Curse? What curse? Alexander Isak (£8.7m) ended a run of six consecutive blanks for the Gameweek's most-bought player in Fantasy Premier League with two attacking returns.
The No 1 transfer target for Gameweek 16, brought in by 672,000+ managers, scored and assisted in Newcastle United's 4-0 win over Leicester City to earn 11 points, his third double-figure haul in six matches.
GW16 most-bought players
| Player | Bought by | Pts |
|---|---|---|
| Isak | 672,395 | 11 |
| Fernandez | 522,004 | 5 |
| Saliba | 509,371 | 6 |
| Palmer | 393,086 | 2 |
| Salah | 371,707 | 5 |
Isak was the only member of both the top five transfers in and the top five captains to register double digits.
Mohamed Salah (£13.4m) produced his lowest return since Gameweek 7, while Erling Haaland (£14.9m), Cole Palmer (£11.1m) and Bukayo Saka (£10.6m) all blanked.
Salah was handed the armband by more than four million managers, his largest backing since Gameweek 18 of the 2021/22 season, and his ninth-highest total on record.
But he failed to live up to his recent form, notching an assist as 10-man Liverpool were held to a 2-2 draw by Fulham, recording only five points.
Arsenal's goalless encounter with Everton means that Saka has failed to produce an attacking return in each of his three outings since equalling his career-best haul of 18 points in Gameweek 13.
And Palmer, who produced his own 18-point haul in Gameweek 15, was unable to take advantage of his rivals' poor showings as Chelsea beat Brentford 2-1 on Sunday.
His two-point return was the seventh time he's blanked having started a match this season, as many as he totalled in the whole of last season.
GW16 most-captained players
| Player | Captained by | Pts |
|---|---|---|
| Salah | 4,212,686 | 5 |
| Haaland | 2,392,944 | 2 |
| Palmer | 1,488,657 | 2 |
| Saka | 672,925 | 3 |
| Isak | 293,842 | 11 |
Haaland also recorded his seventh blank of the campaign in Manchester City's 2-1 reverse to Manchester United.
His fall from grace shows no signs of slowing down, with the Norwegian among the three most-sold players for the sixth successive Gameweek.
His ownership has now dipped below 40 per cent for the first time ever in Fantasy.
Haaland has so far failed to punish his sellers, with his last double-digit haul coming way back in Gameweek 4, despite impressive underlying statistics. Since Gameweek 4, Man City's talisman is top for all key attacking metrics: shots (50), shots in the box (45), big chances (15) and shots on target (23); all except the most important one - goals scored.
His four goals over that period rank joint-16th overall, and he's registered an Expected Goals (xG) underperformance of -4.23, the worst tally of any player. According to his xG, he should have had scored four more goals.
Returns all round
In addition to Isak's hoodoo-busting performance, it's been a decent round for the five most-recruited players, with attacking or defensive returns from William Saliba (£6.2m), Enzo Fernandez (£5.1m) and Salah.
Saliba claimed a sixth clean sheet of 2024/25 Fantasy and narrowly missed out on a share of the bonus against Everton, finishing with a six-point return.
Meanwhile, Fernandez added an assist to his recent run of good form.
The Argentina international has now produced a goal or an assist in each of his last six Premier League appearances following a tactical tweak from Chelsea head coach Enzo Maresca. A more advanced role and a share of set-piece duties have boosted the potential of the cut-price midfielder.
