Winners
Kevin De Bruyne – The Belgian playmaker put on another masterclass as Manchester City made short work of Brighton winning 4-0. De Bruyne opened the scoring and then set up Sergio Aguero to score, meaning he has now returned in all four games so far this season. Now he is injury free he was always destined to have a big season I felt which is why I have had him since the start of the season at his bargain price of 9.5M. With the quality he possess and the players around him his potential to return points nearly every week probably is frightening. His current price is now 9.8M and it will probably rise again during the international break, and I can see a double up of De Bruyne and Raheem Sterling proving very popular with managers as the season develops. It is Norwich up next too City so you would imagine another double digit haul is very possible.
Jamie Vardy – After getting off the mark last week against Sheffield United, it is fair to say now that Leicester’s talismanic striker is truly up and running now. Every year people expect to see some sort of slowing down from the 32-year-old but every single time he proves everyone wrong, which is pretty much the story of his career. Against Bournemouth on Saturday he scored a fantastic goal to open the scoring, got an assist for Youri Tielemans and then scored again showing his predatory instincts are still very much there. I am surprised he is not selected in more sides he is owned by 8.3% currently and had a price drop already this season so is currently at 8.9M. Since the arrival of Brenden Rodgers as manager Vardy has been involved in 14 goals in 12 games, that is top draw. With games against Manchester United and Spurs next I cannot see a lot of mass transfers for Vardy, but his record against the top six is fantastic so if you are thinking about putting him in I say go for it.
Sebastien Haller – The Frenchman was West Ham’s record signing when he arrived in the Summer costing the Hammers 45M. This was coming off the back of a very good season for Frankfurt scoring 20 goals in 41 games in all competitions. After his brace last week against Watford and seeing the highlights and goals he scored I transferred him into my team. He caught my eye with the positions he scored his goals in. Both of them in the six yard box right where you want the striker to be when the ball goes in the box. Against Norwich this week he yet again scored by attacking the ball when it came into the box. He was also robbed of a potential assist as somehow the referee or VAR did not give a penalty. He has also shown great link up play so far and with the attacking players West Ham have you can see him grabbing quite a few assists too. Haller is passing the eye test for me and will be staying in my side for quite a while hopefully.
Losers- (Only one this week because it needs saying)
VAR – Another gameweek passes and nothing has taken the headlines as much as the maligned system we seem to be stuck with. The main incident being the joke of a decision by Kevin Friend to cancel out Henri Lansbury’s goal for Aston Villa in the last minute, which would have saw Villa gain a valuable point with ten men away at Crystal Palace. Friend deemed that Jack Grealish dived in the build up to goal after passing to Lansbury. Now after the game VAR officials spoke out saying the goal could not be reviewed as the referee blew his whistle before the goal went in. I find this ludicrous as the whole point of VAR was to overturn clear and obvious errors of which this was one of the highest order. If it is not being used to overturn these obvious errors then there is simply no point in having it.
Watford can also voice anger at VAR this weekend after their 1-1 draw with Newcastle. The rules of handball this season have already created debate, the Premier League have said that any goal scored with the aid of an arm is automatically ruled out. So to the shock of everybody for some reason despite being able to see the handball by Isaac Hayden which ended up setting up Fabian Schar to equalise. Afterwards it was confirmed VAR simply ‘missed’ it….. Like what how? They did not miss Leander Dendoncker’s goal against Leicester which was harsh, and Gabriel Jesus’s last minute goal against Spurs. Oh and they somehow did not send off Youri Tielemans for a dangerous challenge on Callum Wilson. The way it is being used so far is a joke it is not consistent and the people running it do not want to overturn referees decisions for some reason, so the whole point of VAR is currently pointless. The people running the system need changing.