Scout Notes – Gameweek 7 – Saturday

Harry Kane does it again away from home, while Romelu Lukaku just about keeps things ticking over but Alvaro Morata succumbs to injury.

Elsewhere, a host of bargains keep their seasons going strong and some previously patchy defences finally come good.

Here are the notes from Saturday’s seven-match schedule.

All aboard the Kane train

Six goals in four Gameweeks and three 13-point hauls, it’s full steam ahead for those on the Harry Kane train.

The Spurs striker’s two-goal and maximum bonus points performance at Huddersfield delighted both the 316,000 Fantasy Premier League managers who bought him ahead of Gameweek 7 and the 862,000 who captained him during it.

Only three forwards are now ahead of him in the strikers’ standings – and two of those are injured – and when a plum home match against Bournemouth marks the end of the international break, Kane’s ownership is almost certain to have gone well beyond its current 33.9% level.

This season, however, is one of more buts than ifs.

We expected midfielders to flourish, but forwards stole their thunder. We were bewitched by high-priced strikers, but they kept hitting the buffers.

And three of Kane’s next four fixtures are at home, but he can’t score in the league at Wembley.

All the figures point to Kane being an essential frontline purchase.

Among regular starters, he leads the way for attempts both overall (44) and in the penalty area (30), minutes per chance (14.1) and touches in the box (55).

He’s also now just one behind leading scorer Romelu Lukaku’s seven goals this season.

But Spurs have Liverpool, Man United and Arsenal to face over the next five Gameweeks.

In a season of increased contrariness, the fact that only the first of those will be at home is actually better news for Kane and his growing ownership.

He is, as mentioned, looking like an essential part of our teams now.

But…

Davies keeps on producing

Spurs wing-back Ben Davies is another delivering boom or bust returns.

The Welsh international produced a monster 16-point haul at Huddersfield on the back of a goal, assist, clean sheet and bonus.

It was third double-digit tally of the season, although he’s produced just five points from his other three starts.

His attacking threat has helped him climb back to the top of the FPL defender standings and his ever-increasing ownership – now up to 21.9% – has also contributed to a price rise from 5.5 to 5.8.

His security of tenure is reassuring. Opposite number Kieran Trippier provided two assists yesterday for a season’s best 14 points, but Serge Aurier has now served his one-match ban and will threaten his place in the side.

Those who have so far missed out on Davies’ points will be weighing up whether they can risk his omission from now on. But with stern tests to follow the visit of the Cherries, the left-back’s attacking output will likely need to be sustained.

Further up the field, both Christian Eriksen and Dele Alli blanked, with the latter particularly vulnerable to sales as a result.

The England international was meant to be fresh and dynamic domestically while he served a three-match Champions League ban, but two assists in as many matches is clearly not enough for many – only the injured duo of Sergio Aguero and Alvaro Morata have suffered more sales this weekend.

The Bournemouth fixture in Gameweek 8 could be a final chance for Alli and, to a lesser extent, Eriksen to revive their fortunes.

Lukaku gets it done…just

Lukaku continues to score while frequently underwhelming.

Some of that comes from the expectation his 11.8 price tag produces, with similar weight attached to his ownership levels (60.2%) and the fact that he is the focal point of a side that’s averaging three goals a match.

The 4-0 dismissal of Crystal Palace largely passed Lukaku by.

He got his goal – his seventh in as many matches – but was a peripheral figure for much of the win and missed a great chance before being handed a late tap-in.

It was, in short, a classic Lukaku performance in a Manchester United shirt.

But with the short-term schedule now stiffening – liv hud TOT che – the Belgian might not be able to coast to his points for very much longer.

One United player not over-burdened by his price tag is Marouane Fellaini, at 4.9 a bargain bucket Paul Pogba stand-in whose brace yesterday took him past the feted Frenchman’s two-goal tally for the season.

Jose Mourinho has gone public with his fears that Pogba might be out for rather longer than he’d hoped. Fellaini, who has started every match since the star midfielder’s hamstring injury, is proving a rather able deputy who is owned by just 1.2%.

Not that we can entirely trust the United manager when it comes to injury updates.

