Scout Notes – Gameweek 4 – Sunday

Burnley’s record signing keeps things clinical, while his defensive colleagues keep it clean against a Crystal Palace side that does everything but score at Turf Moor.

Elsewhere, a toothless Swansea City can only dream of such chances as they succumb to an increasingly resilient Newcastle.

Here are Sunday’s notes.

Wood pulling up some trees…

Two matches, two goals – Premier League life is good for Burnley’s Chris Wood.

He followed up his debut strike away at Spurs with the winner at home to Crystal Palace, latching on to Lee Chung-yong’s awful back pass to slot home.

The New Zealand international was used alongside Sam Vokes in a 4-4-2 formation by Sean Dyche, a system that could well be the home default for a while in light of the Clarets’ kindly Turf Moor schedule.

They’ll entertain Huddersfield, West Ham, Newcastle and Swansea City before the end of Gameweek 12, although it’s an entirely different matter on the road.

Dyche is unlikely to be so progressive when his side have to face Liverpool, Everton and Man City over their next three away fixtures – match-ups that should mean a switch to 4-5-1 and competition between the two strikers for a lone spot up front.

Wood has form and efficiency in his favour. His 60% shot accuracy and 40% goal conversion rates are up there with the best among those forwards who’ve scored twice over the last two Gameweeks.

That’s just as well when Burnley have managed a mere 17 attempts over that time frame – including just three chances created today.

…while Burnley’s defence stand tall

An injury to talismanic keeper Tom Heaton didn’t deter Burnley’s backline from completing their first clean sheet of the campaign.

Last season’s top scoring shot stopper went off with a suspected dislocated shoulder after 35 minutes – a blow to his 7.2% ownership but a chance for understudy Nick Pope, who is 0.5 cheaper, to get a good run in the team.

He started that bid with a two-point showing – he made three saves – while the most popular pick among the defence, Ben Mee (8.1%), had to make do with just the six points after missing out on any bonus.

Those on team-mate Stephen Ward (4.4%) will be rather more satisfied with an eight-point showing that included two bonus – the full-back now has almost double the points (19-10) of his more popular colleague.

Mee’s time as the go-to Burnley defender for Fantasy Premier League managers could be limited.

James Tarkowski looks to have cemented his start and is beginning to show more bonus point potential as he now leads Mee for clearances, blocks and interceptions (65 v 55) and tackles won (7 v 5).

However, if Heaton is – as expected – sidelined for several months with a dislocated shoulder, we perhaps have to question the merits of investing in the Clarets’ backline. The skipper is undoubtedly a key factor in their clean sheet potential having made more saves than any other keeper last season.

Palace problems crystal clear

Frank de Boer might be out of a job by the time I finish writing, or you finish reading, this sentence.

But there were signs of a revival in their loss at Burnley.

The coach ditched his wing-back system and geared his players up to be more direct, and it so very nearly paid off.

A Gameweek-leading 23 shots was the result, with Christian Benteke and Scott Dann particularly profligate in front of goal.

Unfortunately for the Eagles, their schedule is about to stiffen. Southampton visit next week, before back-to-back trips to both Manchester clubs and a home match with Chelsea.

Palace’s most popular player, Ruben Loftus-Cheek (8.4%), could be the major casualty in all that.

The 4.5-priced midfielder had reportedly recovered from a groin injury that forced him to miss the Gameweek 3 loss to Swansea City, but he was deemed not fit enough to even make the matchday squad on Sunday.

Benched by 349,000 and sold by 91,000 this week, the exodus may well now continue.

When fit, his starting role would seem assured, however.

Newcastle keep it clean

Nearly 900,000 FPL managers kept Newcastle keeper Rob Elliot out of their starting line-ups, making him the most benched player of the Gameweek.

The 20.5%-owned stopper responded with an eight-point performance at Swansea City that included a clean sheet, three saves and one bonus point.

He’s now up to 19 points for the season and, with minimal competition for his starting slot at Newcastle, continues to function very nicely as a 4.0 fire and forget option. Significantly perhaps, he made just three saves today but still picked up a single bonus point.

The Geordies made it back-to-back clean sheets with a resolute showing in south Wales, and they have now conceded just three goals in four outings this season – only three sides can top that.

Rafa Benitez’s men are also fifth best for fewest shots conceded in the area, while centre-half Jamaal Lascelles’ match-winning goal launched him to a 15-point display.

But it was Jesus Gamez’s first start of the season that might get us thinking.

The 4.0-priced defender racked up eight points, including two bonus, and could be the latest uber-cheap way into an increasingly impressive Newcastle defence ahead of an almost entirely kind run of home fixtures – STK LIV CPL BOU WAT LEI.

His place, however, is far from guaranteed, with the benched DeAndre Yedlin and Florian Lejeune waiting in the wings.

At the other end of the pitch, Matt Ritchie made it consecutive assists for his 2.4% ownership, while the 3.6% on Christian Atsu had to make do with a second-half cameo following his international exertions for Ghana.

And in the battle of the budget forwards, Joselu might have failed to score, but he offered much more than Swansea rival Tammy Abraham.

The 5.5-priced Magpies striker registered a Gameweek-leading four shots on target, while his six shots in total was matched only by Man United’s Romelu Lukaku.

Abraham managed just two attempts as the Swans continue to struggle for a creative spark.

Swansea assets cheap but cheerless

Abraham was one of three Swans players who made it into the top 20 for transfers-on this Gameweek.

He was bought by 101,000 new managers, while team-mates Kyle Naughton (135,000) and Renato Sanches (116,000) proved even more popular.

Naughton’s owners can at least look forward to a decent run of fixtures.

Once next week’s trip to Spurs is out of the way, that involves visits from Watford, Huddersfield and Leicester City and an away clash with West Ham – solid chances to build on Swansea’s two clean sheets thus far.

But the Swans’ impotent attack is a major issue.

Paul Clement’s side are bottom for shots and joint-bottom for both shots in the box and shots on target.

In fact, they’ve managed just three more attempts all season than Palace had at Burnley today.