After a breathless weekend of football, the final gameweek before the first international break of the season has come to a close. With that in mind, we round-up the most notable action of Gameweek 4 from a Fantasy Premier League perspective.
The fact that only two teams from 20 kept a clean sheet tells you all you need to know about how entertaining Gameweek 4 was. Attack firmly ruled the roost with just one match having seen less than three goals scored and 13 teams recording a minimum of two goals. All three fixtures to take place on Sunday saw the respective home clubs find the net on three occasions.
The Friday night fixture saw West Ham triumph 1-2 against Luton at Kenilworth Road, winger Jarrod Bowen (£7.1m) maintaining his record of having scored in each of the Hammers’ away fixtures so far this season, whilst James Ward-Prowse (£6.1m) gaining his third assist of the campaign. The midfielder is yet to play a game for his new club without picking up at least one attacking return.
The generously-priced forward Cameron Archer (£4.5m) accrued a goal, an assist and 12 FPL points on his Sheffield Utd debut in a 2-2 draw against Everton on Saturday lunch-time. Later in the day, there was a huge shock at Stamford Bridge as Nottingham Forest defeated Chelsea by a goal to nil. Taiwo Awoniyi (£6.6m) made it four attacking returns in as many games, setting up Anthony Elanga (5.0m) for the winning goal. Meanwhile, the popular Bryan Mbeumo (£6.8m) was back on the scoresheet for Brentford in an entertaining 2-2 draw at home to Bournemouth, acquiring 8 fantasy points in the process.
Gameweek 4 also saw history made as for only the second time in the Premier League era, three players scored hat-tricks on the same day, a feat last seen back on the 23rd September 1995. One of those hat-tricks was recorded by the most popular FPL asset this season, Man City forward Erling Haaland (£14.1m) who racked up 20 FPL points vs Fulham. Heung-min Son (£9.1m) netted his first league goals of the season and in some style, scoring a hat-trick as Spurs defeated Burnley 2-5 at Turf Moor. Evan Ferguson (£5.9m) completed the trio of hat-trick getters on Saturday evening, the Republic of Ireland striker scoring Brighton’s three goals in their 3-1 beating of Newcastle.
Crystal Palace midfielder Eberechi Eze (£6.3m) finally rewarded those FPL managers who have stuck with him following three consecutive blacks, scoring Crystal Palace’s second goal in a 3-2 win over Wolves on Sunday, enough to see him gain 8 fantasy points. Liverpool dispatched Aston Villa by three goals to nil at Liverpool. Dominik Szoboszlai (£7.0m) scored his first goal for the Reds and Mo Salah (£12.5m) netting his second of the season. Villa defender Matty Cash (£4.6m) won’t have pleased his FPL ownership though, after putting through his own net.
The gameweek concluded with a thriller at Emirates Stadium which saw Arsenal triumph 3-1 over Man Utd. The highly-owned Marcus Rashford (£8.9m) had put Erik ten Hag’s side ahead before Martin Odegaard (£8.5m) immediately equalised. Deep into second-half stoppage time, the Gunners bagged a dramatic winner through Declan Rice (£5.4m) before substitute Gabriel Jesus (£7.9m) put the seal on things with a third.
