Scout Notes – Kane Back In The Groove

A Harry Kane brace eases the pain of Double Gameweek 22’s non-event, while budget buys deliver for Swansea City and Crystal Palace and West Brom go old school to win for the first time since August.

The Double Gameweek 22 healing process has now begun, with Harry Kane’s two goals against Everton on Saturday evening applying a soothing balm to old Fantasy wounds.

The treatment proved even more effective if used in conjunction with the captaincy.

A healthy 31.9% of all Fantasy Premier League (FPL) managers, including 68 of the top 100, did just that and enjoyed a 26-point pick-me-up as Spurs chewed up the Toffees 4-0.

Owning Kane has been an up and down affair this season, but with just over half the campaign now done, the points don’t lie.

He now has 147 of them – only Liverpool’s Mohamed Salah has more – and he’s currently 36 points clear in the FPL forward standings.

Kane has 20 goals for the season and is up to 6.7 points per match, a figure bettered by just Salah and Raheem Sterling.

Spurs have a punishing upcoming schedule to follow the Gameweek 24 trip to Southampton (MUN liv ARS), and Kane will likely blank again during that run.

But in a season where big-ticket forwards have been – at best – an inconsistent bunch, Kane is our only current option with squad staying power.

Prodigal Son Inspires

All three of Spurs’ attacking midfielders delivered in Saturday’s victory, with Son Heung-min outstanding.

He scored for the fifth successive home match to equal Jermain Defoe’s club record in an all-action display which involved a Gameweek-high seven shots.

He opened the scoring from Serge Aurier’s cross/shot, set up Kane’s first and even had time to hit the post as his impressive recent form continued apace.

Son was bought by 138,925 ahead of Gameweek 23 and has now delivered six goals, five assists and eight bonus points from his last nine starts to a peak ownership of 13.4%.

That Spurs schedule might not encourage further investment, although he’s Gameweek 24’s third most bought player at present and those who already have him will be happy to hold.

The South Korean’s 13-point show took him above Dele Alli for the season, but the England man did provide his fifth assist in as many matches for Christian Eriksen’s late, and decidedly beautiful, goal.

Eriksen continues to do enough to warrant consideration, though Son’s charge looks relentless; given the 1.2 difference in price, it’s difficult to argue in favour of the Dane as the preferred option in Mauricio Pochettino’s vibrant midfield.

Little cheer for Big Sam

A tenth clean sheet for the Spurs backline provided another boost for those still holding their most popular defender, Ben Davies (13.7%).

That’s a third shut-out in four starts for the Welshman, who has been spared the threat of rotation due to Danny Rose’s recent knee injury. That situation is unlikely to last, however, ensuring that Jan Vertonghen remains the most secure route into the Spurs backline.

Pochettino’s defence had little trouble shutting out an Everton side who are, at present, the only team to fail to muster a single shot on target in the Gameweek. Indeed, they’ve registered just four in their previous five matches now.

New signing Cenk Tosun’s debut was busy, just not at the business end of proceedings, and he was replaced on 62 minutes by the 11.3%-owned Dominic Calvert-Lewin.

That looks like being the pattern for the young English striker from now on, although on the evidence of recent weeks, being an Everton forward is going to be a thankless task regardless of pitch-time.

Manager Sam Allardyce publically questioned his players’ professionalism post-match and suggested that it was time to get back to more “boring” defensive ways – the Toffees have conceded eight goals over their last three matches.

They should at least struggle to perform as poorly as they did at Wembley, allowing 10 shots on target and an eye-popping seven big chances as Spurs ran riot.

The one thing in Everton’s favour is a schedule that now involves only one fixture – a Gameweek 26 trip to Arsenal – of real difficulty all the way through to the end of March.

Ayew stars for Swans

Swansea City’s 1-1 draw at Newcastle underlined Jordan Ayew’s potential as a third striker option.

Subject to a price rise to 5.1 overnight, he’s currently the second most signed player heading into Gameweek 24. Ayew’s opener at St James’ Park was his third goal in five Gameweeks – he’s started just four of those matches.

