Scout Notes – Saints Frustrate Kane

Spurs can only draw with Southampton as a single goal for Harry Kane helps Fantasy managers who backed a certain alternative big-name striker steal a march on their rivals.

It says something about this season when captaining, and in fact even owning, Sergio Aguero can turn out to be something of a differential.

But Gameweek 24 is starting to look like a memorable one for the 1.3 million Fantasy Premier League (FPL) managers who held Aguero and in particular the 43% of those (581,000+) who handed the armband to the Argentine. His hat-trick and 17 points on Saturday easily eclipsed the work of Harry Kane at Southampton today.

The Spurs forward, owned by 48.4% and captained by 29.3% of all managers, scored and was awarded two bonus points in the 1-1 draw at St Mary’s.

That produced ‘only’ eight points, handing those on Aguero a big advantage in the rankings shake-up, with the difference felt most markedly by those in the top 100.

Some 53 opted for Kane as their captain, and only 18 for Aguero, as a consistently unpredictable season provided another twist.

Only one of Kane’s three efforts was on target in Sunday’s encounter, and he missed a big chance late on to narrow the Gameweek 24 performance gap with Aguero.

Kane’s ownership must now face up to their 13.0-priced main man embarking on a three-match run involving Man United and Arsenal at home and Liverpool away.

On the upside, he is currently on his most consistent run of the season, scoring in four of his last five starts, and although the upcoming matches are undeniably testing, his record in those fixtures is generally excellent.

He’s scored six goals in as many appearances against the Gunners and four in six matches with Liverpool. Only against United has he suffered, with just one goal from seven encounters.

So while the armband might not be heading his way again in the immediate future, his ownership may not suffer too much.

Even so, Kane is already suffering an ownership loss, with over 17,000 moving him out, and 11,000 of those swapping to Aguero so far.

Spurs assets blunted

Illness kept Christian Eriksen out of Sunday’s contest.

That weakened Spurs’ attacking threat, with Son Heung-min in particular producing a lacklustre performance in which he failed to have a single attempt on goal.

Then again, the South Korean’s away form has been poor all season. Only one of his eight goals has come on the road and he was replaced by Erik Lamela after 70 uninspiring minutes against the Saints.

It should also be noted that Mauricio Pochettino confirmed post-match that Eriksen was not the only player unwell heading into Sunday’s draw. That might also have been a factor behind Son’s early withdrawal when Spurs were chasing a winning goal.

Both Eriksen and Son are now among the most sold ahead of Gameweek 25 and the start of that nasty little run, even though the Dane has produced returns in seven of his last nine appearances and Son will be facing United and Arsenal at Wembley. Indeed, with Kane, there are currently three Spurs players in the top seven for transfers-out.

At the back, Ben Davies was the only defender to emerge with a decent return as he provided the corner from which Kane equalised and also took home maximum bonus.

He was only on set-piece duties due to Eriksen’s absence, but that’s now five assists for the season from the Welsh international and Danny Rose’s continuing injury issues mean that Davies at least remains a reliable starter.

Faith in Spurs defence is otherwise in decline in light of the schedule to come and a run of just three clean sheets from the last eight Gameweeks.

But the potential return of Toby Alderweireld in the FA Cup next weekend might persuade Mauricio Pochettino to move back to a 3-4-2-1, having preferred 4-2-3-1 of late.

And Spurs with and without Alderweireld are a different beast entirely.

They’ve kept clean sheets in 50% of their matches with him in the side, and just 35.7% without, while conceding an average of 0.7 goals per match with him and 1.1 when he’s absent.

The Belgian will no doubt be eased back into the swing of things once he finally returns, but if he can provide the required stability to Spurs’ backline, they have a fine schedule once the next three matches are done with.

Only a trip to Chelsea and Man City at home should provide major challenges to Pochettino’s side across the final 11 Gameweeks of the season.

Interest in Saints stays muted

Southampton showed a level of grit to negate Spurs, but the fact that they had to rely on an own goal from Davinson Sanchez to find a way to score spoke volumes for their ongoing toothlessness in attack.

They’ve averaged just a goal a match this season and have a chronic lack of options up front, with Manolo Gabbiadini again failing today, which prompted teenager Michael Obafemi to be given a chance in place of the Italian late on.

But there’s minimal Fantasy interest to be found anywhere among Mauricio Pellegrino’s squad, with goalkeeper Fraser Forster (4.9%) and defender Ryan Bertrand (4.8%), who provided the assist for the Sanchez own goal, their most popular assets.

Forster is not even in the side at the moment as Alex McCarthy (4.4) was handed a fourth straight start in his place.

Nonetheless, the upcoming schedule now looks vital, and may yet bring them back into consideration.

Six of their next eight matches are against relegation rivals (BHA wba STK new swa whu) in a run that could well determine Southampton’s top-flight status.

The fixtures take a turn for the worse again from Gameweek 33, so it’s probably a case of now or never for managers to invest in Saints assets.

Based on their current form – they’ve not won since Gameweek 13 – it’s starting to look like never, unless things improve markedly and immediately.