Scout Notes – Gameweek 27 – Saturday

Alan Pardew’s Palace deal the dead-ball damage at West Ham. Wayne Rooney provides the cutting edge as United see off the Black Cats. Papiss Cisse and Peter Crouch prove match winners, while Graziano Pelle and Southampton blank once again. Here’s the notes from Saturday’s Gameweek 27 matches…

Travelling Eagles Soar

Crystal Palace’s 3-1 victory at West Ham means they have now won all five of their road matches in all competitions under Alan Pardew’s stewardship. The London club are unbeaten in their last five away from in the league, with the Gameweek 17 3-0 reverse at Man City their last defeat on the road.

With a multitude of injuries in Palace’s forward line, the out-of-favour Glenn Murray seized his opportunity to impress, bagging a brace against the Hammers. However, the 31-year-old forward conspired to tarnish his efforts in the 69^th minute, earning a second yellow for a late challenge on centre-back Winston Reid – he’ll now miss Tuesday’s trip to Southampton.

Jason Puncheon – much to the chagrin of the 15,000 managers that transferred him out in the last three Gameweeks – snapped a run of four games without any attacking returns, assisting all of Palace’s goals. Deployed in a central midfield role once more, Puncheon’s craft at dead-ball situations proved the difference as he took charge of deliveries from corners and free-kicks.

Since Pardew’s appointment from Gameweek 21 onwards, Palace have created 53% of their goalscoring opportunities from set-pieces. They’ve registered 49 attempts from set-plays, 30 from corners alone – more than any other Premier League side in that seven Gameweek spell. Puncheon’s ability to deliver from a dead-ball could well continue to be a significant factor in Fantasy terms, then. Scott Dann, who scored his third goal under Pardew in yesterday’s win, could even be considered as an acquisition given his threat at set-plays, although Palace have kept just one clean sheet in seven league matches under Pardew.

Mile Jedinak, another player who has benefited from set-pieces in the past for Palace, returned to the starting XI but was involved in an incident that could well find him back on the sidelines. The Palace skipper appeared to follow through with an elbow on Diafra Sakho and could now face an FA investigation and a retrospective ban.

Hammers Continue to Toil

The Irons’ home defeat to Palace means they’ve only registered one win in their last seven league matches. Things could yet get worse before they get better, however, as Sam Allardyce’s men welcome leaders Chelsea in Gameweek 28 before travelling to the Emirates the following Saturday. That being said, West Ham only face two sides (mci, STO) currently occupying the top half of the table from Gameweek 30 onwards.

On a positive note, Stewart Downing rewarded his 28% ownership for their patience with an assist – his first attacking returns in five outings. Enner Valencia cast aside a barren run of his own, scoring for the first time since November 1.

Rooney the striker

There’s been a clamour to see Wayne Rooney deployed in his favoured striking role, a campaign that was partly vindicated by his performance against Sunderland. Rooney started the encounter as the central attacking midfielder in a 4-2-3-1 set-up but was pushed up front when lone striker Radamel Falcao was substituted in the second half – a move that yielded Rooney’s second goal of the afternoon. His second brace of the campaign brought an end to an eight-match goal drought, having failed to score since Boxing Day.

With Robin van Persie sidelined for several weeks and Falcao mustering just one goal in his last five starts, Van Gaal could well be persuaded to turn to Rooney to go on delivering.

Meanwhile, Angel Di Maria – who looked to be turning a corner with three assists in his previous two appearances – was replaced by Adnan Januzaj at the break following another insipid first half showing from the Argentinian. Louis van Gaal made it clear post-match that he had little option but to withdraw the £60 million signing…

“When a player is not in a match I have to do that. I want to win as a manager. I have to observe and analyse, then I have to make the necessary steps to win. I saw that I had to change Angel for Januzaj. We were better in the second half so I cannot say that it was the wrong decision. Of course it is a difficult to change such a player but I have to do that as a coach.”

