal Palace - Spurs’ stand out performer of the afternoon.
Sonny outshone star striker Harry Kane with five attempts on goal, compared to the Englishman’s one.
Kane also encountered just the two touches in the opposition’s box, whereas Son managed eight, demonstrating a greater attacking threat.
Over the next four gameweeks, Mauricio Pochettino’s side have a good run of fixtures - LEI (A), SOU (H), BHA (A), WAT (H) - and Son boasts a great record against his up and coming opponents.
Against Leicester, Southampton, Brighton and Watford combined, the 27-year-old has produced 15 goals in 20 games in all competitions.
Ahead of Gameweek 6, the forward is already one of the most transferred players in and is clearly on the rise.
Meanwhile, we’ve questioned whether we are undervaluing Aston Villa defensively.
Dean Smith’s side have recorded the joint-most clean sheets (2) this season alongside Crystal Palace, Everton, Manchester City, Manchester United, Southampton and West Ham.
The Midlands team were unfortunate not to record a third shutout against Palace, having conceded a 73rd-minute goal after going down to ten men in the 54th minute in Gameweek 4.
Secondly, Villa have conceded the joint-second least amount of goals in the Premier League this season, with only Liverpool, Manchester United and Leicester City have conceded less.
Two of Aston Villa’s assets sit inside the top eight for total points scored across all defenders and no defensive player at the club sits above the price of £4.6m in FPL.
With Arsenal, Burnley, Norwich and Brighton ahead over the next four gameweeks, there could be some value in Villa’s back-line.
It was a devastating state of affairs for Manchester City following a shock defeat to Norwich down at Carrow Road, which could prove clinical in the Premier League title race.
With Aymeric Laporte ruled out with a six-month knee injury, it was clear to see how damaging this may prove for the Cityzens, Jamie Redknapp stated: “City are wounded. They have lost Aymeric Laporte, and that is the equivalent of taking Virgil van Dijk out of the Liverpool team.”
Consequently, this resulted in a dismal display from the centre-back partnership between John Stones and Nicolás Otamendi.
The pairing have the worst win percentage at the club, have conceded the most goals and recorded the least amount of clean sheets amongst the main partnerships under Guardiola’s reign at City.
However, news has broken this week that Stones has withdrawn from the squad for up to five weeks due to a muscular injury suffered in training, causing problems to deepen for the current champions.
With doubt surrounding the back-line, we suggest avoiding a City defensive double up.
Moving onto Norwich’s Emiliano Buendía.The 22-year-old has been making a name for himself in the Premier League and looks a fantastic choice.
Buendía is offering us a solid third option into The Canaries’ line-up alongside fellow in-form teammates Teemu Pukki and Todd Cantwell.
The creative midfielder was the backbone during the Canaries’ victory over Manchester City and assisted two of the three goals.
A stealthy figure so far, sneakily rising up in the ranks and now sits joints second for Premier League assists this season, one behind The Ginger Pele, who goes by the name of Kevin De Bruyne.
Moreover, only Kevin De Bruyne and Manuel Lanzini have created more chances amongst midfielders in the Premier League this campaign.
This season, Emiliano has produced attacking returns against last year’s runners up Liverpool and the reigning champions, with his highest point haul so far this year coming against City, suggesting fixture difficulty is no real problem.
With Burnley, Crystal Palace, Aston Villa and Bournemouth coming up, Buendía looks an enticing pick over the approaching gameweeks, priced at just £6m.
Is Tammy Abraham a now must-have?
The 21-year-old is the joint-top Premier League goalscorer alongside Sergio Agüero, although he’s registered a better minutes-per goal-ratio than the Argentine.
With seven goals in his last three games Premier League games, the England U21 international is in seriously hot form.
With Chelsea’s eye-appealing run of fixtures between games 7-12 - BHA (H), SOU (A), NEW (H), BUR (A), WAT (H), CRY (H) - Abraham might just become a necessity in the coming weeks.
