THE 0-0 draw that occurred at St James’ Park on Saturday may have slipped under your radar.
As the only fixture other than the Merseyside derby to end goalless this weekend, there wasn’t all that much to shout about in regards to Newcastle’s stalemate with Crystal Palace, aside from the obligatory VAR howler of course.
However, Dream Team gaffers should have noted another solid performance from Nick Pope (£3.3m) between the sticks.
As far as goalless draws go, the contest in the north east was relatively enthralling with the two teams combing for a whopping 42 shots.
While only 15 of those were on target, that still constitutes a busy afternoon’s work for both keepers.
With nine saves to Vicente Guaita’s (£2.3m) six, Pope swooped the Star Man award when all was said and done to bank 13 points.
This is particularly notable because the England international had already claimed two Star Man awards before Game Week 5 got underway.
At the time of writing, the 30-year-old is the only Dream Team asset to have been named Star Man three times this season.
Naturally, this prosperous start to the campaign has propelled him to the top of the rankings among players in his position – he’s racked up 39 points.
Jose Sa (£4m) is Pope’s closest competitor on 34 points but there’s a significant gap back to third-placed Jordan Pickford (£2.2m), who has 24 points at this stage.
In fact, Pope is the fifth-best performer among all assets right now.
The ex-Burnley keeper’s flying start is even more impressive given the fact the Magpies have already faced Manchester City and Liverpool.
Despite conceding five goals across those two daunting fixtures, Pope managed to pocket eight points having made some excellent saves to limit the damage.
With West Ham, Bournemouth, Fulham and Brentford to play in their next four fixtures, there could be more clean sheets to come for Howe’s troops.
There was a feeling Pope was generously priced at £2.5m prior to Game Week 1 and that has proven to be true.
He’s already risen to £3.3m and that’ll increase further on Friday when price change comes into effect once again.
Newcastle have only won one of their six league games so far in 2022/23 but equally they’ve only be beaten once – you’ll remember Fabio Carvalho’s (£2.1m) last-gasp winner for Liverpool in Game Week 4.
Pope’s supremacy is replicated in defence too where Kieran Trippier (£3.7m) leads the way with 37 points followed by Fabian Schar (£2.5m)a further five back.
Pope is currently the fourth-most popular keeper with an ownership of 12.5% but that will surely rise if he continues to collect Star Man awards.
The only thing to note is that some of rivals may catch up in the coming weeks thanks to additional fixtures in the European competitions.
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