Winners
Aaron Ramsdale – Eddie Howe’s side have had to deal with a lot of injury problems lately with crucial players Callum Wilson and Nathan Ake the latest to join the injury table. So, a trip to Chelsea looked a daunting task for the Cherries but not for the first time against the Blues, Bournemouth found a way. Since their promotion to the Premier League Bournemouth have won more games at Chelsea than any other away side. A disciplined performance which is quite rare to see from Bournemouth earned them a 1-0 win courtesy of a goal from Dan Gosling. It was the performance of young goalkeeper Ramsdale which should be catching the attention of FPL managers. He earned himself 10 points against the Blues thanks to his clean sheet, five saves and bonus three points. His reputation has been on the rise for a while now and is looking to soon be another England goalkeeper in the making. He is also the joint top scoring keeper in FPL currently with 70 points. Which surprised me especially as Bournemouth only have four clean sheets all season. His price is also super low at 4.6M at the time of writing so he is an easy transfer in for many. With Bournemouth’s style Ramsdale will always be getting a lot of save points and at that price who can complain?
Norwich – The Canaries seemed to have it all against them with an away trip to what is currently a rampant Leicester City side. The last few weeks have shown that the Pukki party is not quite as over as we thought as he opened the scoring for Norwich meaning he has now scored three in his last four games. There was some concern however, for the Finland international as Daniel Farke revealed after the game that Pukki has fractured his toe which will put his participation in the next few games in doubt presumably. The return of Christoph Zimmerman at the back has made Norwich less of a whipping boy and a bit sturdier. Eventually they would concede an unlucky own goal via Tim Krul but a draw is a terrific point given the current situation. If Pukki is out for a while, then it will be interesting to see how they cope without their talisman as nobody in their squad can score at such a regular rate. But to be given basically no chance and holding their own against this Leicester City side should give them confidence for the games ahead.
West Ham – Manuel Pellegrini has yet again managed to cling onto his job thanks to the Hammers big win against relegation rivals Southampton at the weekend. Record signing Sebastian Haller scored the winner in the 1-0 win which was his first goal since October. It was the performance of Michail Antonio though which caught the eye. The powerful forward terrorised the Saints as they could not deal with his strength and pace, he also had a well taken goal chalked off for handball which was very unlucky. Without him West Ham have looked lacklustre this season as they lack a lot of movement off the ball so become easy to defend against. If Antonio can keep injury free which is easier said than done given his record, he could become a very interesting differential in FPL. He is always a goal threat especially in the air. I think it is a case of wait and see with Antonio.
Losers
Arsenal – Another week and another embarrassing Arsenal performance. Their search for a manager seems to be heading the way of Mikel Arteta which shall be interesting given the enormous size of the task sorting the Gunners out is. Any match against Manchester City is difficult but being at home you would have thought Arsenal would be bolder and take the game to City, but nope the first half performance was apathetic to say the least. It only took Kevin De Bruyne two minutes to get his masterclass going and from then on, he looked like that big kid on the playground bullying everybody else. I cannot remember a single moment in the match where Arsenal mounted any pressure or looked dangerous. I think City ended up using it like a training session in the second half not adding to their three-goal lead and looked to be content enough just expending the least amount of energy as possible. Arsenal are just a complete avoid right now for me, they are very bad, and that West Ham win just papered over the canyon sized cracks.
Aston Villa – Losing 4-1 at home to Leicester last week you would be expecting a strong response from Dean Smith’s side who had travelled to Bramall Lane this week to take on Sheffield United. The Blades have been a revelation so far this season and have taken to the topflight much easier than Villa who are only out of the relegation zone on goal difference currently. John Fleck scored a double to seal the hosts a 2-0 win in another dominant display. Villa on the other hand barely laid a finger on United failing to have a shot on target, in which Brazilian striker Wesley yet again failed to make any sort of impact in the game. Villa should have got in another forward in the Summer as the lack of options has been a real issue for them so far. The day for them was summed up when they were awarded a penalty and skipper Jack Grealish crashed it off the bar to the delight of the home crowd. Their next three league fixtures are all huge in the context of their season playing Southampton, Norwich and Watford. All these teams are below them in the table and the results of all three could go a long way to defining their season.