Sunday’s Scout Notes

Young and Lescott remember where the net is, while Jonathan Greening proves that following hunches can sometimes work out rather well. Here’s the notes from Sunday’s games…

The Lineups

Starting at the Hawthorns and Mowbray fielded the same side that were unlucky to come away with nothing from the JJB last week. That saw Greening pushed up in a new advanced role behind the lone striker – Miller. As for Portsmouth, Adams kept Campbell alongside Distin and brought Pamarot in at left back. Belhadj pushed forward and switched to the right, with Kranjcar coming in on the left. Crouch was recalled up front. Traore missed out with a hamstring injury.

At Goodison we had two 4-5-1′s as expected. Villa fielded an unchanged side from the one that drew against Fulham, while Moyes brought in Anichebe to replace the injured Yakubu in an otherwise unchanged lineup.

The Form

Ashley Young was the performer of the day in fantasy terms, bringing in a pair of goals and maximum FPL bonus. These were his first goals for nine Premiership matches. Indeed, over those nine starts, Young had brought in just two assists. Not surprisingly then, many of his owners had given up on him before this weekend but today’s return will doubtless see interest pick up once again.

Everton’s Lescott was the other headline grabber. His two goals offered reminders of his potential to balance a lack of clean sheets with a regular contribution at the other end. He scored eight goals to go with fourteen clean sheets last season. It’s highly questionable as to whether he’ll get near those kind of stats this term – particularly when it comes to clean sheets judging by Everton’s defending again today. With his price over inflated as a result of last season’s haul – his value is still highly questionable even after today’s return.

On another note, Everton’s home form continues to falter. They have won just one of eight Premiership matches at Goodison, scoring nine and conceding fifteen. Those kind of stats make it very difficult to justify interest in their players, despite Cahill, Pienaar, Fellaini and Arteta looking tempting at times. With three home games in the next five (mcy CHE mid SUN HUL), investment continues to look unwise.

As for Villa – they never draw away from home. In eight away games they have won five an drew three. Fifteen goals scored on the road in total and ten at home makes it clear that they are yet another Premiership side who are finding things easier away from home. They have a fairly decent next five (BOL whm ARS hul WBA) which should see continued investment in their attacking players and Laursen at the back.

Greening’s goal and three point FPL bonus, vindicated the faith I put him in in this week’s picks. Hopefully, that little bit of inspiration has earned me a few weeks of dodgy picks over Christmas.

Seriously though, Greening deserves consideration from this point on. He is a decent player and is now playing just behind the striker. Although the Baggies aren’t scoring many goals, Greening will play a part in a good percentage of the goals they do score whilst playing in that position. As a result, he’ll often win bonus on the occasions when things do break for Mowbray’s men.

If you believe, like I do, that West Brom will improve in the next couple of months, then Greening is an excellent alternative to budget darling Delap in midfield. Although it’s never wise to let your views on how football should be played get in the way of your fantasy selections, I’ve been uncomfortable selecting Delap on the back of his long throw. Greening provides a cheaper (4.9 vs 5.2) and more creative option for football purists.

Miller’s injury in today’s game will come as a vicious blow to Mowbray’s side. Bednar will now likely start up front at Sunderland next time out and could be worth consideration. There appears to be better options in the same price bracket elsewhere though, as I outline in this earlier post.

West Brom’s fixtures look fairly difficult over the next five (sun MCY che TOT avl) although aside from Chelsea, all those defences have a charitable nature which could present some attacking returns.

As for Portsmouth, Crouch scored his third in three games. That kind of consistency will begin to raise his profile with fantasy managers and he and Defoe clearly offer strong mid-price value. Defensively Portsmouth remain fragile – it’s just one clean sheet in six games since Adams took over. They’ve conceded eight goals in those games. That makes investment in the defence unwise, although Johnson was again bombing forward today and will continue to offer supplementary attacking points to balance the leaky tendencies at the back.

Fixtures over the next five look good for Pompey (NEW bol WHM ars MCY). I wouldn’t bet on clean sheets but goals should be on the cards. Having said that, they do come up against some of the most improved defensive teams in those games – Newcastle, Bolton and West Ham.

Injuries and Bans

West Brom’s Ishmael Miller picked up knee ligament damage and now faces around six weeks on the sidelines as a result.

Portsmouth’s Diop picked up his fifth yellow and will now miss next Sunday’s home game with Newcastle.