TC temptation.....

 

A lot of Fantasy managers are contemplating punting their Triple Captain chip this week.

After all, Salah is playing bottom-of-the-table Southampton, who've conceded nearly 2 goals per game so far. While Palmer is facing Leicester, and Saka has Forest at home (much less of an apparent pushover than the two promoted clubs, but still probably a bit of a gulf in class below Arsenal at their best).  I think you also have to fancy a resurgent-looking Newcastle and the in-form Gordon or Isak (or Barnes, or perhaps even Joelinton) at home against West Ham on Monday night, who have looked pretty terrible defensively of late. And Mbeumo or Wissa might get some chances against still occasionally shaky-at-the-back Everton (although they might still be slightly doubtful for a start this week?).

Some people are getting very excited about the prospects of Fernandes (or Hojlund?) against Ipswich, but I don't think we should expect immediate miracles from Ruben Amorim, and Ipswich - who, for me, have always looked much the best of this year's promoted trio - showed last time against Spurs that it is a mistake to take them for granted. 

There's even a surge of optimism for Haaland again - although Spurs have usually been a bit of a bogey team for Pep, and I would expect Ange to have his boys fired up to give an emphatic response to their humiliating fiasco at home against Ipswich last time out. A more left-field captaincy pick, though, might be DeBruyne - who does  have a bit of a history of absolutely smashing it as soon as he returns from a long absence.

It might be a good week for defences too, as 5 or 6 of the fixtures (it really is impossible to guess which way to call the Ipswich v United game; my love of the underdog would like it to go to Ipswich, but I can see United possibly pulling out a big game from somewhere....) look quite unbalanced: Liverpool, Chelsea, and Newcastle in particular, but also quite possibly Arsenal, Villa, City, and Manchester United might keep clean sheets;; so, it's not beyond the bounds of possibility that a defender or a keeper from one of those clubs might become the 'Player of the Week'. It's certainly feeling like it could be a very high-scoring GameWeek.

If I were a betting man (I am, sometimes...), I'd probably go for Palmer.

But I don't fancy him - or anyone else - enough this week to risk the Triple Captain on them.... because we're following on from an international break, and those bring so much uncertainty in their wake.

We're unsure of selections, because so many players might be fatigued or carrying a knock or late returning to their club after playing for their national squad. Many others, of course, were flagged with injuries after the last EPL gameweek (most of these were probably just phantom injuries, cooked up by their clubs to get them out of international duty - but we just don't know for sure); we've mostly had no updates on any of them until the last day or two, and it's still unclear whether some of them are going to be able to start. Worst of all, the usual schedule of training and tactical preparation within the club has been disrupted, and coaches have generally had, at most, a couple of days to work with their players again to get them ready for this weekend's games. While for those who haven't played any football, the rest might have been physically and mentally refreshing, some inevitable ring-rustiness from having missed the regular preparation routine for nearly two weeks is likely to outweigh that. All of this means that form in the first game back after an international break can be wildly unpredictable; many of the big clubs, in particular, have a tendency to misfire rather.

If this week's set of fixtures occurred at almost any other point in the season, in the midst of a regular run of games, I would probably be all over Salah or Palmer or Saka (or DeBruyne) as a prime Triple Captain opportunity.

But as it is, I think I'll wait: they're all facing bottom-of-the-table clubs again in January and February.

Well, Salah and Saka did indeed both have very bright games, notching 13 points each - which is a score you should be very happy with for the Triple Captain chip (although the foolishly greedy are always hoping for 15, 18, 20....).  Maddison and Cunha produced the two massive performances of the week, though; and I don't think anyone was betting on them as TC prospects!!

The 'curse' of the international break hit everywhere else, with United being predictably mediocre and largely outplayeed by Ipswich in Amorim's coaching debut, City having another shocker against bogeymen Spurs, Mbeumo and Wissa being completely invisible in a sterile goalless draw against Everton, while the gameweek ended with Newcastle producing a bizarrely lifeless display against a suddenly less-terrible West Ham and somehow losing, despite having the vast majority of the possession and goal chances. Funny old game, and all that.