Scout Notes – Vardy And Mahrez To The Fore

Leicester City stars please their new owners, while Man United edge past Burnley and draws do little to promote the stock of either Everton or West Ham assets.

A bit of a Fantasy shopping spree on Leicester’s key men Jamie Vardy and Riyad Mahrez meant the duo were under some scrutiny when Watford visited the King Power Stadium.

Both stood up to it in the 2-0 win.

Vardy, brought in by 118,000 new managers, earned and then dispatched the penalty that opened the scoring – his third spot-kick of the season.

His strike was one of only two efforts on goal he had all match, although the other was a big chance early on that was saved by Orestis Karnezis, in for Heurelho Gomes who missed out with a back spasm.

The striker is now in 16.2% of Fantasy Premier League (FPL) squads and is quietly going about delivering for his owners, with three goals in his last five starts.

More than 83,000 also made him the tenth most popular captaincy pick of Gameweek 24 and maximum bonus meant they were rewarded with a nine-point haul.

Mahrez (12.9%) kept his 106,000 new managers waiting until the 91st minute to score his eighth goal of the campaign when he converted Adrien Silva’s assist.

It was a relatively low-key performance from the Algerian, who created only two chances and scored with his one and only effort on goal, and the fact that he was tackled on six occasions also kept him out of the bonus reckoning.

But an eight-point return means he has now produced either a goal or an assist in nine of his last 11 Gameweeks and the Foxes’ schedule (eve SWA mci STK BOU wba) suggests that there’s more where that came from.

The combination of form, fixtures and price (8.7) also point to more owners for the coming Gameweeks.

Leicester under Claude Puel have rediscovered their resilience, with three straight clean sheets to their name now.

That’s chiefly benefitted Harry Maguire and Kasper Schemeichel, with both bringing in two bonus points yesterday.

At the bargain end of the backline comes Ben Chilwell (4.3), who again started ahead of Christian Fuchs at left-back to promote his stock as a budget alternative to Maguire.

Watford, meanwhile, continue to slide, with just one win from ten matches.

Small wonder, then, that their previous midfield darling, Richarlison, lost another 139,000+ managers going into the Gameweek.

The Hornets have the fixtures (stk CHE whu EVE WBA), but precious little form to turn things around.

That has this afternoon prompted Watford to act, with the club today announcing the departure of manager Marco Silva.

United scrape past Burnley

Someone’s got to miss out when Alexis Sanchez finally arrives at Old Trafford.

Turf Moor match winner Anthony Martial has probably already done enough to guarantee that it won’t be him.

The Frenchman made it three goals from three straight starts to justify his inclusion in this week’s Spot The Differential article.

Owned by just 2.7%, the two bonus points he earned yesterday means he’s delivered double-digit returns in all three Gameweeks, scoring 33 points in all.

While Martial’s recent consistency has boosted his stock, Jesse Lingard’s has stalled over the last two outings.

His ownership increased by more than 532,000 for Gameweek 23’s victory over Stoke City, only for the midfielder to provide a blank in an unconvincing performance.

He followed that up with just a three-point return at Burnley and is already the most sold player ahead of a Gameweek 25 visit to Spurs, with 25,000+ getting rid early.

Lingard (19.3%) had a single shot on goal and created only one chance in another subdued display – he scored eight points in Gameweek 22’s win over Everton but has returned only eight more from the other three matches that have sandwiched it.

Paul Pogba also blanked, although he did manage four shots on goal, though only one from inside the box.

In truth, United’s attack overall was not convincing – they had just two shots on target all match – which in turn limited Romelu Lukaku’s impact, the striker managing to claim an assist to make the most of a frustrating day.

It was left to the defence to deliver once again.

They limited the Clarets to just two shots on target on the way to a 14th clean sheet of the campaign, with bonus magnet Phil Jones again leading the way.

His 18 clearances blocks and interceptions (CBI) – more than any other defender – helped him to maximum bonus once more.

Jones has 16 bonus points for the season now, moving him joint top with Cesar Azpilicueuta and Nicolas Otamendi.

Walcott delivers on debut

New Everton signing Theo Walcott earned an assist for Oumar Niasse’s equalising goal in the 1-1 draw with West Bromwich Albion.

Jay Rodriguez opened the scoring for the visitors from a sublime Grzegorz Krychowiak pass, but the match was overshadowed by a horrific double fracture to the leg of James McCarthy following a tackle from Salomon Rondon, an incident that left the Baggies striker in tears.

Niasse’s intervention clouds striker issues both at Everton and among Fantasy managers.

He replaced Cenk Tosun after 69 minutes, with the Turkish forward failing to have either a shot or even a single penalty area touch.

Hopes that Niasse would earn a move away from Goodison Park to increase his credentials as a 4.7 third striker option might well be scuppered by his strike – if goals continue to be a rare commodity under Sam Allardyce, that is.

The signs suggest that will be the case.

In contrast to Tosun’s barren day, Rondon was a real threat for West Brom, with his eight shots the most from any player in the Gameweek to date.

Wayne Rooney (14.3%) dropped to the bench, which could be the sign of things to come given the options now available to Allardyce, while Dominic Calvert-Lewin (9.0%) didn’t even make the squad.

Both can expect heavy sales – Rooney is already the second most ditched player of Gameweek 25 – despite a schedule (LEI ars CRY wat bur BHA stk) that should be encouraging investment in Toffees assets.

Everton lost their clean sheet early on, a blow to the 38,000+ who had made Jordan Pickford the most signed goalkeeper of Gameweek 24.

It’s now four straight matches without a shut-out for him and his defence.

Arnautovic does enough…just

A whopping 311,000+ managers elevated Marko Arnautovic to the status of the Gameweek’s biggest buy and the West Ham midfielder responded with an assist in the 1-1 draw with Bournemouth.

His blocked attempt set up substitute Chicharito’s equaliser, but he couldn’t add to his six goals from seven starts going into the match.

Chicharito replaced Manuel Lanzini on 61 minutes when the midfielder suffered a hamstring injury that makes him an early concern for Gameweek 25’s visit from Crystal Palace.

Speaking post-match, David Moyes was relatively pessimistic.

“Lanzini is a worry, it looks like a hamstring. We will get it scanned, that’s come from more general fatigue I think.”

Equally gloomy has been the form of the West Ham defence.

Ryan Fraser’s opener, from a Junior Stanislas assist, denied the Hammers a clean sheet for the sixth straight match, although there is still scope for improvement from a well-balanced schedule (CRY bha WAT liv swa BUR) through to the middle of March.