Lessons From the Weekend: Premier League Week 8

With bags of goals, a handful of upsets, and a managerial sacking, Gameweek 8 of the Premier League is now behind us. With twelve days before the next set of Premier League matches start we have some time to reflect and think about what transpired over these past two days.

Lesson #1 – Sergio Aguero should have been on your Fantasy Premier League team this weekend.

Oh, and…

Lesson #1A – You should have captained Sergio Aguero on your Fantasy Premier League team this weekend.

Yes, this weekend in the Premier League saw Sergio Aguero score a glut against a ponderous Newcastle United side.

This comes as vindication for fantasy managers who have been holding on to Aguero and/or captaining him weekly, despite the striker not scoring in the Premier League since August. Having Aguero on your team has been more of an insurance policy for most fantasy managers. It’s better to have him than not in case he does something like, say, score five goals. In which case you can say ‘I have Aguero coverage, I’m safe’, instead of putting your head in your hands and lamenting how you missed out on a 25 point haul.

This weekend was one of those weekends where it was better to have Aguero than to not have him, as his five goals provided managers with a heaping 25 points. If you captained him, you got 50 points. If you were one of the few people who played the triple-captain chip, he got you a game changing 75 points. In the league I’m in, four managers (including myself) captained Aguero. Our league leader, who had an 80 point lead and didn’t captain Aguero, saw his lead drop to 28 points.

Outside of Manchester United away in Gameweek 10, Manchester City have a very easy run of fixtures going through late October and November. If any lessons are learned from this weekend it’s that Aguero is a must on any fantasy Premier League team right now.

Next: Lesson #2