He spent much of the week leading up to the Palace match telling us all how he had “many, many doubts” on Phil Jones availability. Jones ended up in Saturday’s starting line-up, with Eric Bailly the centre-back benched.

That was a huge blow to the Ivorian’s 17.7% ownership, although the 11.9% on Antonio Valencia were relieved to see their man return after joining Jones on the Champions League sidelines.

One player thus far immune to the axe has been Henrikh Mkhitaryan (33.7%).

But a third blank in four Gameweeks has prompted early sales – he’s in the top five for transfers-out – as managers begin to react to that unforgiving schedule.

Insults follow on from injuries

The fallout from Aguero’s rib injury informed much of the Fantasy action both before and during the big match at Stamford Bridge.

Nearly half of the 528,000 managers who purchased Morata for Chelsea’s home clash with Man City did so by swapping out the Argentinian.

The Spaniard’s subsequent 34th-minute withdrawal following a hamstring issue was especially cruel, although there is light at the end of this particular tunnel if Antonio Conte’s initial reaction proves to be the case.

“It’s a muscular problem. I don’t think it’s serious. He said to me: ‘Coach I prefer to stop, otherwise I risk having a bad injury.’ I don’t know. The doctor in the next few days will check the situation, but I don’t think he will be available for the national team.”

An injury just bad enough to mean no international football for a fortnight is probably a price worth paying if Morata returns fit and firing, particularly with Chelsea’s schedule.

However, this quote from Conte piqued our interest…

“It’s normal when you play three massive games in seven days you must consider this aspect, but we needed to take the risk because Morata, for us, is a very important player.”

The issue here is that there are obviously further seven-day chains of “massive games” to come for Chelsea, suggesting that Conte may be forced to manage Morata’s minutes.

Indeed, should Morata be considered fit to return for the Gameweek 8 meeting at Crystal Palace, he will need to face the Eagles, Roma in the Champions League on Wednesday and Watford at home on the following Saturday – all in the space of seven days. That spell is arguably worse than the last, with the clash with the Hornets the Gameweek 9 early kick-off.

Presumably, Conte may not “risk” Morata for all three matches, and we’d have to ponder whether a rest for Morata against Palace looks likely, regardless of his availability.

Yesterday, the Spnaiard’s withdrawal was disastrous for Chelsea, with the other obvious Aguero replacement, team-mate Gabriel Jesus, adding further insult to the pair of injuries by producing his first assist of the season for a hugely impressive City.

Just over 73,000 managers swapped the Brazilian in for Aguero in Gameweek 7 – 2,000 more went from Jesus to Morata.

But with Aguero now thought to be sidelined – perhaps for another four weeks – Jesus is already enjoying an early Gameweek 8 ownership boost of 28,000+.

That figure will surely rise by the end of the international break as City are now presented with an excellent nine-match run, with a visit from Arsenal the only obvious threat to a run of wins and goals.

The manner in which they outplayed Chelsea only adds to their players’ appeal across the entire team.

Kevin De Bruyne scored his first goal of the season and played much of his football rather higher up the pitch than in previous matches – a bitter pill for the 161,000 who sold him ahead of the Chelsea clash.

And a fifth clean sheet in seven fixtures promotes the appeal of Pep Guardiola’s defence.

The ever-present Nicolas Otamendi (5.7), in particular, looks like money well spent – only United’s Jones costs less than the Argentinian in FPL’s current top five defenders, while John Stones (5.5) is just four points behind his team-mate.

As for Chelsea, the superb Wednesday win at Atletico Madrid probably went a lot of the way to explaining their Saturday struggles.

Eden Hazard is still getting back up to speed and a second big match in just four days was clearly a step too far. However, the Belgian was again deployed in a more central role, playing close to Morata in a change of tactics from Conte. That demands that we continue to track Hazard’s progress intently.

At the back, Conte’s willingness to shuffle his pack – Victor Moses was dropped to the bench, Cesar Azpilicueta moved across to wing-back and Andreas Christensen retained his place – doesn’t help instil confidence in a defence that has kept just three clean sheets so far this season.

