- There were eight matches to choose from for our participants. While they all couldn't see usage, that's just math, only half of the eight did.
- Two "Alex's" were taken on the day with vastly different outcomes. Andrew went with Newcastle's Alexander Isak against Crystal Palace. After shining in his debut against Liverpool, that light was significantly dimmed against the Eagles as the goalkeepers were the real stars. To say Isak had no service would be an understatement and what chances he did have he squandered. He limped off at the end of regular time with a 6.0 rating.
- The other Alex was Matt's pick Aleksandar Mitrovic. The Serbian forward continued his blistering pace to begin the 2022-23 campaign for Fulham with his sixth goal in six games. He gave his side a lifeline against Spurs with an 83rd minute curler but it ended up being not enough to earn his side a victory but more than enough to earn Matt a 7.6 score.
- Scott has found himself oddly pulled to the number seven lately. Four of his last five outputs in the Challenge have been 7.0 ratings (with a Wilfried Zaha nice 6.9 sprinkled in) including Nottingham Forest's Brennan Johnson. The Forest winger scored a first half penalty to put his club up 2-0 on Bournemouth only to see that advantage squandered in the second 45 minutes to finish in a 3-2 defeat.
- The rest of the picks came from Aston Villa's shock 1-1 draw with Manchester City. The lone Villan taken off the board was Mike's pick Jacob Ramsey. While the winger did assist on Leon Bailey's game-tying effort, he would go missing for double-digit minutes and had just 19 passes attempted in 90 minutes. His 6.6 tied with Bailey for the best among attacking options though so there wasn't much more that could have been done in that sphere.
- Last Man In Nathan Ake completed all 16 of his passes in 10 minutes for Ryan, but none of those made any significant inroads to help Man City up field to push him much further that the slightly boosted 6.6 rating.
- Citizens captain Ilkay Gundogan fell just shy of keeping his season-long streak of 7.0+ rated performances. His 6.9 (ni.ce) rating also allowed Pavli to fall back out of first place after holding the top spot for less than a week.
- That top spot was reclaimed by Trevor after an 8.1 showing from his selection Kevin De Bruyne. Joining Mohamed Salah as the only men with four selections on the young season, KDB assisted on Erling Haaland's opener with crossing sorcery and would be incredibly unlucky to hit the woodwork on what could have been his second goal of the season.
- Optimally, Ivan Toney netted his second career Premier League hat trick in Brentford's 5-2 win over Leeds United. He opened his account on the day from the penalty spot before putting two open play efforts in the net on either side of halftime to finish on a 9.3 rating.
Image Credits: Player Photos (Sofascore)