Ollie Watkins (£8.0m) netted a hat-trick and claimed two assists on Saturday as Aston Villa racked up a 10th consecutive home win.
Manchester City, meanwhile, suffered a surprise defeat at Molineux.
The key Fantasy Premier League (FPL) talking points from these two fixtures are addressed below.
Any graphics and stats you see in this piece are taken from our Premium Members Area, where you can find Opta data on each and every Premier League match.
WATKINS’ HAT-TRICK
Ollie Watkins’ whopping 23-point haul on Saturday has catapulted him to the top of the FPL player standings, ahead of Erling Haaland (£14.1m).
The striker had failed to score in each of his first five league appearances this season but enjoyed a fantastic afternoon in front of goal, recording six shots, a match-leading total.
He also created five chances for his team-mates.
It means Watkins has registered 29 goal contributions (17 goals, 12 assists) since Unai Emery replaced Steven Gerrard last year, more than any other player in Fantasy bar Haaland and Mohamed Salah (£12.5m).
“It’s definitely not going to be my last [hat-trick]. It’s an unbelievable feeling to score. When I don’t score I’m annoyed, which is why I work hard every day in training. When I’ve got grass in front of me, I like to run into it. Moussa [Diaby] is so quick, so on the transition I definitely think we’re dangerous. We’ve got a style of play now that [allows us to] take control of the game. We’ve definitely got a few strings to our bow.” – Ollie Watkins
Villa, who were more direct than usual, were excellent from the off, with further strikes from Jacob Ramsey (£5.9m) and Douglas Luiz (£5.4m) completing the rout.
The latter has now scored in five consecutive home league games, but, along with Lucas Digne (£4.6m), moved up to four yellow cards on Saturday, with both players now just one booking away from a one-match ban.
DIABY INJURY LATEST
Moussa Diaby (£6.7m) claimed two assists on Saturday, his fifth and sixth attacking returns of the season, in an excellent all-round display.
He also racked up five shots and it was his effort that deflected off Pervis Estupinan (£5.3m) for Villa’s third.
However, he was later forced off with a knock. When asked for an update in his post-match press conference, Emery said:
“I think he [Diaby] has some pain, but I don’t think it’s relevant for the next games. Kamara as well, hopefully not important. We think it’s not important but we will check it.” – Unai Emery
Elsewhere, Matty Cash (£4.8m) also turned provided, assisting Watkins’ opener, and claimed one bonus point.
However, it’s worth noting he was the more withdrawn full-back once again, producing just nine final-third touches, compared to Digne’s 16.
Above: Matty Cash (left) and Lucas Digne’s (right) touch heatmaps v Brighton in Gameweek 7
DE ZERBI: “WE PLAYED WITHOUT ENERGY”
It was an afternoon to forget for most of Brighton and Hove Albion’s Fantasy assets, including Pervis Estupinan, who ended Gameweek 7 on -2 points.
The 25-year-old started well enough with a great early run into the box but didn’t look comfortable marking Diaby, and it was his own goal that put Villa 3-0 up. He was then hooked at half-time, with Tariq Lamptey (£3.9m) slotting in at left-back.
As for Brighton, they are still yet to keep a clean sheet this season, with their 11.75 expected goals conceded (xGC) total ranking 13th among all top-flight clubs.
Elsewhere, substitute Ansu Fati (£6.5m) handed the visitors brief hope, scoring after the break, but Kaoru Mitoma (£6.6m) blanked, failing to deliver from some good positions out wide.
“We played a very bad game, without energy, mental energy. We can lose badly, but we can’t lose every duel, every second ball. The biggest responsibility is mine because I am the coach. We have to adapt this season. It is totally different to last season. It is very tough; we’re playing every three days.” – Roberto De Zerbi
HAALAND BLANKS
Manchester City’s perfect league start is over after they lost 2-1 at Wolverhampton Wanderers on Saturday.
A wonderful free-kick from Julian Alvarez (£7.0m) was sandwiched between a Ruben Dias (£5.5m) own goal and Hwang Hee-chan’s (£5.4m) winner, in a clinical counter-attacking display from the hosts.
Indeed, Wolves – who lined up in a 3-4-3 formation – scored two goals from just three goal attempts, which carried a combined expected goals (xG) value of 0.47.
The defeat also coincided with a rare blank for Erling Haaland, who was captained by over 7.8 million managers in Gameweek 7. He was restricted to few sights of goal, registering just one shot.
“It is not easy when he has three players. There are a lot of players there, it’s not easy but it happened.” – Pep Guardiola on Erling Haaland
It’s worth noting the champions have now lost both fixtures without Rodri (£5.6m), who will serve the final match of his suspension at Arsenal in Gameweek 8.
“Congratulations Wolves, they played really well. We had our own moments – I don’t count the last 10 or 15 minutes as it was more difficult. We didn’t properly do our process to attack with a bit more fluidity and that was why we struggled a little bit. In the transitions, Neto was better than us. They beat us in that position not because we were disorganised, but they were better in that position that we could defend well. It was a difficult game to play we knew it and they played really well and congratulations.” – Pep Guardiola
Pedro Neto (£5.6m) was instrumental in his side’s opener, claiming his fifth assist of the 2023/24 season so far.
He’s also joint-seventh among all Fantasy assets for chances created.
“We needed to find a way to be solid, which the lads were, and then have enough attacking players to carry us up the pitch in the team. Pedro [Neto], Channy [Hwang] and Cunha, we had to trust them to do real good offensive jobs, so we can use their ability to get us up the pitch, and it worked very well. We prepped for the game really well and Manchester City came with the structure that we expected them to be in, and the lads saw all the pictures that we needed to work on, but it’s still not easy to carry it off, so they managed to do a great job.” – Gary O’Neil
