This article is part of our FPL Roundup series.
After detailing West Ham's defensive issues last week, and subsequently seeing them ship three goals to Southampton at home Sunday, another London outfit's erratic rearguard raised cause for concern in Gameweek 6.
Chelsea visited Arsenal in the weekend's marquee matchup, but returned home with a defense shredded to the tune of three goals, leaving manager Antonio Conte in search of a solution and reminding fantasy owners of the Blues' beleaguered backline.
With starlet Kurt Zouma (knee) still sidelined and 35-year-old John Terry (ankle) out as well Saturday, Gary Cahill and David Luiz were left to start in central defense, which obviously didn't work well. The slow-footed Cahill basically handed Arsenal their opening goal after embarrassingly being caught in possession, while Luiz continued to resemble a headless chicken disguised as a defender – an impersonation Brazil, Paris Saint-Germain, and even Chelsea supporters should already be familiar with.
To make matters worse, 32-year-old right back Branislav Ivanovic's peculiar positioning resulted in him searching for speed on numerous occasions against Arsenal's energetic attack.
Overall, a Chelsea defense that finished eighth-worst last season was found wanting once again Saturday, which marked its third straight league game with at least two goals allowed. In fact, since the start of last season, only three (Bouremouth, Crystal Palace and Sunderland) of the 17 teams that stayed in the Premier League have compiled fewer than Chelsea's 10 clean sheets.
The appointment of an accomplished, Italian tactician like Conte was supposed to help seal the Blues' backline, but as he eventually showed Saturday, a structural change may be required for that to happen. After 55 minutes, Conte threw summer signing Marcos Alonso into the fray, forcing a shift to his beloved 3-5-2 formation. Although the damage had already been done, Chelsea could opt for a similar look in upcoming matches. By working in closer proximity, the respective shortcomings of Ivanovic, Cahill and Luiz can be more easily masked, while the attacking instincts of Alonso and fellow wingback Cesar Azpilicueta can work to relieve pressure and build possession.
At this stage, it's still too early to tell what Conte will call for, but if fantasy owners want to trust Chelsea's defense the way they could prior to last season, continuing with the same-old players in a four-man system is clearly not going to cut the mustard.
Another troubling, albeit not that surprising, development from this weekend's action was Leicester City's post-title decline being punctuated with a 4-1 defeat at Manchester United.
Coming off three consecutive losses across all competitions to start the week, Jose Mourinho's men surely had no shortage of motivation heading into Saturday's contest, and the fact the defending champions were visiting Old Trafford only added fuel to the fire. Truthfully, after being the hunter for so much of last season, Leicester has struggled being the hunted side this time around, as their current 12th-place positioning suggests.
Saturday's loss handed the Foxes their third defeat of the campaign, matching their total from last season's entire fairytale run. All three of those failures have come on the road, where Claudio Ranieri's team has scored three goals against 10 conceded, making for the Premiership's worst away record. After setting the league ablaze last season, the dynamic duo of striker Jamie Vardy and midfielder Riyad Mahrez has combined for three goals and two assists, but Mahrez has yet to score from open play and has also missed a penalty. Meanwhile, Vardy's shot attempts per game have dipped from 3.2 last term to just 1.8 this season.
Besides Vardy, no Leicester player places within the top 13 fantasy scorers at their position.
While new signings Islam Slimani and Ahmed Musa give the Foxes fresh blood in their attack, and both have looked promising thus far, it appears Leicester's regression to the mean should temper the expectations of fantasy owners.
While Gameweek 6 wasn't all doom and gloom – just ask Arsenal, Man United and Liverpool fans – another high-profile injury could shift the fantasy landscape a bit over the next month.
Manchester City midfielder Kevin De Bruyne is expected to miss around four weeks due to a hamstring problem, meaning the Premier League's top-scoring fantasy player will probably be out of commission for the Citizens' upcoming games versus Tottenham (A), Everton (H) and Southampton (A).
The Belgian's injury could foreseeably derail Man City's perfect start to the season, as his two goals and six assists helped mitigate striker Sergio Aguero's recent absence. Without De Bruyne, manager Pep Guardiola still has ample attacking power at his disposal, but it won't be easy to replace KDB's creative influence.
Yes, fellow midfielder Raheem Sterling has started the season on fire, and his goal at Swansea on Saturday brought his tally to four scores and three assists this term, but at this stage, he's not prepared to be the well-rounded fulcrum of City's attack like De Bruyne is when healthy. The same applies for fellow youngsters Kelechi Iheanacho and Leroy Sane. Both players are bright talents destined for big things, but both play far different positions from De Bruyne, which could maybe make Guardiola consider a short-term change of formation.
Without a scheme shift, and with Nolito unavailable due to suspension, David Silva may be the most-qualified candidate to fill De Bruyne's role right away, though his mere one goal last season rightfully raises the question of whether he can fully pick up the slack.
Most likely, De Bruyne's lost production will fall on the shoulders of a few players to fill the void, but it remains to be seen where fantasy owners should shift their chips in his absence.
Similarly, Tottenham striker Harry Kane's expected two-month sideline stint due to an ankle injury leaves fantasy owners without a top player at his position.
Prior to this past weekend, no player sported more than Kane's 27 goals since the start of last season. His impact atop Tottenham's attack has undoubtedly elevated their standing within the league, but his absence could highlight Spurs' biggest roster hole: a proven alternative goalscorer.
On the back of 27 goals and four assists in the Eredivisie last season, Vincent Janssen was brought to Tottenham for that purpose this summer, but whether the 22-year-old can replicate such exploits immediately in England is a rather large ask.
Janssen started at Middlesbrough in Kane's stead Saturday, picking up an assist, but it was midfielder Heung-Min Son who scored twice for Tottenham. In doing so, Son already matched his goal total from last season with four this term.
However, that low figure only supports the fact that Tottenham may not have the options to directly make up for Kane's huge lost production. That reality may result in manager Mauricio Pochettino focusing more on defense, but in any case, fantasy owners will have to wait and see where Tottenham's attack turns without their star striker.
