There were no hat tricks in Matchweek 6 in the Premier League. In fact, Eden Hazard didn't score a single goal -- and only took two shots -- in Chelsea's scoreless draw at West Ham. But he remains the overall fantasy points leader, with 126.4.
Two players scored a brace this weekend -- Riyad Mahrez for Manchester City and Ashley Barnes for Burnley. But both of those players didn't start, so they probably didn't help you fantasy-wise.
As for the single-goal scorers this week, and there were 20 of them, it stood out to me how many of the top forwards in the league were on the board. Mohamed Salah, Harry Kane, Sergio Aguero, Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang and Alexandre Lacazette all found the back of the net in their teams' victories.
I was particularly encouraged by the performances of Salah and Kane.
I was never really down on Salah, despite the fact that he'd only scored two goals in the first five league games of the season. As I wrote last week, Salah entered the weekend second in the league in shots, tied for second in shots on goal, and second in expected goals.
Salah only took two shots in Liverpool's 3-0 win over Southampton, but he easily could have had more than one goal. He had a backheel attempt that nearly snuck inside the right goalpost and later had a second goal ruled out for offside.
Liverpool manager Jurgen Klopp also made an interesting tactical switch in this match, inserting Xherdan Shaqiri into the starting lineup and playing him in the middle of the field -- with Salah ahead of him as the center forward, and flanked by Sadio Mane and Roberto Firmino. Shaqiri only played the first half, but Liverpool scored all three of their goals in that half. And if Salah is playing in the middle, I think that should only increase his goal-scoring odds.
On the other hand, I don't think it's a great move for Firmino, who is off to a relatively quiet start to the season fantasy-wise. Firmino has two goals and two assists, but he's only averaging 11.93 fantasy points per game, ranking him 39th in the league. He's only taken 12 shots in six games -- Salah has taken 25.
I was down on Kane, who also had just two goals in Tottenham's first five league games. But the real reason why was because of his shots total. Kane took 184 shots last season, 40 more than any other player in the league. But he'd only taken 12 shots in five games this season, with many people thinking he's never fully recovered from the ankle injury he rushed back from in the spring, and/or he's worn out from England's deep run in the World Cup.
Kane didn't score his goal from open play in Tottenham's 2-1 win at Brighton, it was a penalty kick. But he took five shots, and four of them were on goal -- that's more like the Kane of the past few seasons.
It's just one game. I don't think I'm ready yet to choose Kane as my Tier 1 forward when the other options include the likes of Salah and Sergio Aguero, who scored his fourth goal of the season in Manchester City's 5-0 win at Cardiff City and is second overall in fantasy points with 113.4. But it's encouraging nonetheless.
The same goes for the duo of Aubameyang and Lacazette, who scored the goals in Arsenal's 2-0 victory over Everton. They seem to like playing together -- this was the third straight league game that manager Unai Emery has started both of them, and it's the second time that both scored goals in the same game. But Arsenal only took nine shots against Everton, despite having 61.8 percent possession. Aubameyang only took two, and Lacazette scored with his only shot of the game.
Maybe I'd think about choosing one of them if Arsenal were facing a very weak opponent -- particularly Aubameyang, who scored 10 goals in 13 games after joining the club in the middle of last season. But I'd like to see them taking more shots this season first.
It certainly wasn't a good weekend for Romelu Lukaku, who took just one shot in Manchester United's 1-1 draw with Wolves. His team had 64.2 percent possession, and he played the full 90 minutes, but Lukaku only touched the ball 22 times. The next lowest total among his fellow starters (not including goalkeeper David de Gea) was Alexis Sanchez, with 51.
Chelsea manager Maurizio Sarri went with Olivier Giroud as his starting center forward for the second league game in a row, but Giroud is still looking for his first goal of the season. He did take three shots, though, with one on goal. And Alvaro Morata, who came on for Giroud, had a big chance late on, but it was well saved by West Ham goalkeeper Lukasz Fabianski.
There's your Tier 1 forward update. And before we wrap up, there's a couple of Tier 2 forwards worth mentioning here too.
Jamie Vardy scored in Leicester City's 3-1 win over Huddersfield Town. It was only his second goal of the season, but Vardy has only been able to play in four games, thanks to his three-match ban for a red card. Vardy scored 20 goals in 37 league games last season.
And Aleksandar Mitrovic is now tied with Hazard for the league lead in goals, after scoring his fifth in Fulham's 1-1 draw with Watford. Mitrovic took eight shots this weekend, more than any other player in the league. Vardy was right behind him, with seven. Keep an eye on these two, for sure.