Welcome to Week Six of the English Premier League season!
Manchester United have emerged from a crisis by stumbling past Northampton Town in the League Cup; Manchester City have won eight in a row; Arsenal appear to have started the season five weeks after everybody else; Liverpool and Chelsea are looking good; and Sunderland are awful. Who would’ve predicted all that? Well, most people probably.
I scored sixty points last week with my team on Premier Punt. I had three goal scorers, one of whom scored twice. I also had clean sheets for my keeper and two of my defenders but it still was not enough to win any of the major cash on offer at www.premierpunt.com. The guys on there provide tough opposition but, as usual, today is a new day with a new line-up.
Arsenal at home to Chelsea on Saturday evening is the highlight of Week Six, with West Ham playing Southampton at the Olympic Stadium on Sunday. How many fights will there be among the Hammers fans at their legendary London Stadium? That will be one of the highlights for me this weekend.
Formation
3-4-3 formation this week, just for a change. As usual, there are 4-4-2 and 3-5-2 available on Premier Punt. However, I prefer the option of an extra forward giving the chance of getting more goals, more points and more cash.
Keeper
Hugo Lloris was my keeper last week and secured me six points with a clean sheet and two points for completing ninety minutes. You can’t get better than that, unless you expect him to score as well.
Good performance as it was from Hugo, I’m dropping him for Claudio Bravo of Manchester City. Not particularly because I think he’s a better keeper, far from it, but because he has a better team in front of him who are at the top of their game. City are away to Swansea whom they beat in midweek to set up a clash with United in the League Cup.
Defenders
Normally my tactic would be to pick defenders who are at home but I’m struggling to find obvious clean sheets for home teams this week. This is also reflected in my goalkeeping choice.
Two of my back three from last week kept clean sheets, so thanks to Vertonghen at Spurs and Huth at Leicester for those points.
Along with the City keeper I’m taking two of their defenders in John Stones and Nicolás Otamendi. It can be slightly risky predicting who Guardiola will pick from week to week but one thing’s for sure, he won’t be picking injury prone Vincent Kompany.
Completing the defence this week is Watford’s Zúñiga. He was excellent last week against Manchester United and I’m backing him to continue his good form away to Burnley. He is also excellent value at only £5M on Premier Punt.
Midfielders
Two of my midfield scored last week in Robert Snodgrass for Hull and Kevin De Bruyne for City, who also had three assists. Cazorla of Arsenal and Stanislas of Bournemouth only scored me two points each.
I’m getting a new foursome in midfield this week and I’m bringing Paul Pogba back in. Surely he’s got to come good sooner rather than later.
Ross Barclay had an excellent game last week after being hooked at half-time in the previous game. Everton are away to Bournemouth and have had an excellent start to the season.
West Ham United have struggled this season, particularly in their new stadium where they host Southampton on Sunday. However, I’m backing them to beat the Saints and Dimitri Payet to be at the centre of it. He scored a late, late winner against Accrington Stanley in the League Cup in midweek and, hopefully, he can score again this weekend. Along with Payet I’m taking his teammate, Michail Antonio, who contributes many goals from midfield.
Strikers
Last week, Leicester’s new striker, Slimani, scored twice for me but Jamie Vardy failed to hit the net as did Zlatan Ibrahimović for Manchester United at Watford. Very disappointing!
This week I’m gambling on Marcus Rashford getting a start against the Champions at lunch time on Saturday. Alongside young Rashford, for the first time this season I’m picking Diego Costa. He has been back to his best this season and he will be upfront for Chelsea away to Arsenal in the game of the weekend. My only worry is if he will be able to last the ninety minutes without being sent off. He does not have a great record for discipline in this fixture, or any other for that matter.
Completing the side this week is Arsenal’s Alexis Sanchez. This game could be a shoot-out between Sanchez and Costa, so may the best South American (Spaniard) win.
My captain is Diego Costa with my vice-captain being Alexis Sanchez this week.
Good luck and,
GET IN THERE!!!!
