Despite the English Premier League being on an international break, there has been plenty of news coming out of the world’s most popular football league. The Premier League returns on Saturday, giving fantasy football managers a chance to get back into the game.
The weekend will be headlined by the first Manchester Derby of the season. The game has plenty of storylines going into it. From Jose Mourinho and Pep Guardiola’s rivalry to the revenge Zlatan Ibrahimovic seeks against the manager he felt derailed his career at Barcelona, the derby will be tasty.
With the build up already started for the next round of fantasy sports, let us take a look at some of the major storylines from the weekend.
Sergio Aguero banned three matches
Sergio Aguero will miss out on the Manchester Derby, causing a major void in the Blues’ front line. The Argentine was found guilty for his elbow on West Ham defender Winston Reid in City’s 3-1 win in gameweek 3.
Aguero has scored three times this season and has been the catalyst to City’s goal scoring this term. The striker has been in fantastic form, a sure pick for any fantasy football team. He added a hat-trick to his goals total in the Blues’ Champions League qualifying campaign as the team defeated Steaua Bucharest 5-0 in the first leg.
Aguero will also miss Bournemouth’s trip to the Etihad and the team’s League Cup clash with Swansea on September 21st.
Crystal Palace’s stingy defence
Of the five top leagues in Europe, English Premier League side Crystal Palace rank sixth in tackles. The Londoners average 25 tackles per game, but interestingly, centre-back Scott Dann is not one of the sides main stoppers. Despite that he is one of the top defenders for fantasy football managers.
Regardless of their stingy defence, Palace still sit fourth from bottom in the Premier League. The team are only giving up one goal per game, but have only tallied once in three league matches. Fantasy managers should be wary about selecting a Palace attacking player for gameweek 4.
Everton attacking defences
Ronald Koeman’s Everton may gatecrash the English Premier League top four this season. The Toffies have already recorded seven points from nine, and top striker Romelu Lukaku is yet to score. Everton currently rank fourth among teams from the top five leagues in Europe in dribbles completed per game (14.7).
Wingers Yannick Bolasie and Gerard Deulofeu are tremendous down the flanks, and both will get more playing time as the season unfolds. Bolasie is a fantastic fantasy football selection for gameweek 4. His ability to take on defenders and get crosses in should help Lukaku on to the score sheet sooner rather than later. The big Belgian is a good choice for gameweek 4, too. Lukaku leads the team in dribbles per game at five. He could be the complete package against a very poor Sunderland at the weekend.
Jordan Henderson is the Premier League’s top passer
Jordan Henderson deserves a spot in your fantasy team. Despite the criticism that continues to surround the youngster, he is one of the best central midfielders in the Premier League today. Henderson has completed the most accurate passes of any Premier League player through three matches. The Liverpool man has tallied 225 completed passes of 258 passes made. He is passing at an 87% clip and averages 1.7 key passes per match.
Henderson has completed 28 more passes than second place Marouane Fellaini and 40 more than Manchester City’s Fernandinho.
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