Big Questions for GW6

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

European Football has returned.

And it was a mixed bag for the Premier League sides, with routine wins for some (Arsenal, Manchester City, Liverpool, West Ham) and difficult losses for others (Manchester United, Brighton, Aston Villa). If the first 5 games are purely about picking the best (healthy) players, from this point onwards you’ll have to start thinking about the impact of midweek games on manager’s weekend starting lineups too.

But lets never forget that the European competition is but a passing diversion when there’s Fantrax to be had. And we’re back at it in the Premier League this weekend and, once again, we’ve got questions. Specifically we’re watching:

• Can Ange keep the good vibes going through his first North London Derby?

• Are there actually four healthy defenders available for Erik Ten Hag?

• Can Taiwo Awoniyi’s double digit Fantrax point streak survive a trip to the Etihad?

• What do we do about Chelsea?

• How will the European hangover affect this weekend’s games?

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How will Ange-ball fare in the season’s first North London Derby?

5 games, 13 points. Both North London sides undefeated. I suspect not even the most optimistic Spurs supporters would have confidently expected this when Harry Kane left the building. It’s a real testament to how quickly Ange Postecoglou has reshaped Tottenham around James Maddison in attack and a new look central midfield behind him that they’ve made it look relatively calm and smooth (even when behind 1-0 in the 94th minute last week). Optimism abound. We’ll be honest, we do still harbour some questions. Spurs are 8th in xGD/90 (considerably behind Arsenal, Chelsea and Liverpool and dramatically off City’s pace). That’s despite a schedule that’s seen them face Bournemouth, Burnley and Sheffield United in the last three games. If you want to make a case for why we should consider disregarding an expectation of them regressing, you’d point at it being a new combination of players, learning a new system, whilst their first choice striker handles a crisis of confidence. And those underlying numbers are weighted heavily by the Brentford and Manchester United games, so maybe we’re still seeing some small sample stuff here. We’re about to see their first big test. We’re excited.

Their opponents have started equally well on a points and results front. And they’ve got better underlying numbers than their neighbours, too. But given the year they just had, there’s a feeling that the only yardstick to show progress is getting closer to Manchester City. And it feels like there’s still a pretty sizeable gap there, even if it’s not yet showing in the table. For them, a result in this game would go a long way to building faith that they can once again challenge for first, rather than just second.

For Fantrax, we’re watching closely who starts in attack for Tottenham. More specifically, who joins James Maddison, Dejan Kulusevski and Son in the lineup, given those three are almost certainties. Richarlison is probably the obvious choice, with the hope that his goal and assist in the last game is the start of a return to confidence. But it’s not impossible that Tottenham retain Manor Solomon in the lineup. He’s turned starts against Burnley and Sheffield United into two very respectable point totals. I’ve been dismissive of Solomon in other articles. I’d still be very hesitant to start him here. But you can only perform against what’s in front of you and he has done that for Fantrax.

A bigger question is whether you can trust the defenders for Spurs. Destiny Udogie and Pedro Porro were both drafted in most leagues and have returned good value so far. Cristian Romero has also found his way onto rosters in most leagues. And even Micky van de Ven has reached 76% rostered. You probably can’t drop the full backs, but I would personally be very hesitant to rush either of the CBs into Fantrax lineups, unless you’ve got no other option.

Arsenal vs Tottenham Hotspur - 2.00pm UK, 9am US kickoff, Sunday

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Will United have four healthy defenders to start?

Going into the midweek fixtures, 4-3 away to Bayern would actually be the sort of result a lot of United fans would probably have been ok with. Scoring three against one of the favourites for the Champions League, including a first goal for Rasmus Hojlund, would be reason enough for optimism. The defence was never all that likely to hold up to a Bavarian onslaught, given they were down to seemingly their last four healthy names and missing arguably three of their best four. But really there wasn’t all that much to hold onto (or to learn from) in midweek.