That’s continuing to dent Marcos Alonso’s stock – his ownership remains in steep decline, with his brace of goals at Spurs in Gameweek 2 slipping from memory. However, with Hazard deployed centrally, Alonso’s role attacking down the vacated left flank is another that warrants attention.

Value on show The Hawthorns

If the injuries to Morata and Aguero have temporarily lessened the demands on our Fantasy wallets, there were still a lot of bargain buys catching the eye in West Brom’s 2-2 draw with Watford.

Jonny Evans (4.9) opened his account for the season from a Matt Phillips’ corner – the second set-piece goal of the campaign for the Baggies.

And the budget charms of Hornets midfielders Richarlison (6.1) and Abdoulaye Doucoure (5.2) were there for all to see as they each scored for the third time in seven matches.

The Brazilian also chipped in with an assist for a second double-digit haul of the season and he has now been involved in five goals across seven Gameweeks, the first of which was restricted to a 42-minute cameo.

His seven shots on goal yesterday (five of which arrived from inside the box) currently leads the way among midfielders this Gameweek to further underline his attacking threat.

Watford’s next two fixtures are tough, involving Arsenal at home and a trip to Chelsea, but Richarlison’s consistency makes him a great mid-price choice as a fourth, or even third, midfielder for our squads.

Mixed bag at the bet365

Another midfield bargain, Stoke City’s Eric Choupo-Moting (5.6), kept his 6.0% ownership happy enough with an assist for Peter Crouch’s winner against Southampton.

The Cameroon international also had five shots to further boost his cut-price credentials ahead of a marked improvement in the Potters’ fixtures once a Gameweek 8 trip to Man City is out of the way.

His even more popular team-mate, Jese (7.0%), missed out having been granted compassionate leave as he copes with the premature birth of his baby son.

The 2.7% of managers who have stuck by Saints’ centre-half Maya Yoshida were rewarded with a goal from their man.

That’s continuing to prove a rare commodity not just for the defender, but for the entire team.

Southampton’s 21 shots yesterday currently leads the way this weekend, and yet they’ve scored just five teams this season, with three of those coming in the Gameweek 2 win over West Ham.

Their schedule remains strong for now, and defensive assets are still worth considering.

The return of Virgil van Dijk, who played his first 90 minutes in the league at Stoke, clouds the issue at centre-half, however. Wesley Hoedt dropped to the bench to accommodate his compatriot, but it remains to be seen if Saturday’s pecking order becomes the norm.

Defence to the fore at West Ham

A last-gasp winner from Diafra Sakho was a cruel blow to those of us hoping for a fourth straight clean sheet away from home from the Swansea City defence.

And the 1-0 victory for the Hammers generally played up their own defensive solidity.

Slaven Bilic’s side have now managed three shut-outs in their last four matches ahead of a decent set of fixtures over the next seven Gameweeks.

Aaron Cresswell remains their key asset.

Although he just missed out on the bonus points against Swansea, the full-back offers both defensive and attacking potential – his 69 crosses this season is a massive 29 more than his nearest rearguard rival, Spurs’ Ben Davies.

The Welsh international is also the only defender to have created more chances than Cresswell’s 11.

Swansea’s dismal start to the campaign continued and was potentially worsened by a hamstring injury sustained by Wilfried Bony. The Ivorian was forced off on 45 minutes at the London Stadium.

Not much to pick out of the Cherries match

The 10.8% of managers with Charlie Daniels in their squads will have been delighted with Bournemouth’s first clean sheet of the season – you can only go to the full-back’s attacking well so many times, after all.

The Cherries, however, face Spurs and Chelsea over the next three Gameweeks, although their schedule improves markedly after that.

Leicester City’s fixtures are also on the up, so their second shut-out of the campaign was equally welcome, but a blank from Jamie Vardy was less palatable for his 11.6% ownership.

The striker’s ongoing hip issue means he will rest up over the international break.

If he can come back fit and firing, the Foxes’ fixtures – WBA swa EVE sto – offer real short-term promise.

Should Roberto Firmino blank at Newcastle today, Vardy’s ownership will doubtless climb at pace.