EPL Supercoach Gameweek 1 Wrap: 6 things we learnt


<p><br>Nice to be back for another year &#8211; already, frustration is setting in &#8211; only Cole Palmer &amp; Martin Ødegaard of the Top 10 owned players went big.</p>



<p>Thankfully I’d been strong on the Arsenal midfielder, but even he is a slight rotation risk! </p>



<p>So the fun of the SuperCoach EPL season begins. A reminder… even more than NRL &amp; AFL &#8211; this league is a grinding, changing marathon that is going to engulf you. </p>



<p>August lies to us often &#8211; trades are an absolute premium &#8211; panic only sets you up for failure.</p>



<p>Take all the learnings from the first 3 Gameweeks with a pinch of salt &#8211; we may well be singing from a very different hymn sheet in a month once European football becomes a factor.</p>



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<h3 class="wp-block-heading"><strong>1. Midfielders will be your best early bank builders</strong></h3>



<p>As fun as scoring defenders are (and there were plenty of them in Week 1 &#8211; Ajayi, Mendy, De Cuyper, Kayode) &#8211; there are options through midfield that are going to build your bank consistently for the first couple of months &amp; be legitimate options as season-long holds that have already emerged. </p>



<p>No price changes until players have played 3 games, giving us plenty of time to line up trades.</p>



<p>At the moment &#8211; <strong>Josh King (3.9mil)</strong>, <strong>Mamadou Sangare (4.5mil)</strong> and <strong>Julio Enciso (3.9mil) </strong>look really promising options &#8211; with Sangare the strongest of the 3 given upcoming fixtures and the fact he is a nailed, bolted, signed, sealed, delivered starter for the foreseeable future unless there’s an injury.</p>



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<h3 class="wp-block-heading"><strong>2. Out-of-position Defenders could become season-long holds</strong></h3>



<p>Two names to watch here &#8211; Myles Lewis-Skelly (3.9mil) &amp; Maxim De Cuyper (6.38mil).</p>



<p><strong>De Cuyper</strong> looks slightly more of a sure thing &#8211; was played as a winger in the 2nd Half of last season &#8211; a strong World Cup and a return to health seem to have convinced Fabian Hurzeler to make that his starting position this season. </p>



<p>He was brilliant against an admittedly poor Villa team in GW1, but scores of 13 against Chelsea &amp; 31 v Wolves at the back end of last season are encouraging as well.</p>



<p>I made <strong>Lewis-Skelly</strong> a late inclusion after seeing his selection in midfield before the game against Coventry, and he didn’t disappoint. </p>



<p>Exactly the profile of player who should knock up bigger and bigger base stats as he gets more experience. </p>



<p>Not a nailed-on starter yet, but the fact Arteta knocked back transfer offers &amp; then proceeded to start him in the opening game of the season is promising. </p>



<p>If you’ve gone an all-cheap defence, he’s a must-have before the price rises in GW4.</p>



<a id='wTjEwqkmS19E6XefcV4S7w' class='gie-single' href='https://www.gettyimages.com/detail/2292192968' target='_blank' style='color:#a7a7a7;text-decoration:none;font-weight:normal !important;border:none;display:inline-block;' rel="noopener">Embed from Getty Images</a><script>window.gie=window.gie||function(c){(gie.q=gie.q||[]).push(c)};gie(function(){gie.widgets.load({id:'wTjEwqkmS19E6XefcV4S7w',sig:'RBK1bbsHUpetUAN81JnPqxhQP7XyUGBXpViZjQzR5Dc=',w:'594px',h:'385px',items:'2292192968',caption: true ,tld:'com',is360: false })});</script><script src='//embed-cdn.gettyimages.com/widgets.js' charset='utf-8' async></script>



<h3 class="wp-block-heading"><strong>3. Big scores from guns are not guaranteed</strong></h3>



<p>This is the Premier League, and Harry West &amp; Oscar Henderson both wrote of the need to stay patient. </p>



<p>The three pre-season premiums that garnered the most interest didn’t reach the heady heights of last season on the opening weekend. </p>



<p>Bruno Fernandes 7 &amp; Gabriel 7 are both so good because even in relatively poor performances they still score, so there’s no need to panic. </p>



<p>Hairless Haaland 4 needs goals to score, and he spurned a couple of good opportunities against Bournemouth &#8211; the fact he was in positions to score encourages me as an owner though.</p>



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<h3 class="wp-block-heading"><strong>4. Captaincy PODs are often more effective than ones you trade in</strong></h3>



<p>Off the back of those 3 not going big &#8211; it’s a great example of the fact that if there’s something you find in a matchup &#8211; it’s best to back your gut &#8211; as many did with Calafiori on the opening weekend. </p>



<p>I was one of them but got greedy &#8211; I got greedy and expected Fernandes to find an even bigger score against a Hull City side that most are tipping to finish bottom &#8211; I refuse to feel bad about that.&nbsp;</p>



<p>I’ll probably double down as they head home to Old Trafford and face an upbeat (and perhaps over-confident) Ipswich Town this weekend. </p>



<p>But given Arsenal’s performance last week and Villa’s open-season approach to defending, if you’re a Havertz owner, that could prove a terrific play.</p>



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<h3 class="wp-block-heading"><strong>5. Get up early…do the work (or watch the highlights at least) [or even better &#8211; keep reading the articles]</strong></h3>



<p>As much as it pains me to use a Cornes-ism… seeing <strong>Florian Wirtz</strong> as the most traded out this week necessitates this plea. </p>



<p>He played well on the weekend in a more central position than he was playing under Arne Slot last season and had 2-3 half chances to score… not assist… score. </p>



<p>That wasn’t happening last year…neither was 6 points without scoring or assisting. Patience.</p>



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<h3 class="wp-block-heading"><strong>6. Arsenal are still the bankers</strong></h3>



<p>Yes, it was Coventry, but they have looked a level above what the rest of the competition produced this weekend (maybe with the exception of Brighton &amp; Chelsea). </p>



<p>Harry West pushed for an Arsenal stacking strategy (particularly in defence) as price gains flow &#8211; there are already a few opportunities there, with <strong>Calafiori </strong>looking back to full fitness with the help of his assist &amp; I’ve already alerted you to the potential of <strong>Lewis-Skelly.</strong></p>



<p>I’ll be keeping a very, very close eye on <strong>Kai Havertz (6.1mil)</strong> &amp; <strong>Christos Tzolis (5.5mil)</strong> &#8211; both are more complete footballers than the players they’ve replaced &#8211; I just want to see consistency of output against some better opposition before jumping on.</p>



<p><strong>Martin Odegaard (6.6mil) </strong>could well be the player of the season &#8211; he looked re-invigorated after spending so much of last season on the physio table.&nbsp;</p>



<p><strong>David Raya (8mil) </strong>will be the highest-scoring goalkeeper this season, barring disaster.</p>



<p>After these two games against Villa &amp; Chelsea, we’ll know more, but after that – Sunderland (a), Brighton (a), Leeds (H) &amp; Forest (a) look inviting.</p>



<p><strong>Trades</strong> </p>



<p>None (pending team news on Palestra &#8211; could be moved into a Levi Colwill trade)</p>



<p><strong>VC</strong> &#8211; Fernandes (vs Ipswich)</p>



<p><strong>C</strong> &#8211; Calafiori (vs Villa)</p>


EPL Supercoach Gameweek 1 Wrap: 6 things we learnt

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