Winners
Jack Grealish – Aston Villa were 1-0 down at home to Brighton and needed some source of inspiration even with Aaron Mooy having been sent off for the visitors. Step forward their captain and talisman Jack Grealish to put in a big performance and his drag his side to victory. Just on the stroke of half-time the midfielder tapped home a cross from Frederic Guilbert. The second half saw Brighton not only remain resilient but also provide a threat to Villa and it looked like they would be taking home a point until Grealish played in Matt Targett to score in the dying seconds sending Villa Park into rapture. The midfielder gets a lot of attention from other fans due to his antics on and off the pitch, he is most certainly a wind-up merchant but a very talented one. His ability to glide past opponents and win fouls so consistently is something England miss so much in midfield *cough Southgate. Not only that but his vision is also extremely good, he has created 25 chances so far this season with six of them coming against Brighton. A positional change has seen him return points in three of his last four games. Currently at 5.9M he is fast becoming a hot property as anything Villa do goes through him, although they do have a tough run coming up.
Marco Silva – Honestly, I am shocked I am writing about Marco Silva as I thought he would have been sacked by now, given the international break which is always a popular time to sack managers. But just like that last bit of grub on a frying pan he still hangs on. Everton began the day in the relegation zone so it would probably be fair to say a home tie against West Ham had a bit of pressure on it. As Suj himself has said on the podcast though if you are struggling then the team you want to play is West Ham, and he was right. The Hammers were awful, and barely threatened the Toffee’s goal and just looked like they could not be bothered throughout. This seems to be a common theme with West Ham when you never quite know what you are going to get. He might be a winner this week, but I do not think it will be long before Silva is under pressure again and eventually got rid off as he is just not very good.
Chris Wilder – I have spoken before about how impressed I have been with the Sheffield United boss and what he gets from his players and on Monday, the Blades took their biggest scalp yet. In a somewhat predictable turn of events Arsenal just had no fight or answers to United’s style and lost 1-0 in front of a raucous Bramall Lane. The visitors may have had plenty of the ball, but they created precious little thanks to the organisation in which Wilder has his side set up. His centre-backs can not only defend but they can also play out from the back, it really is great to see a side which can mix it up. Since he became their manager, he has won 79 league games the only two who can boast more in all of England’s top four divisions is Jurgen Klopp and Pep Guardiola. That is some company to be keeping. I am fully convinced if his name was Cristiano Winaldo the biggest clubs would be sniffing around him. I have also learned to never bench the legend which is John Lundstram has the Blades have the joint best defence in the league currently.
Losers
Spurs – Just like Marco Silva at Everton, Mauricio Pochettino needed a win to try and ease some pressure given the struggle Tottenham have had this season. A home game against bottom of the table Watford would seem the best fixture he could ask for right now, but the Hornets certainly did not roll over and have their bellies tickled. They took the lead and for a long time it looked as though they would be taking all three points and they probably should have as Dele Alli’s equalising goal appeared to have used his arm to score. But as we know VAR is about as consistent as British trains, so the goal stood. A point just left Spurs with more questions than answers and with Liverpool away next it is hard to see their fortunes in the league turning around soon. This leaves owners of Harry Kane and Heung Min-Son with tough choices to make in FPL. Son especially can be very explosive and can easily earn double digit hauls in any game, but with something not quite right at Spurs it could be time to sell for now.
Jesus Vallejo – When Ryan Bennett went down injured for Wolves on Saturday against Southampton, I quickly looked to the bench to see who would be coming on, and to my dismay Vallejo got the nod over Max Kilman. The Spaniard on-loan from Real Madrid has not been convincing at all so far and his last Premier League game against Chelsea was a disaster. I do not know if he is struggling to adapt or what but right now, he is a massive liability and the sad part is I think his teammates know it too, they did not seem to want to pass to him. The goal Danny Ings scored was not completely his fault as Conor Coady did miss the ball, but it all started because for some reason Vallejo chose to play a floated pass into midfield which was asking for trouble. So far, he has looked very weak, poor in the air, rash and not ready for this level. Hopefully Romain Saiss is back soon if not then I really hope Kilman will play against Slovan Bratislava as I could see Vallejo getting bullied again.
Gameweek 9 – Another week in FPL where the big guns fail to fire, it was so bad this week the average score was 37. If any of your players scored a goal this week then well done to you because it looked from what I could see on Twitter not many did. Captain choices as well clearly flopped and yes, I was one of those people who got Callum Wilson in and captained him…. Thanks for that Callum. Aguero and Salah did not play, Mane and Kane blanked the list goes on. Captain choices for me so far this season have been a massive fail and it is so frustrating given I always go with logic, anyway enough of this week lets just pray that gameweek 10 has