High Scorers & The Leader
Stu Hayworth is our new leader! His team Mackem Boys rocketed to the top by being this weeks highest scorer, earning 75 points. A brace from Stu's captain Diego Costa and a goal from Zlatan Ibrahimovic meant his forward line were on song but it was in the midfield where Mackem Boys earned the majority of their takings. Sadio Mane & Etienne Capoue both scored and assisted, while Christian Eriksen's two assists for Spurs saw a combined points total from these three players of 36 points. To put that into perspective, that's as many my entire team took this week. Well done, Stu.
A mention also goes to Andrew McGwinn's The Beat Less who scored highly with 74 points, just one point behind Stu. Andrew's lads went up to 4th place and he also benefitted from Costa, Ibrahimovic, Mane & Capoue but 11 points were also redeemed by Kyle Walker due to his assist and clean sheet against Stoke City.
Languishing Down The Bottom
Will Roker Reports Simon Fenton ever make it out of this section? I've yet to be able to mention Team Simon in the writers section due to how badly they've been doing. Sitting third bottom in 321st place, Simon's team actually didn't do badly this week as they scored 48 points. If only he'd gone with either Dimitri Payet or Christian Eriksen as his captain, he may have earned more and brought himself into the top 300 but maybe this is the start of the Simon surge.
Bottom of the league is the excellently named All The F*cking Lads, managed by Matt Smart. I don't think Matt was paying to attention to all his lads due to the suspended Sergio Aguero donning the captains armband, which is a shame, as such a aggressively named team needs a watchful man in charge.
The Roker Report Team
We still aren't doing great but well done to Jim Holmes' Giroud - Sandstorm who are in 60th place, the highest any Roker Report writer has been all season! Another who had Costa as captain and Walker at the back, Jim also saw Kevin De Bruyne do him a good turn as he scored 61 points this week. Closest to Jim is Michael Lough's FlyOnTheWingsOfLove, a whole 42 places behind in 102nd. Sunderland's downfall was Michael's making as Romelu Lukaku sporting the armband contributed to over half of his 67 point haul in week four. I hope he's proud of himself.
Elsewhere floating around the top 200 are Carl Purvis' Crystal Phallus, Dan Parker's 50 Shades Of O'Shea and my team, Champagne Papy Bodji. The squads are 132nd, 164th and 185th respectively and all four earned points through Zlatan and that's about as good as it got for me. Fair play to Carl who scored highly through Robert Snodgrass, Etienne Capoue and Sadio Mane and it was only his defence that let him down as none of his men at the back scored higher than 1 point. It was a similar story for Dan who got next to nothing from defenders but goals from Roberto Firmino, Kevin De Bruyne and Christian Benteke did more than enough for him.
An early pace setter, James Henchards' Blackended Roar Mass now find themselves languishing in 224th position. 10 points from Ibrahimovic and 6 from Toby Alderweireld were as good as it got for Blackended Roar Mass, only earning another 11 points from his remaining players. You can't be as critical of Sunlun managed by Tom Atkinson though, they earned 54 points this week and while they may be 262nd, it might be the start of them pushing further up the table. Harry Kane getting off the mark for the season galvanised his team and Dimitiri Payet's audacious assist didn't do him any harm either.
Worrying times for Karl Maguire and Steel Panthers as they find themselves 272nd and only three points and twelve places ahead of Gavin Henderson's Ice Cream Kone. Gav was a week late to join the league remember, so this is a blow for Karl, who spent 16 points on transfers leading up to week 4, giving him a big handicap. It was made worse by Karl's only earners of note being Adam Lallana and Ibrahimovic, no one else really doing anything of note. There were only two players that stood out for Gav as well in Firmino and Capoue, who scored 28 of his weekly points total of 47.
Who To Pick This Week
It's a bit obvious but now might be the time to go for Romelu Lukaku. Full of confidence after his hattrick at the Stadium Of Light, you'd back him to continue that run of form when Everton host Middlesbrough in Saturday's late kick off. Many of us will have money in the bank after transferring out the suspended Sergio Aguero so it could be wise to cash that in on Lukaku who, at the time of writing, has been selected by less than 12% of managers.
If you don't have as much money to play with and want a cheaper striking alternative, I'd look no further than Christian Benteke. The former Liverpool and Aston Villa man got his first Palace goal against Middlesbrough and he'll be facing a Stoke side who are conceding goals for fun at the moment. Benteke is also only selected by 5.2% of players so you'd have a good chance on stealing a march on your competitors.
On Saturday, West Bromwich Albion host West Ham United and this could be a game to look at if you want to change your goalkeeper. Ben Foster is available for £4.7 million and is currently the second best keeper on points scored this season. Against a West Ham side who are struggling for form you could see him scoring you decent points in one of two ways - It's a typical Pulis performance where they grind out a clean sheet or The Hammers forwards create a high amount of chances but don't score, which would earn points through saves made. It's a bit of a gamble but a one worth taking if you need to make a change between the sticks.