Premier League GW6 - Starts Friday 20th September 2019
Bournemouth are a team that will often have you scratching your head and that has certainly been the case, as they not only have had a largely indifferent start to this Premier League campaign, but they've also been a bit of a nightmare from an FPL point of view.
It's amazing what a goal can do for your confidence and this statement could not be anymore true in regard to Chelsea's Tammy Abraham, a forward who started the season as a relative boy but now is quite clearly a man.
After registering two blanks at the start of the campaign, it was gameweek 3 in which Abraham finally got off the mark and after opening the scoring early against Norwich at Carrow Road, the former Aston Villa loanee would then add an all-important match winning second after the interval.
Fast forward a week and Abraham adds another brace to his collection with a pair against Sheffield United and had it not been for a late defensive lapse at the other end, his goals would have meant a second Blues win of the season.
Sometimes they say the international break can halt your momentum, although this was certainly not the case as far as Abraham is concerned and his hat-trick against Wolves was one that showed the repertoire of finishes he can now call upon.
Not only that but the three goals he scored in the West Midlands now takes him joint top of the Premier League scoring charts, with seven to his name thus far and he is among lofty company, as Sergio Aguero is the other player that he shares the accolade with.
When we look at both Abraham's and Aguero's contributions to the season in terms of percentage of club goals scored, the Chelsea forward has chipped in with 64% percent and the City legend has been responsible for 44% by comparison.
Does this mean that Chelsea have an over-reliance on their new main marksman? To be honest, you could just as easily look at it in the other direction and say that Manchester City have so many more attacking options to score their goals.
CITY SPREAD THEIR GOALS
With City having scored sixteen times in their first five matches � an average of 3.2 goals per game, it is apparent that they have an abundance of personnel who are capable of breaching the opposition's net.
A point that can be reinforced when you look at Raheem Sterling and the fact that he has scored five times already this season and he himself, has been responsible for 31% of City's Premier League goals thus far.
Quite simply Chelsea have made Abraham the focal point of their attack and by and large, it is he that will score the lion's share of their goals - should Frank Lampard continue to his put such a huge amount of trust in him.
That said, if Abraham continues such a positive scoring trajectory, it won't be down to Lampard having to take a risk or place his own faith in the player, it will be down to sheer talent alone that sees him lead Chelsea's attack.
While at the same time, there is absolutely no issue in putting all your eggs in one basket when it comes to the player responsible for scoring goals. You only need to look at Chelsea's fellow London rivals Tottenham for proof of this.
Once labelled the ‘Harry Kane' team by Pep Guardiola, Tottenham seemed to have been just fine with the World Cup Golden Boot leading the line over the past few years and although Heung min-Son has lessened his burden, there is no doubting the contribution he has offered to Spurs.
You could argue that just having the one option in attack, hampers the chances of winning trophies and the more players capable of scoring goals, the more opportunities you give yourself of going all the way in competitions.
Something that can be reinforced by Liverpool's attacking triumvirate of Mohamed Salah, Sadio Mane and Roberto Firmino, whose goals played a huge part in Liverpool finishing Premier League runners-up but also winning the UEFA Champions League last season.
Whether Chelsea can go all the way and win silverware under Frank Lampard remains to be seen but if Tammy Abraham continues being among the goals and allows the Blues to at least challenge in the league, he will be a sure fire pick for FPL managers up and down the country.
If we look at fantasy matters first, the Cherries are part of a quintet of clubs that have yet to keep a clean sheet this season and although they are joined by company such as Norwich and Watford, the fact that Chelsea and Tottenham are also in this group is perhaps more of a surprise.
With Bournemouth showing anything but a watertight defence thus far, they should be highly avoided when it comes to choosing a defender for your FPL teams this weekend but at the same time, they are a club that should be considered at the other end.
That's because the Dorset outfit are the only club to have been involved in four both teams to score (BTTS) matches this season, so although they are leaky at one end and won't provide a clean sheet bonus, they can at least offer some form of attacking points as a modicum of comfort.
It's this topsy-turvy attitude to Bournemouth's start which also makes them a team that you probably would not be all that confident in backing to get a result, due to the fact that they blow both hot and cold in equal measure.
For example. the first two weeks saw a home draw with Sheffield United, followed by an away win at fellow promoted side Aston Villa and although the defeat to Manchester City in week three was no real surprise, their performance against Leicester last time out certainly was.
Therefore, with only four points on the board from as many matches, manager Eddie Howe knows that his team will have to find some positive momentum soon and although they play host to Everton on Sunday, it could be another week at least before their season really gets going.
MANCHESTER CITY GOALS GALORE
Here's a quick one for all your goals fans and especially those who support Manchester City as well. Pep Guardiola's men have already recorded 14 goals a season, which equates to an average of 3.5 per game.
In addition to that each of Manchester City's league fixtures thus far have seen over 3.5 goals in total (including the opposition) and in one case, there were over 4.5 goals � this came in the opening weekend thrashing of West Ham at the London Stadium.
However, there is one other point that is of interest and that is the points per game (PPG) that Manchester City have racked up since the 2014/15 season and more importantly how it compares to their ‘Big Six' rivals.
| R | Team | PPG |
| 1 | Manchester City | 2.22 |
| 2 | Liverpool | 1.96 |
| 3 | Chelsea | 1.94 |
| 4 | Tottenham | 1.92 |
| 5 | Arsenal | 1.86 |
| 6 | Manchester United | 1.84 |
As you can see Manchester City have picked up an average of 2.22 points per game since the start of the 2014/15 campaign and when you consider that there are only three points on offer for a win, it just highlights how dominant the Etihad outfit have been.
Once you step away from City at the top of the list, there is only 0.12 points separating the remaining five clubs and as you can see between Liverpool and Tottenham (with Chelsea in between) there are just 0.04 points difference between this trio.
The reason 2014/15 is the marker that has been chosen, is because this is when Mauricio Pochettino took charge of Tottenham and therefore it gives us the perfect reference point, to see just how well his Spurs sides have performed.
When you consider that Tottenham have not yet won a Premier League title, to earn that many PPG is quite the achievement, although it also proves that no matter how successful you may be in relative terms and they certainly have, the final step is always the most difficult to make.
Another thing to consider is the fact that overall Manchester City have played 190 less Premier League games than Tottenham and still have a better all-time PPG (1.619 to 1.536) � something that further reinforces just how dominant the defending champions have been over these past few years.
