Our Gameweek 3 Hot or Cold article is here to outline the current prospects of key Fantasy EPL players. Our 'Hot' or 'Cold' status will help take away your emotional attachment to certain Draft Premier League players and help you bring in the players that you need to help you dominate your Fantrax Draft League!
These Hot or Cold ratings are based on the data contained within the Weekly Rest-of-Season Rankings produced by Robbie P. The Draft Society's exclusive weekly refresh of Fantasy EPL prospect rankings!
Gameweek 3 Hot List
These are Fantasy EPL players that have risen in our Weekly ROS Rankings! Keep an eye on these Draft Premier League players, and bring them into your Fantrax squad if you can.
Rodrigo
Position: Forward
Team: Leeds
GW2 Rank: 142
GW3 Rank: 97
What's Changed?: Rodrigo was likely a very late punt in the draft, or even went undrafted in most leagues, but the injury to Sinisterra has really given him the chance to show what he can do for Jesse Marsch's Leeds side. A hat-trick against Cagliari in the final pre-season game, then a goal vs Wolves and a brace against Southampton last weekend, Rodrigo is on a serious hot streak! His 3 goals have come from 1.3 xG so don't expect his 22 PPS to be sustainable. However, he has posted 0.7xA, which shows he has more scope for points from attacking returns. While he didn't ghost very well against Wolves (just 4 ghost points), the 13.5 ghosties he put up against Southampton really gets the juices flowing. But this needs to be tempered by the fact that these two teams rank 8th and 5th, respectively, for forwards on our Fixture Difficulty Tracker. After the Chelsea match, Leeds do have a decent run of fixtures, so on this form, even with Sinisterra back fit, I can see Rodrigo keeping his place in the side, particularly with Bamford likely out for a least a gameweek or two. You've got two options with Rodrigo, ride out the hot streak until the wheels fall off or look to trade out on a high.
Granit Xhaka
Position: Midfielder
Team: Arsenal
GW2 Rank: 170
GW3 Rank: 140
What's Changed?: I can't quite believe I'm including Xhaka in this article but he's making his long awaited debut after a highly impressive performance against Leicester in GW2, bagging a goal and an assist on the way to 20.5 FPts! It appears that Xhaka and Zinchenko have been playing rather fluidly, with Xhaka moving into the left back spot quite regularly against Leicester, allowing him to get forward into the box more. It's hard to predict how often Arteta will use these tactics moving forward. But with a floor of 6.5 gPPS, it could be worth a punt in favourable matchups to trot out Xhaka in the hope that he gets more time in the attacking full back role and that he nicks more attacking returns.
Moises Caicedo
Position: Midfielder
Team: Brighton
GW2 Rank: 149
GW3 Rank: 126
What's Changed?: Caicedo is quickly becoming everyone's favourite set and forget midfielder. He's currently putting up a tasty 11.0 gPPS, which ranks him 6th among midfielders in our Ghost Point Tracker. The young Ecuadorian is filling up the stat sheet nicely with key passes, shots on target, tackles, interceptions and aerials. This is everything we'd expect from a combative midfielder with some licence to get forward in a Brighton side that has started the season in excellent form. Caicedo wasn't quite so productive (5.8 gPPS) on his introduction to the side for the last 8 GWs of the 21/22 season, but things have changed with Bissouma leaving for Spurs, so this should not be too representative. He is very much worth trotting out as your unspectacular but reliable high floor player each gameweek until he proves otherwise!
For the full list of Gameweek 3 risers, check out our Weekly ROS Rankings page!
Gameweek 3 Cold List
These are Fantasy EPL players that have fallen in our Weekly ROS Rankings. This may be due to poor form, they have been dropped from the best 11, they have suffered an injury, or received a suspension. It's time to consider trading out or dropping these Draft Premier League players from your rosters!
Leon Bailey
Position: Forward
Team: Aston Villa
GW2 Rank: 91
GW3 Rank: 123
What's Changed?: After his incredible pre-season form, Bailey appeared to be the second coming of Christ, with some managers taking him as high as Round 8 in drafts (early Round 7 in one of mine!). However, it took just one game with a disappointing 7.5 point performance and then a benching from Stevie G for his value to plunge. Let's face it, he was always a short term punt, and to secure that 3rd forward spot at Villa, you will likely need to roster at least 3 different players - and that's not a handcuff I would recommend!
Recommendation: Try and trade out Bailey to a manager holding any of Coutinho, Buendia, Ings and Watkins for anything you can. Otherwise, in a 10 team league, I'm happy to drop him. But in a 12 team league, I would hold for another couple of gameweeks. We are still in the very early stages of the season and you never quite know how things are going to shake out.
Jadon Sancho
Position: Midfielder
Team: Manchester United
GW2 Rank: 27
GW3 Rank: 40
What's Changed?: Simply put, all the positivity that came out of United's pre-season form has come crashing back down to earth with two embarrassing losses in the opening fixtures. I believe that Sancho is probably most impacted by the team's overall fortunes, which are not looking rosy right now. He's picked up 5 and 6 ghost points in the last 2 GWs, and has put up just 0.15 xG+xA/90 so far. You'd rightfully expect far more from your 2nd/3rd round pick. He has also been substituted in both games (in the 59th minute against Brentford), which is not a good sign either! I think Sancho has the possibility to be great at some point this season, but it's just a question of how long that could take. I'm quite pessimistic about the chances of ten Hag sorting out this sorry excuse for a team any time soon.
Recommendation: Unfortunately, you'll likely need to wait this one out. Sancho's trade value is at an all time low, so there's no point shopping him out unless you can get close to 3rd round value for him. After Liverpool in GW3, United have a couple of good fixtures v Southampton and Leicester, during which hopefully he can show a bit more against these sides who are known to have leaky defences, and then you can reassess.
Martin Odegaard
Position: Midfielder
Team: Arsenal
GW2 Rank: 29
GW3 Rank: 39
What's Changed?: A lot has changed at Arsenal. Big signings from Man City in the form of Jesus and Zinchenko have provided a lot of preseason optimism. Thus far, that optimism has translated into GWs 1 & 2, with the Gunners posting impressive wins over Crystal Palace and Leicester. However, one player this hasn't seemed to benefit in terms of Fantrax points output is Odegaard, who has put up a measly 3.5 and 5.5 points in the two matches so far. He has just one key pass to his name, delivering just 0.07 xG+xA/90 (compared to 0.38 last season). This is not what we were expecting from Arsenal's chief creator, especially given the extra quality finishers around him. It's still early days, but Arteta's tactics to start the season do not seem to be getting the best out of Odegaard (or Saka/the right side of the attack for that matter) with the majority of the attacking impetus coming from the left side with Zinchenko, Xhaka, and Martinelli. I don't necessarily expect this to continue forever but it will be extremely worrying for managers who drafted Odegaard as early as the round 2/3 turn.
Recommendation: If you hold Odegaard, I imagine you may have had to fend off some low ball offers already. I would recommend holding for now, and waiting to see how Arteta's tactics evolve. Arsenal have a nice run of fixtures over the next 6 matches (ranked 1st for midfielders in our Fixture Difficulty Tracker), so we should hopefully see the best Odegaard has to offer over this run!
For the full list of Gameweek 3 fallers, check out our Weekly ROS Rankings page!
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