Big Questions for GW2

What's on our minds going into the second week of the season?

Well that felt like a long 4 days, didn’t it? With the exception of Manchester City fans, who got a mild-midweek diversion in the form of another trophy, we’ve all had to sit and wait almost a full week for our clubs to return to action.

Gameweek 1 to Gameweek 2 always feels like the longest (non-International) break of the season somehow. Reassessing everything about the players we’ve drafted on the basis of 90 (probably not fully fit) minutes is generally a terrible idea, but it doesn’t mean we’ve not got some big questions going into Week 2.

So given it’s too early for much detailed data-backed analysis, we thought we’d share some of the questions on our minds as we look to form our baseline opinions on the 2023/24 Premier League season.

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Who will Newcastle play on the left wing?

The Middle-East derby this weekend comes almost a year to the day from that incredible 3-3 game that saw City take the lead, only for Newcastle to peg them back, get to a two goal cushion and then see it pulled back. It was one of the games of the season. One of the top performers that day was Allan Saint-Maximin, who got 2 assists and took a further three shots on the day. He scored again the next game, before Ryan Fraser took a crack at the LW spot for the next few games (yep, seriously, that happened). There was always a feeling that, for all his talent, Saint-Maximin was a tough player for Eddie Howe to accommodate tactically (and had some injury challenges too). So it’s not really a surprise that Newcastle have spent significant money on that spot. By the time the reverse fixture came around last-season, Anthony Gordon was starting in that LW spot, following a (still slightly confusing if you ask us) £45m move from Everton. He didn’t really do a lot that day, playing 62 minutes, creating 0.02 xA and 0 xG, as Newcastle were beaten 2-0.

This Summer, Newcastle took advantage of Leicester City’s drop to the Championship and brought Harvey Barnes up to St James’s Park. The competition between these two (and young talent Elliot Anderson) is likely to be one of the main stories of Newcastle’s early season. Against Aston Villa, Gordon got the nod and was more involved, offering 0.07 xG and 0.36 xA, creating Sandro Tonali’s goal to open the scoring. Advantage Anthony Gordon. At 68 minutes, with the score at 3-1, he subbed off and Barnes took his place. In his 30 minutes on the pitch, Barnes put up 0.53 xG and 0.54 xA. He got a goal and an assist to show for it and his chemistry with Callum Wilson looked excellent.

So now to the weekend. Our assumption is that Anthony Gordon may still get the nod to start, with Barnes still working his way into the side. But it’s going to be fascinating to see how this plays out. Our money’s probably on Barnes long-term but we’re mostly just hoping it’s not a horrible rotation situation.

Manchester City vs Newcastle - 8pm UK, 3pm US kickoff Saturday

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Is Nicolas Jackson the answer to wastefulness up front for Chelsea, or more of the same?

A pet hate of mine is the way “Big Chances Missed” is used online. So before I jump into this blurb, I’m going to set out my stall that I want to see lots of Big Chances Missed for a starting striker. Last seasons top-5 in this category included Erling Haaland, Marcus Rashford, Ollie Watkins and Mohammed Salah. Good strikers get lots of chances and that means they miss more than other players. That said, for each player, they ended the season with fewer than 1 “Big Chance Missed” per 90.