It’s been a big few weeks in the Shake n Bake household, with the birth of baby Wilbur, meaning things have been a bit quieter than usual, but I managed to get an hour yesterday looking at my team and planning for Gameweek 7 and beyond.
And with it, I’ve taken my first points hit of the season.
Although some of my key principles for this season were to reduce the amounts of hits I’d taken, and always try and carry 2 FT’s into a gameweek after an international break, the state of my squad has meant that needs must.
With Trent Alexander Arnold and Reece James both injured, I was looking at having to start both Diogo Jota, who seems to be at a high risk of being benched, and Brandon Williams, and no-one wants to start a Norwich defender.
Add to this, my only fit sub would be Oliver Skipp, and it was clear that action was needed.
The James injury was the one that got me. Brought in on my wildcard for the run of games starting today, I’ve had to suffer a benching in his first week, and then being taken off injured last week.
Due to wanting a Chelsea defender for the run, in comes Andreas Christensen, for Brandon Williams. A £5.0m option in the Chelsea defence is tough to overlook. There’s some rotation risk, but with 5 solid defenders (once James and Trent are back fit, I’m happy to take the risk).
Christensen has only missed one game so far, on the back of the last international break where he played 270 minutes for Denmark, so I’m fairly happy that he is in Tuchels first eleven.
To make the funds work for this improvement, I’ve also taken out Jota. Despite his goal last week, I’ve found him a frustrating own since bringing him in, and with Firmino returning to fitness I can see him losing minutes and reaching Mahrez levels of frustration for me.
in his place comes one of my favourite footballers in the league, Bukayo Saka. Saka has been in great form recently, with 22 points over the last 3 game weeks, and it’s his link up with Emile Smith-Rowe which appears to have reignited Arsenals season after a stuttering start.
According to Opta, Smith Rowe and Saka have now assisted one another five times in the Premier League. Only one pair of players aged 21 or under have fared better in the competition’s history: Wayne Rooney and Cristian Ronaldo, who laid on a goal for each other eight times. Thats not bad company to keep.