The Fantasy Premier League world moves incredibly fast and holds no prisoners. There have been a lot of emerging bandwagons in the first three weeks of Premier League football already and the Pukki Party has already begun. The big boys, Mohamed Salah and Raheem Sterling are doing their jobs, while the big defences have somewhat overperformed.
But right now, I will try avoiding the obvious picks and give you my input on three choices who could make for good buys at this stage.
1) Sebastien Haller (WHU)
This £45 million French striker has already gotten going last week against Watford with a brace and his fixture schedule is very inviting. Sebastien Haller has got three very lucrative things going for him: he has pedigree playing for a big club, is a fairly prolific goalscorer, and he's got the stats that indicate form. To add to that, he's got long list of favorable fixtures as well!
In the next nine fixtures with West Ham United, Haller only plays United at home from the last year's top six. His next nine include hosting the likes of Norwich City, Crystal Palace, Sheffield United and Newcastle at home. Even on his travels, Haller faces a leaky Aston Villa and Bornemouth in his next five. With Felipe Anderson and Manuel Lanzini supplying the creativity behind him, he looks set to continue his goalscoring form.
In the last week against Watford, Haller had four goal attempts against Watford, all of which came inside the box. This means that his point returns were not lucky. To me, he looks like a hybrid of Zlatan Ibrahimovic and Olivier Giroud in terms of style, and having scored 15 goals and getting nine assists in his 29 league games last year, there is no doubting his quality.
If you are looking for a new forward to grace your frontline, Haller gets a big thumbs up from me.
2) Ashley Barnes (BUR)
This is a slightly odd pick given Burnley face Liverpool next, but Ashley Barnes has made a compelling case all year to be a part of our FPL teams. Talking about the immediate fixture first, Burnley plays the mighty Liverpool at home next, but have scored against them in their last six meetings. In addition, Liverpool haven't looked as water-tight defensively so far as they did last year.
Keeping this in mind, lets talk about Burnley's fixtures after Liverpool. After the Reds, Burnley face only Chelsea at home from the top six sides in their next 11 fixtures. So, the matches are strongly in favour of Barnes, once he's done with Liverpool this week.
In addition, Barnes has been one of the most in-form strikers in the league this year. Apart from already scoring four in the league this year, Ashley Barnes has scored 13 goals in the league this calendar year. That's the same as Raheem Sterling and more than Mo Salah already.
And he's just not getting lucky; Barnes is shooting on sight. He's fired more shots than any other striker in the league this season, with a huge majority of his shots coming inside the box.
Keeping in mind his 6.6M cut price, he's a strong recommendation from my end for your FPL teams.
3) Mason Mount (CHE)
This young ace from Chelsea is an absolute bargain at his price (6.1M); he's got everything going for him. Mason Mount plays the #10 role in a very attacking Chelsea team and is on a lot of set pieces for the team. He loves to shoot on sight, and he's Frank Lampard's pet, having worked with him last season at Derby County, scoring 11 times and assisting six times for them.
Chelsea have a host of favorable fixtures right until GW12, with the visit of Liverpool in GW6 the only real tough fixture. In any given season, FPL gaffers would have to pay atleast 9 million for a goal-scoring Chelsea midfielder, however we've been given a gift with his pricing.
Mount has already scored two goals in three starts this season and stats indicate that he isn't being lucky. Mount has had the most shots on goal amongst all midfielders this season (the same as Raheem Sterling) and has a substantial assist threat as well, since he is on set pieces (he has created seven chances this season so far). He has really taken to the premiership under Lampard. The one possible issue with Mount and Chelsea could be Champions League rotation policy, but at his price you really have to take that gamble.