Fantasy Premier League Draft 2018/19

We head into the international break after a week four that was more even than most. The top four scores were separated by only nine points.

That meant at least one owner would be rueing his bad luck and of course it was Sima. 44 pts - actually his second best of the season - proved to be four points less than his opponent, jonny_sniper. At least Sterling became his first player to get into double figures, although it was only for ten points. Consistency is not always a virtue, as Sima now sits rock bottom with zero points, although he will be encouraged by Ings and Rondon's success. Sadly, Van Dijk and Salah both failed fo rthe first time this season, and he continues to get very little from West Ham and his other Man City players, Sane and Otamendi.

jonny_sniper's team produced a solid all-round performance, which was enough to put him back in winning ways. The defence/midfield/attack scoring breakdown was a neat 15/16/15, which proved enough to cope with the loss of Richarlison. Reinstating David Luiz to the team may just have proved a matchwinning move, as he top-scored with 8pts while the Liverpool defenders yielded just a couple each. Picking up Kovacic did not bring immediate dividends, although he did outscore his predecessor Ramsey and has improved his score in every single week.

That wasn't enough for the top spot, however, as Ketsbaia top-scored for the second week running. Weirdly, his 50pt total was his lowest of the season so far, but the highest points total of anyone - 229 - keeps him top of the table. Things started well with Robertson assisting Mane with only 10 minutes of the week played, but despite a couple of missteps, Walker's screamer and Lacazette's best performance of the year so far applied the coup de grace.  He could even afford a missed penalty from Gross, and leaving Patricio and Maddison on the bench. Jesus continues to disappoint, but Mitrovic has proved something of a bargain so far.

It certainly proved enough to beat my worst score of the year so far. Ozil's pitiful season continues, although at least Lukaku is showing signs of life. He was the only one to do so, apart from the perennially reliable Azpilicueta. Fortunately I will be able to welcome Vardy back after the break, and even more fortunately he should be extremely well-rested, having retired from international football.

Mine wasn't the worst score of the week though. For the third week out of four that honour goes to 54, despite his having partially reconstructed his team on the wire. At least the new guys did decently well, with Hennessey's 8pts and hotly sought-after Lucas Moura's 5pts. Sadly, those 8pts of Hennessey's wasted away on the bench, meaning that 54 actually recorder the lowest score of all this week - 24pts. Four players with one point each was bad enough, but Rashford's red card pushed him under the previous worst score. At least Smalling had a respectable 7pts, and only Moses failed to get on the pitch at all.

Kasper actually had more problems on that front, with Zaha and Lloris joining Son as absentees. Fortunately his Chelsea stars came through once again. Alonso failed to make it into double figures for the first time this season, although Kasper would no doubt take nine points every week, and Hazard top-scored with 11pts. Auba also found the net for the first time, and those three players would have been enough on their own to beat 54 and keep Kasper tied for first place (although a long way back on points scored).