On Saturday, Arsenal were given another scare by a team they were expected to comfortably swat aside.
The clean sheet was busted once again but Bukayo Saka (£10.1m) belatedly delivered the goods for his Fantasy owners, while Kai Havertz (£8.3m) continued his scoring run at the Emirates.
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ARTETA ON SAKA
Saka delivered his biggest single-Gameweek score since the 2022/23 season, finding the net and assisting two other goals en route to a 16-point haul.
That’s now seven Premier League assists for the season, a total that no one can better.
So desperate were some Fantasy managers to get Cole Palmer (£10.8m) this week that the Arsenal winger actually suffered a net transfer loss (c. 60,000) ahead of Gameweek 7 – which even without the benefit of hindsight, always looked like a big gamble ahead of leaky Southampton’s visit.
Naturally, Saka is now second in the ‘transfers in’ column (110k and counting) in the run-up to Gameweek 8.
The England international’s underlying numbers in Gameweeks 6 and 7 were remarkably similar. In one game he blanked, in the other, he hauled. Classic FPL variability.
SAKA IN GAMEWEEKS 6 AND 7
| Gameweek 6 | Gameweek 7 | |
| Shots | 7 | 7 |
| Big chances | 0 | 0 |
| Shots on target | 2 | 2 |
| Penalty box touches | 14 | 15 |
| Chances created | 8 | 7 |
| Big chances created | 4 | 3 |
| xG | 0.29 | 0.31 |
| xA | 0.79 | 0.93 |
| Points | 3 | 16 |
Saka, as he often does, survived the first real round of rotation from Mikel Arteta this season. Leandro Trossard (£6.9m) and Gabriel Martinelli (£7.0m) were benched, so in came Gabriel Jesus (£6.8m) and Raheem Sterling (£6.7m). Neither really grasped their chances, both being replaced by the players they deposed on the hour.
Arteta was subsequently asked after full-time if there is a temptation to rest Saka, as he did with Trossard and Martinelli:
“Yes there is, and we have taken him off a few times this season and we have to manage the load on him, but at the moment, he’s in a good place.” – Mikel Arteta on Bukayo Saka
Saka rounded off the scoring by pouncing on a loose ball, having also set up Martinelli’s goal with a teasing cross. He claimed the assist for Havertz’s strike, too – the German notching for the seventh home fixture in a row.
HAVERTZ’S GOAL THREAT
As with Saka, it was shot central with Havertz. Seven last week, seven this.
The noticeable thing about the former Chelsea dud is that he’s almost pure goal threat. He’s had 10 big chances to Saka’s three this season.
In terms of assist potential, it’s a mismatch in the other direction: Saka has created 12 big chances to Havertz’s one.
“You can tell [his confidence has grown], he takes the ball and he runs with the ball. He’s on high press, he goes full gas, the way he holds the ball, the position he takes in the box. He’s an attacking midfielder, he plays as a nine, you don’t know where he is, that’s his football brain. His focus now is ‘I’m going to win the game, I’m going to do it’ and that’s a different thing.
“When he’s practising, he wants more and he’s not satisfied with what he’s doing because there is still, I think, another level from him. Obviously, he’s surrounded by incredible players but something has changed in him and that confidence, you really sense it and now he’s putting it into games and he’s winning football matches which is great.” – Mikel Arteta on Kai Havertz
ANOTHER CLEAN SHEET LOSS
Anyone who went for the Arsenal defensive double-up ahead of Gameweek 6 will be left licking their wounds. There’s certainly an element of bad luck: the Gunners had the lowest xGC (0.98) over the last fortnight.
Cameron Archer (£5.0m) busted the clean sheet this time, the goal arriving completely out of the blue.
There were other later scares, admittedly, with the woodwork rattled twice.
You could only imagine an already mean Arsenal backline tightening up, though. Thomas Partey (£5.0m) shouldn’t be needed at right-back much this season. Jorginho (£4.9m) won’t be starting, let alone marooned in central midfield, in many league games going forward.
STEWART INJURY LATEST
We had our first start of 2024/25 for a sub-£5.0m forward – but it lasted just 26 minutes.
Ross Stewart (£4.6m) got the nod to lead the line for Southampton at the Emirates after three successive substitute appearances.
After two years of battling with injuries, he succumbed to a fresh muscle issue.
“He’s got a muscle injury, so we’ll scan that tomorrow. I am absolutely gutted for him, he’s worked so hard to come back.
“We are honestly so disappointed for him. Everyone is. We just have to see how bad it is and then I know he’ll attack it in the same way he does everything.
“It’s hard for him to deal with but he has a huge resilience and character, so we’ll have to go again and see how long he’s going to be.” – Russell Martin on Ross Stewart
Archer’s not much more expensive than Stewart. He notched his first Saints goal here, with Martin hoping the strike will lift the weight of expectation off the former Villa man forward’s shoulders.
“It’ll be a big moment for him I think. Obviously, he missed a penalty against United and then a couple of chances at Ipswich.
“He found himself out of the team not because of that at all, just because the game maybe probably dictated something different.
“We wanted Ross Stewart’s physical presence against two really brilliant centre-halves and we’re gutted for Ross but Cam came on and took his moment.
“I think he’s going to be a really top player for us as well. We spent a lot of money on him in the summer and he’s got real tools that he needs.” – Russell Martin on Cameron Archer
This wasn’t actually too bad from Southampton, with Tyler Dibling (£4.6m) bright again and Jan Bednarek (£4.0m) heroic at the back.
While their styles are different, there are parallels with Luton Town of last season: both happy to go toe to toe with the big guns and both uncompromising on their principles. And, ultimately, you imagine Southampton’s fate will be the same as Luton’s was in 2023/24.
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