The Prophet's Profit - GW9
The past Gameweek was full of surprises with Liverpool dropping points to Hull at home as well as Man City and Tottenham losing in their respective fixtures. Even some old heads wound back the clock and made their fantasy presence which brings them into the spotlight in this week’s Prophet’s Profit. Here are the picks of the bunch when conducting a trade before Gameweek 10.
Erik Lamela
The mercurial Argentine has showed flashes of brilliance this season; none more than his ‘rabona’ goal in the Spurs’ Europa League tie last week. Unfortunately for his fantasy owners what he has shown so far in both the preseason and in Europe up until now hasn’t translated across to the domestic league. Lamela has yet to score from 9 league appearances and although he has notched up 3 assists; this isn’t exactly the type of breakout season many were expecting from the young Argentine. He is definitely a guy to target in a trade, as his value is very low at this current point after Gameweek 9 and it is evident he is quality. Not to mention his job security seems to be as safe as it can get, with manager Pochettino so far opting to start him in all 9 of Tottenham’s league appearances to date. You should trade for Lamela with confidence, as he’s definitely one that will likely improve over the course of the long Premier League season.
Verdict: Buy Low
Samuel Eto’o
The veteran wound back the clock to his glory days over the weekend at Burnley, scoring a brace and taking away the ‘Man of the Match’ honours. One of his goals was an absolute screamer which would surely have got many people to begin to think that maybe this is just the beginning; and that the Cameroon superstar is about to explode onto the scene for Everton. You can’t put such a resurgence past such a quality player, but to say the odds of this happening are low would be an understatement. Eto’o has started just the 2 league games from 9 up until now and it is clear that Everton seem to be treating their prized recruit with ‘kid gloves’ and may continue to do so. He is just too much of a risk to own in fantasy squads because of Everton’s reluctance to overuse him and burn him out over the course of the season. If you happen to own Eto’o, definitely look to trade him for as much value as possible by pitching his fantastic performance over the weekend as well as his impeccable reputation as a goalscoring forward over his career.
Verdict: Sell High
Wilfried Bony
Bony featured in our Gameweek 4 Prophet’s Profit article as a ‘Buy Low’ candidate after his slow start to the season, and right now he is proving exactly why he would’ve been a valuable acquisition at that stage. Bony has scored 4 goals in his last 3 games and now looks completely settled into season 2014/15 and ready to pick up where he left off last season. With 17 goals to his name last season and 4 so far this season, he truly knows how to find the net and if you happened to trade for him when he was going through his early season form slump, good on you! He will only continue to flourish as Swansea’s main man up front and with a creative midfield behind him. If you own him, don’t let him go.
Verdict: Keep
Diafra Sakho
The Hammers’ hitman has been a revelation so far in his debut season in the English top flight and has really put fantasy owners on notice. It’s likely that Sakho started the season as a free agent in most leagues but now after his tremendous run of form which has had him score in each of his last 5 league matches he is likely owned in the majority of the leagues as either a 2nd or 3rd forward on fantasy squads. The Senegalese striker has played his past couple of years of football in the French 2nd and 3rd division and has also showed a knack for finding the net with 39 league goals in his last 2 seasons. As impressive as his recent goalscoring seems; if you own Sakho you would want to use his current form as trade bait to try and upgrade to a more established forward for your squad. Not to mention that his shoulder injury he suffered against Man City could keep him out for up to a month. If you can get away with trading him for value so you don’t have to worry about stashing him on the end of your bench for the next month, or worry about any type of form slump from a forward that’s not yet established in England; then you will have done your fantasy squad a favour.
Verdict: Sell High
Joe Hart
With just the 2 clean sheets so far this season; Joe Hart and Man City’s defence are simply not having the best time of it at the moment. With Chelsea also seemingly getting away at the top of the table, City will know that they will need to find some defensive consistency and turn such into wins to keep up with the Blues. Hart is someone in Man City’s back half who is clearly the number 1 choice goalkeeper and along with Captain Vincent Kompany is a mainstay in the first XI in the majority of league games. The Englishman has managed double figure clean sheets in each of his last 4 seasons for City and with the personnel that the Manchester club have at their disposal; there’s nothing to suggest this trend won’t continue. It is a good time to place a ‘low-ball’ trade offer for Hart, maybe offering a mid-tier club goalkeeper in return for him that will surely pay off in the long run; especially if the title race becomes a close one and City feel the need to defend like their lives depended on it.
Verdict: Buy Low
Well those are the picks of the bunch when considering who to trade away or who to trade for before Gameweek 10. Again if you have any trade related questions or just anything fantasy football related; follow me on twitter @Duane_0343 and drop me a tweet.
Article by Duane Silva, Footy Prophet
Follow Footy Prophet on twitter: @FFProphet