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The News
- A quick reminder that Western Sydney and Central Coast have the bye this round; the Wanderers have another bye in Round 4, as do Brisbane. Keep this in mind when managing your teams.
- The Wanderers' Vitor Saba will miss an additional week thanks to his red card, meaning he won't be back until Round 6 - conveniently in time for a double round for the Wanderers.
- Melbourne City's superstar guest player David Villa is heading off to America much sooner than expected, with the Round 4 clash against Adelaide United likely his final game for John van't Schip's side. If you have him, you may as well hold onto him until he goes. However, if you were looking at bringing him in perhaps it's best not to considering you will have to make a trade in two weeks.
- In further bad news for City, marquee Robert Koren has been ruled out for a further 6 weeks. If you've held onto him hoping he'd come good you'll have to trade him out now.
Round 3 Talking Points
- After an indifferent A-League debut against the Reds, Mensur Kurtishi found the net against Perth and provided an assist as well, suggesting he may be a worthwhile purchase after all - perhaps handy given many coaches will be looking for a forward to replace the departing David Villa with. Of course, considering Brisbane have the bye next week you can afford to see how he goes against Sydney this week before buying him in Round 5.
- Henrique started and scored a goal, however he only found himself in the side due to Dimi Petratos moving into midfield (thanks to the absences of Matt McKay and Liam Miller).
- Though he wasn't credited with it, James Donachie essentially scored an own goal for the second week in a row. His spot will come under pressure from Jack Hingert soon.
- Sydney's marquee Marc Janko was disappointing against Wanderers and again in the FFA Cup loss to Adelaide on Tuesday night. With 2 goals and an assist Corey Gameiro looks the better buy at the moment, while Alex Brosque is also performing well (and scored off the bench against Adelaide).
- Alex Gersbach started against Wanderers and could keep his place with Matt Jurman out after injuring himself in the warm-up for the FFA Cup game.
- Scott Galloway is set to play at left back, while Jason Geria is out through injury - meaning Daniel Georgievski keeps his spot (for now) albeit on the opposite flank. Once Geria is fit, it will be interesting to see who drops to the bench.
- Besart Berisha was a major let down against Adelaide last round; however he is a big game player and should bounce back in the derby this week.
- Leigh Broxham was predictably dropped despite his sensational Round 1 performance for Mark Milligan. Despite him not so predictably still being Victory's top fantasy scorer, he is absolutely not a fantasy footballer.
- Fahid Ben Khalfallah rescued a point off the bench for Victory; perhaps a starting berth isn't as far off as first thought.
- Melbourne City struggled to a point against the Jets last round, and with the bad news about David Villa and Koren perhaps things aren't looking so bright. Koren's extended absence is at least good news for owners of Aaron Mooy, who should continue in a more advanced position in midfield.
- After a disappointing loss at home to Perth, the Phoenix made amends with a fantastic 2-1 win away to the Mariners. Michael McGlinchey and Nathan Burns starred, highlighting that Wellington will rely on both men for goals (scoring and creating) this season, especially with Jeremy Brockie's woes continuing - though despite missing a penalty he was credited with 2 assists.
- Tom Doyle scored an unfortunate own goal against the Mariners; however, he played a full 90 minutes, which is encouraging.
- There doesn't appear a lot of value in the Jets at the moment, with Joel Griffiths the only player in double figures. Edson Montano at least managed to get off the mark against City, while Marcos Flores encouragingly started and managed 5 points.
- Adrian Madaschi is still listed as being out for 1-2 weeks with a calf problem.
- Sergio Cirio is in fantastic form for the Reds in all competitions, scoring in each of United's 3 FFA Cup wins and the opener against Victory last round. However, it is worth noting that all of these goals have come while playing his favoured position on the left wing. In the A-League he has been starting on the right to accommodate Craig Goodwin, where he is less effective. So I'd resist the temptation of picking him up until he is starting games on the left.
- A likely cause for such a change would be the return of Fabio Ferreira to the starting line up; he may be a couple of weeks away from that however, with Awer Mabil starting on the right against Sydney (as Goodwin is cup tied and can't play for Adelaide in the FFA Cup).
- Another Red in great form is Bruce Djite, who added 2 goals in extra time on Tuesday night to his strikes against the Roar in Round 1 and the FFA Cup. I'm skeptical though as to whether he can be a good forward option though, given his poor goals to games ratio, the fact he has a lot of responsibility, and that the Reds typically cross to the far side (and thus beyond Djite) when attacking.
- Osama Malik came off the bench against Sydney; once he is fully fit he may take the spot of Dylan McGowan.
- Andy Keogh has been sensational for Perth so far, scoring a (somewhat dubious) hat trick last round after opening his account in Wellington the week prior. The leading scorer in fantasy comes up against a Reds side that simply can't seem to keep a clean sheet, so he's a reasonable choice as captain despite playing away from home (especially if you don't have David Villa or Berisha).
- Besides Keogh the only Perth player in double figures is Mitch Nichols, who returned only 3 points last round.
- Nebojsa Marinkovic was taken off at half time with Perth trailing; not great for his prospects of keeping his spot when the side went on and won without him. If you are playing him on the field, be wary that you may soon need to trade him.
- Defensive cheapie Josh Risdon is out for a week with injury; coaches who have gone cheap in defence may find their teams' depth tested this week with question marks over a few cheapies and others, like Eddy Bosnar and Antony Golec, having the bye.