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Gameweek 9 marked the end of the first quarter of the Premier League season, and with a quarter of the season gone in the blink of an eye, it is easy to miss which of your golden FPL picks just turned into dead wood.
So, let's take a look at 5 such players you must sell before their value goes crashing down.
#5 Henrikh Mkhitaryan (Midfielder- Manchester United)
Price: £8.3m (£0.2m loss from previous value)
Fixtures: Tottenham, Chelsea, Newcastle United, Brighton, Watford.
Mkhitaryan kicked the season off in an immaculate fashion providing 5 assists and scoring 1 goal in his first 5 fixtures, but now it seems like Manchester United's midfield Armenian is running out of firepower.
He has failed to contribute anything to the Manchester United attack in his last 3 games, and while it may be said in the Liverpool game he fell prey to Jose's negative approach, but in the games against Everton and Southampton, United scored 5 goals and Mkhitaryan failed to contribute anything to those 5.
Additionally, awful would be an understatement of his performance against Benfica in the Champions League, in which he lost possession 5 times in the midfield and showed very little, if any, creativity in the opposition half. Because of these disappointing performances, Mkhitaryan was dropped to the bench and failed to make an impact after he came on in United's surprise defeat to Huddersfield.
There is no doubt that the Armenian playmaker is a world-class player, but it just seems like he is going through a phase of bad form and with fixtures against tougher opposition coming up, his performances will surely be plagued by Jose Mourinho's tactics. So, it will be a wise move to get rid of him for now.
#4 Philippe Coutinho (Midfielder-Liverpool)
Price: £9.0m (No fluctuation in price)
Fixtures: Huddersfield, West Ham United, Southampton, Chelsea, Stoke City.
Despite all the trouble surrounding him at the start of the season, Philippe Coutinho made an instant impact on FPL after he returned in GW5 and scored 30 points in 5 Gameweeks, scoring 2 goals and providing an assist.
While now might have seemed like a perfect time to have the Brazilian talisman on your side considering the easy nature of his next three fixtures (All against teams with an FDR of 2), Coutinho has unfortunately picked up an injury further adding to Liverpool's woes.
The Brazil international is believed to have suffered a slight abductor problem that is likely to keep him out of the Anfield meeting with David Wagner’s side. While not a long-term issue, Coutinho may also be a doubt for next week’s league trip to West Ham United.
#3 Jamie Vardy (Striker- Leicester City)
Price: £8.6m (No fluctuation in price)
Fixtures: Everton, Stoke City, Manchester City, West Ham United, Tottenham.
With the reputation of the player who led Leicester to the title two years ago and also that of a serial goalscorer, Jamie Vardy was chosen by many to replace the injured Alvaro Morata and some people also put their trust in the English Poacher since the start of the Premier League season.
While he has somewhat delivered, scoring 42 points since the start of the season, he has scored just one goal in his last 4 games, and the managerial problems at Leicester are certainly not going to affect his form positively, in fact, a negative impact seems more plausible.
With a rampant Manchester City coming up, now would be a good time to give him the axe and find a suitable replacement for his reasonable price.
#2 Ahmed El-Sayed Hegazi (Defender- West Bromwich Albion)
Price: £4.8m (No fluctuation in price)
Fixtures: Manchester City, Huddersfield Town, Chelsea, Tottenham, Newcastle United.
While West Brom's new favourite Egyptian might have been a must have near the start of the season, scoring 35 points in his first five games, his scoring spree is not coming to a halt now that he has scored just 4 points in his last 3 games.
With him facing City, Chelsea and Spurs in his next 5 games as a part of a West Brom defence that hasn't kept a clean sheet in their last 3 games, he cannot be expected to regain his form and must be sold before his price crashes even more.
Stephen Ward of Burnley (£4.7m), Jamaal Lascelles of Newcastle (£4.7m) and Kyle Naughton of Swansea City (£4.6m) are some good options to replace him under his minuscule price.
#1 Romelu Lukaku (Striker- Manchester United)
Price: £11.7m (£0.1m loss from the previous value)
Fixtures: Tottenham, Chelsea, Newcastle United, Brighton, Watford.
With Lukaku continuing his reputation as a "Flat-Track Bully" against Liverpool, even though it may be because of his club's negative approach to the game, a dry spell for the Belgian ace seems inevitable.
After having scored 8 in 8 games, Lukaku has now failed to score in his last three games against Liverpool, Benfica and Huddersfield, and if history is to be referenced, United's upcoming games against Spurs and Chelsea are going to be hell for the Belgian Red Devil.
Similarly to Mkhitaryan, there is no doubt that Lukaku is amongst the best in the league, if not the best, but a bad run of form seems imminent and Mourinho's approach against the bigger teams is not going to help, so now is the perfect time to sell your team's main man and bring in a suitable replacement for his gigantic value.
