GAME WEEK 6 is finally set to get underway this week with a smattering of European fixtures after a full round of Premier League games were postponed following the passing of Queen Elizabeth II.
Tottenham’s trip to Lisbon to face Sporting CP will get the Game Week underway later today and it’ll be interesting to see how Antonio Conte deploys his forwards.
Harry Kane (£7.4m) has fired from the get-go and has five goals from six league outings already but the same can’t be said for Son Heung-min (£5.7m).
Last season’s Golden Boot winner has looked out of sorts at the start of this term, an observation reinforced by stats.
The South Korean superstar has mustered one assist in all competitions so far and is yet to score.
While he’s earned two 7+ ratings, a booking against Marseille means his current overall Dream Team points tally of seven is very modest indeed – Kane has 37 points to his name for comparison.
New signing Richarlison (£3.9m) has looked lively when called upon and many fans have been calling for him to be a regular starter.
The Brazil international has played just 167 minutes of league football in 2022/23 but his tally of two assists means he’s outperforming Son in terms of goal involvements – the latter has racked up 493 minutes.
In Game Week 5, Richarlison was rewarded for his lively cameos when he was selected to start against both Fulham and Marseille.
First he took Marco Silva’s side for nine points having provided an assist for the opening goal and swooped the Star Man award.
Then he plundered 18 points against the Ligue 1 outfit thanks to a brace of accomplished headers to ensure Spurs started their Champions League campaign with a 2-0 home win.
The 25-year-old’s match-winning double earned him his second Star Man award in five days.
In fact, his Game Week haul of 27 points was only bettered by Ivan Toney (£4.6m) among all assets – Brentford’s top scorer bagged a hat-trick at home to Leeds.
The contrasting form of Richarlison and Son may well be causing headaches for more than a few Dream Team gaffers.
Spurs’ No7 is one of the most-popular players in his position with an ownership of 14.2% but Richarlison has four times as many points as his team-mate at this stage and he features in just 1.4% of teams.
On the surface it seems like a straight swap could be a profitable transfer, especially since the ex-Everton forward is available for £1.8m cheaper right now.
However, it remains to be seen whether Richarlison continues as a starter, you’d think so but Conte has been keen to retain his faith in Son and there’s also Dejan Kulusevski (£3.5m) to accommodate.
And to parrot an old cliche: form is temporary, class is permanent.
It seems unlikely Son will falter for long given his impressive record – he’s scored 18+ goals in each of his last six seasons.
Tonight’s clash in Lisbon could provide Dream Team bosses with some decisive information.
If Son gets off the mark then it may be worth persisting with him but if he’s outperformed by Richarlison again then that could be the green light for an appealing transfer.
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Source: Soccer - thesun.co.uk