Tapping into his form might be a touch premature, with the Swans facing Liverpool and Arsenal next, but longer term the schedule is kind enough for Ayew to maintain his ascent.

As for Newcastle, by their own low standards, they are on a bit of a roll at present, with Joselu’s leveller making it three matches unbeaten for Rafa Benitez’s side.

It is perhaps Ayoze Perez who continues to show the most encouraging form as a potential target.

He set up the equaliser, had 10 touches in the box and fired off three shots to underline his influence.

The striker now has three goals and an assist from his last three matches in all competitions, although a Gameweek 24 trip to Man City will be the toughest test of his, and his team’s, mini-revival.

Sako shines for Palace

Bakary Sako hit the winner for Crystal Palace against Burnley, his third goal in his last six appearances, with Saturday’s match marking his only start in that run.

He had six shots on goal – only Son managed more among midfielders – and, at 4.9, could be a cut-price option in an Eagles side starting to show real consistency and promise under Roy Hodgson.

Once Ruben Loftus-Cheek is fit again, however, Sako’s security of starts will be in question, and he’s only had two of those all season anyway.

Palace’s determination to reinforce in attacking areas won’t help his cause either, with a possible January capture of West Ham’s Diafra Sakho also adding a layer of uncertainty to the mix.

At the back, a second clean sheet in three starts for Wayne Hennessey suggests he’s seen off the challenge of fellow goalkeeper Julian Speroni for the foreseeable future.

Centre-back James Tomkins could also tempt at the 4.3 price point, although the Eagles schedule is more than punishing, suggesting that further clean sheets could be hard to come by.

Richarlison blanks in controversial draw

Watford’s second most popular player in FPL, Abdoulaye Doucoure, delivered a seventh goal of the season for his 12.3% ownership as the Hornets drew 2-2 with Southampton.

The fact that his late equaliser appeared to come off his hand bothered Saints boss Mauricio Pellegrino considerably more than the midfielder’s Fantasy owners, but the 15.2% with Richarlison in their teams were left to rue another match of what-might-have-beens.

The Brazilian doesn’t lack for effort – he had another three shots in the box and more penalty area touches than any other midfielder in the Gameweek – he just doesn’t have an end product.

It’s now 11 Gameweeks without a goal for Richarlison as both his ownership, now down below 900,000, and his price, from 6.6 to 6.4, continue to slide.

As for the unfortunate Saints, James Ward-Prowse followed up his goal in the FA Cup last weekend with a double at Vicarage Road.

His form was the major plus from an otherwise bitterly disappointing result, but visits from both Spurs and Liverpool to come over the next four Gamweeks suggest things are unlikely to improve anytime soon for Southampton.

Just like old times for the Baggies

There was more than a hint of the Tony Pulis about West Brom’s 2-0 win over Brighton.

The victory ended a 20-match winless streak in the league for the Baggies, and it was done in classic Pulis fashion, with two set-piece goals from defenders.

A clean sheet and goals from corners for both Jonny Evans and Craig Dawson produced double-digit returns for the pair, while the latter’s four shots was the most of any defender in the Gameweek to date.

It was, in truth, an entirely predictable outcome as Brighton have conceded 16 goals from set-pieces now – more than any other team.

Seagulls manager Chris Hughton again highlighted the problem, venting his frustration that his pre-match preparations could not correct their frailties…

“We’ve found it difficult defending from set-plays and corners. We’ve conceded goals and probably worked as hard in the last few weeks on defending set-plays, as we have done all season.”

Meanwhile the nature of West Brom’s was reminiscent of the previous regime, manager Alan Pardew was quick to claim credit for Saturday’s set-piece joy.

“Obviously a new manager comes in and the set-plays start falling away, so I changed them and we worked hard on them with myself and big Darren Moore – and we got our reward. We’ve got good, aggressive players at set-plays and that’s going to be massively important going forward.”

Any hopes that Pardew might be harbouring about West Brom kicking on from the win will surely be tempered by their schedule, however.

The Baggies face away day tests at Everton, Man City and Chelsea over the next four Gameweeks.