Welcome to a new segment in The Draft Society library. Here, I (DraftGenie) will be providing you with my thoughts on all things draft! Each segment of Genie's Corner will focus on something specific and relevant to current events in the Draft Fantasy EPL world. Those of you who follow me on Twitter will know I tend to take a bold and differential approach to the draft game, which has led to many fantasy titles. In these articles I will be giving you my unique insights, bold takes, sage advice, and much more throughout the season.
Genie's Corner
Check out this weekly dive into the mind of our mercurial Fantrax EPL manager and analyst Draft Genie! Each week he provides his thoughts on strategies, players to watch, trades to push for, and much more!
Gameweek 3 Advice
Play those "Steady Midfielders"
The first few weeks of a fantasy season are really hard to predict who will do well, and who will get you 1.5 points from the waiver wire. We have pickups such as DaSilva with 2 goals in 2 games despite only 2 total shots, and other such as Iwobi and Schlupp, both registering 7 points in their first 2 games. For this week, I don't mind starting 2-3 of these types of mids who have shown consistent scores of 6 or higher. Some of these players include: Iwobi, Schlupp, and Reed. Players such as Roca, Hojberg, and Lallana can also offer similar value. While I am not recommending you start 5 of these players in midfield, starting 2-3 of them in a formation where you use 5 midfielders isn't the worst idea. Assuming most managers have a decent set and forget MID1 such as Maddison, Bowen, or Kulusevski, there are midfielders who have really struggled to perform this year, and either benching them for consistency or surrounding them with sure points could help you get closer to the coveted "100 points", which is usually a benchmark for a win. The likes of Sancho, Grealish, Mount, and Trossard have all had poor starts to the season. There is a chance Grealish doesn't even start, and Sancho and Mount can easily get 5 or less points this week as well. It would be tough to bench these players only to see them get their first attacking returns of the season. That's where the recommendation to have steady midfielders this week helps. If these players boom for 15-20 points, you should win. But if they continue to flop for 5 or less, at least you can somewhat rely on those steady players to give you a fighting chance in your matchup depending on the rest of your lineup.
Avoid Leicester and Leeds Defenders
Leicester can't seem to keep the ball out of their net this season, and are probably lucky not to have conceded more goals this season. Despite the returns of Ndidi and Fofana, they are really struggling at the back this season. The loss of captain Schmeichel is being felt, and I do expect a very open game vs. the Saints this weekend. None of the Leicester defenders have scored well either, especially Justin who was very hyped up in preseason and drafts. Despite playing high up the pitch, he just isn't getting the ghost points needed to make up for the lack of clean sheets. Justin is averaging just 5.9 ghost points per start, and if Leicester concede 2 or more goals again, there is a good chance he finishes with less than 2 points. Fofana is the only one I might be okay playing if you really needed a DEF3 this weekend. But the recent links with Chelsea are only growing stronger, so his head surely won't be focused here and there is a chance he doesn't even get the start.
Leeds defenders, Struijk in particularly, have done decently this season. But this is not the match in which to trot them out. We saw their late game collapse vs. Southampton, as well as the many chances they gave Wolves in the opening weekend. Chelsea will be hungry to do some damage this weekend, with the likes of Sterling, Mount, and Kai all looking for their first goals of the season. I expect Chelsea to win this one, and the score could get ugly, especially with emotions running high after the Spurs game. It is best to leave your Leeds defenders glued to your bench this weekend, and look to stream a defender in an earlier game to ensure that you aren't forced to slot in any Leeds defender.
Players that are looking "worrying"
Any Manchester United Player
Yes, this one hurts to write. With 1 goal in 2 games, and 6 conceded against two midtable clubs, Ten Hag is not off to the best of starts. The only goal scored was thanks to an own goal via an awful clearance attempt by Mac Allister, and it is clear things are just not clicking. There seems to already be unrest in the dressing room and behind the scenes, especially with this Ronaldo saga dragging on longer and longer. United will need to put up a good performance vs. Liverpool no matter the score in order to have any confidence to get on a good run of form. United are rumoured to be in the market for as many new signings as possible, so there is every chance we can see a refreshed lineup come gameweek 4. For now, yes, worry about their assets. Bruno looks off, Sancho looks as poor as he did last year, the defence is in shambles, Rashford doesn't know where the net is, and well...McFred. If you roster a United asset, especially Sancho, Dalot, Shaw/Malacia, & Rashford, you probably won't get anywhere even close to draft day value. Bruno and Eriksen still look like they can put up points if things start to click, but that will require patience. I would look to approach the United fan in your league or a manager who just likes to hoard "big name" players and float out some offers. If you can get even 70% of draft day value for a United defender or winger, I would probably look to do those trades based on roster construction. United being in the market for new wingers and fullbacks doesn't bode well for the minutes of some of these players going forward. We can probably expect Sancho/Rashford to rotate more or be hooked earlier in games if these signings go through.
Kai Havertz
This was supposed to be the year Havertz made a name for himself in the EPL. Instead, he misses one of the easiest chances he will get this season in the draw vs. Spurs. Reece James laid it on a plate for him, and given the disappointing result, you can bet Tuchel will have made his opinion heard about that miss. He still managed 8.5 ghost points, but the main concern is Chelsea are actively looking for a new striker. Sterling went to Chelsea to play more games, and you can assume Mount is ahead of Kai in the pecking order as well, meaning Kai will be the odd one out. Unless he starts putting the ball in the back of the net and fast, he could be looking at a very different role soon. Chelsea enter a friendly stretch of games, but if a new striker is signed before gameweek 4, and Kai still hasn't scored, we can expect to see a ruthless Tuchel swap. We have seen with Cucurella and Sterling that Tuchel will throw in new signings into the XI as soon as they have had 2-3 training sessions. You probably won't get much value for Kai, unless your league doesn't really look at transfer news, so your best bet is to hold him and really hope he performs vs. Leeds. If not, you may be looking to panic sell the Chelsea striker soon enough.
Gordon/Gray/McNeil
The Everton trio are really struggling to come into their own in both fantasy and reality. The loss of Calvert-Lewin probably affected the way Lampard wanted to play, with McNeil clearly being bought in to ping crosses at the forward. Now with Rondon the only real forward option, these three must adjust. All of them have produced very poor displays this season, and it is really only the lack of backups keeping them in the XI. To make things worse, Gordon is insistent on making a move to Chelsea for some reason, and hasn't looked the same as last year. If I rostered any of these players, I would be looking to ship them out ASAP, despite the good run of games. There is every chance these three can only combine for only 2-3 returns max over the next few weeks. Unless Calvert-Lewin makes a shockingly fast recovery this attack looks very toothless. Act accordingly.
Philippe Coutinho
Coutinho was a third round pick in many leagues, but is not performing even close to that. 4.5 total points in 2 games is a sign for worry especially with those games being vs. Bournemouth and Everton. He looks to have picked up a knock as well. Emi Buendia came on in his place and played better than he has all season. There is a more than likely chance he doesn't start this upcoming week, and could even face a spell on the bench. Coutinho was very overdrafted in my opinion thanks to his "big name" hype, and that should still hold some value for those looking to sell him before things get even worse. Aston Villa as a whole still look like a team that will struggle for wins under Gerrard, and linking him back up with his boy Coutinho won't help the club as much as they thought. Coutinho is a player that falls under the "sell low before he falls even lower" category. If you can somehow turn Coutinho into a player such as Eze, who was drafted 2-3 rounds later than Coutinho on average, I would do that in a heartbeat. One looks to be up for it this season, and on a team that will be very exciting to watch....the other used to play for Liverpool.
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