My God, it’s already Gameweek 3.
As usual, we had plenty of transfer activity this week (much of it involving Man City), and the injuries are subtly starting to creep up on us.
Here’s your quick round-up of all the FPL Gameweek 3 news you need to know.
Injuries and Bans
- Shaw
This is the most important FPL injury of the week, with Shaw owned by a hefty 23% of managers.
Had Man U looked great anyway? No, but they had Forest at home this week, which looked like a nailed-on clean for Shaw owners.
Unfortunately, you now have to drop him immediately. He’ll be out for ‘a number of weeks‘.
Shaw’s 5.5. A straight switch to either Estupinan (5.2) or Chilwell (5.7) is the easiest move, if you don’t own either. If you’ve got two transfers and need to save money elsewhere to get up to Chilwell, I do think that’s worth it. I wouldn’t want take a hit though, with a number of other good options available for 5.5 and below.
I wouldn’t swap him for another Man U defender (likely Varane). Man U have Arsenal and Brighton after Forest, neither of which is a clean, and both of whom are solid defensively.
You can get straight to any of the City defenders. As noted later, I do think that’s a risk – none are guaranteed to still be starting a few weeks from now – but their upcoming schedule is brilliant. I’d definitely be tempted.
Finally, Saliba is the other eye-catching name. He’s 5.2, just got a clean, and plays for an excellent defence. His upcoming schedule is just really annoying. In his next eight games he has Fulham, Everton, Bournemouth, and Sheff Utd – GREAT! – but also Man U, Spurs, City, (and Chelsea) – NOT GREAT!
- Maddison
UPDATE: Ignore all of the below!
According to Postecoglou, Maddison trained without any hindrance today, and will probably be available this weekend.
That seems like a very fast recovery, based on the multiple injuries reported this week.
It does mean, however, that you probably have to hold him. He’ll likely play some part this week (let’s hope it’s not an annoying 1 point-er off the bench), and should be back for Gameweek 4.
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Maddo has looked great in the first two gameweeks.
The injury he suffered isn’t too severe – just some light bruising and a minor strain. But the timeline of the injury, for FPL managers, is very annoying.
He’ll definitely be out for Gameweek 3. He should be back in the squad for Gameweek 4… but we’ve got no idea if he’ll be starting by then, or just play a bit-part and returning properly after.
If he was definitely out for 2+ weeks, you could just sell him. If he’s only missing one week though… it really depends on the rest of your team.
Generally speaking, I prefer banking as many transfers as possible early in the season. You never know what fires you’ll need to put out soon, or whether what we’re seeing in the first couple of weeks is actually real or not.
If you haven’t got Mbuemo or Mitoma, then moving Maddo to one of them – and saving a million of your budget in the process – is extremely tempting.
I’d probably only do so if you’ve already got two transfers banked, so you can still go into Gameweek 4 with two transfers.
If you’ve only got one transfer, and you’ve got a starting-calibre player on your bench, the sensible thing is probably to hold Maddo, roll with that other player this week, and assume he’s back for Gameweek 4 (which it sounds like he will be).
- Enciso
This one’s a shame. Enciso looked promising later on last season, and got two assists in his start last week.
Unfortunately he’s suffered a serious injury in training, so he drops off the FPL radar until further notice.
- Mount
I thought Mount could be a decent pick this season. Maybe he still will be, once he’s bedded in, but he’s off to a poor start (not necessarily his fault – United have looked poor going forward in general).
Regardless, he’s out for at least the next two games.
- Mudryk
If you’re an FPL completionist, you may wish to know that Mykhailo Mudryk is injured! He’ll definitely be out for the Luton game… but we don’t really care, in all honesty.
- Jesus
Some positive news!
Jesus returned to training this week. This basically means that your window for getting Nketiah is over, despite his amazing value. Jesus obviously won’t start this week, or probably even next, but Eddie’s days are numbered.
When Jesus returns, he goes right to second-place in the forward rankings for me, behind that Norwegian fella.
- Mac Allister
Another one for the completionists – Mac Allister’s red card was (rightfully) rescinded, so he’ll be straight back in the team.
Fun fact – he has played 147 minutes this season, and currently has -1 FPL points!
Transfers
- Doku To City
Everyone’s saying Doku is amazing, blah blah blah, like they always do when a big team signs an exciting winger for big money.
Maybe he is, but this just makes an already-difficult FPL situation at City even more complicated.
At least he’ll be playing right wing, and therefore not taking minutes from Grealish or Foden (… probably? But you never know with Pep).
But that basically just means – at best – that he’ll be the new Mahrez. Scoring points when he does start… but we’ve got no idea when that’s actually going to happen.
- Laporte Leaves City
This one’s been on the cards for a while, but was finally confirmed.
City still have at least three starting-calibre, true centre-backs though, in Dias, Gvardiol, and Akanji.
Everyone’s been jumping on City defenders, and I can see why. They’ve kept back to back cleans, and have a great schedule coming up.
But, as always, we have no idea who’s actually going to start from one week to the next.
- Eze (or Nunes) Maybe To City
After understandably backing out of the Paqueta deal, City are now sniffing around for other Premier League-proven attacking midfielders.
Technically Nunes is an option, but the more annoying one in FPL would be Eze. He was excellent last season, with 10 goals and 5 assists, and only costs 6.4. He’s off to a slow start, but his fixtures become excellent from Gameweek 11 onwards.
If he goes to City, we lose one of our better budget midfielders going forward.
- Cameron Archer to Sheffield United
This is great news for FPL managers.
Archer only costs 4.5, and – due to injuries, and a relatively high price tag (for Sheffield Utd) – will likely be starting up top for the Blades.
Along with Semenyo at Bournemouth, this gives us two super-cheap starting forwards… for now at least.
Other
- Villa Run Rampant
Yeah, yeah, it was only Hibs. But Watkins still scored!
He smashed a hat trick past them, in fact, which a hefty 24.7% of FPL managers will hope gets him scoring in the Prem too.
- Foden With One of the Best Games Ever
With the massive caveat that Pep loves to over-hype his own players, other players, other teams, even other managers… he was extremely enthusiastic about Foden after his great game against Newcastle.
Pep claims this performance was ‘one of the best I have ever seen’. Hmm…
Regardless, this does at least give the impression that Foden’s place is secure for now… probably.
Personally, I’m not getting involved. I’ve been burned too many times before with City players, and with Foden specifically. I’m sure he’ll score points when he plays, and his ownership is relatively low at 12.5%. But my days of playing Pep Roulette are over.