Given Januzaj’s impact in the second period, Di Maria’s start at Newcastle on Wednesday now looks far from assured. Ashley Young’s performance, back in his more familiar left-wing role, was more positive for United and that situation needs monitoring given Young’s modest 4.9 Fantasy Premier League (FPL) price tag.

In defence, Phil Jones missed out due to illness, which saw Jonny Evans drafted into the lineup, while Luke Shaw sat out with a hamstring problem. Chris Smalling returned, then, with Marcos Rojo shifting to left-back. We can expect a further shuffle at the back for Wednesday’s St James’ Park trip.

Van Aanholt Back In Favour

Gus Poyet recalled Patrick van Aanholt at left-back for the Old Trafford visit, as Santiago Vergini dropped out and Anthony Reveillere switched over to his favoured right side. Priced at just 4.3 in the FPL, doubts had surfaced on Van Aanholt’s potential from this point on following the decision to drop him to the bench in the 0-0 stalemate with West Brom last weekend. The Dutchman now looks to be back in the picture – a timely twist given their favourable fixtures to come (hul AVL whm NEW CPL).

Elsewhere for the Black Cats, Jermain Defoe drew a blank for the third successive outing on Saturday, having begun his Black Cats career with two goals in three starts.

Cisse’s Strike-rate Continues

Newcastle’s first home win of 2015 was spearheaded by top scorer Papiss Cisse, who netted the only goal of the encounter – his 11^th this term and 7^th in his previous 11 starts. That’s an impressive stat in itself, yet the full picture is only revealed when you compare the Senegal international’s per 90 metrics with the Premier League’s leading forwards. In terms of goals per 90 minutes, Cisse (1.06) trumps joint-top scorers Sergio Aguero (1.04) and Diego Costa (0.91), as well as the high-flying Harry Kane (0.82).

Cisse was part of a front two for Newcastle, as John Carver changed the system and recalled Emmanuel Rivière in a 4-4-2. This saw Moussa Sissoko partnered by Mehdi Abeid in central midfield, in the absence of the suspended Jack Colback.

Cisse’s close-range effort consigned Aston Villa to their seventh defeat on the trot. Tom Cleverley, Ashley Westwood, Jores Okore and Matt Lowton were recalled by Tim Sherwood but could not prevent Villa suffering a seventh straight defeat, stretching their winless streak out to 12 matches. Christian Benteke started once again and has now gone eight appearances without a goal.

As a sidenote, Alan Hutton picked up his ninth booking of the season at St James’ Park and must now avoid another booking between now and Gameweek 32 (5 league matches) in order to survive a potential two-match ban – Hutton is currently owned by 11% of FPL managers.

Crouch Takes His Opportunity

Once again it was Peter Crouch who popped up with a vital strike for Stoke as the Potters ran out 1-0 winners of Hull City at the Britannia. Despite only clocking a little over 130 minutes of pitch time in his last three appearances, Crouch has scored in each outing. In recent Gameweeks, Mark Hughes has alternated between playing Mame Biram Diouf or Jon Walters in the lone striker role, yet Crouch’s recent exploits will surely force a rethink from the Potters’ boss.

Hughes will certainly be forced into changes Wednesday meeting with Everton: Stephen Ireland was forced to have stitches in a calf wound following a clash with Hull’s Maynor Figueroa and he will sit out the clash with the Merseysiders.

While Stoke named an unchanged lineup on Saturday, Steve Bruce enacted a raft of changes to his Hull lineup. Neither Nikica Jelavic nor Dame N’Doye – who’ve both scored in Hull’s last two fixtures – were named on the teamsheet, with the former still struggling with ongoing knee problems and the latter demoted to the bench due to fatigue. Both will hope to return for what is a vital meeting with Sunderland at the KC Stadium on Tuesday.

Pelle’s Plight Continues

Graziano Pelle’s unproductive afternoon against West Brom marked the tenth league game without a goal. The Italian fashioned just one effort throughout the 90 minutes and managed just four touches inside the Baggies’ box. The display included a point-blank miss from a Ryan Bertrand delivery that summed up his current plight. Ronald Koeman must surely be considering taking him out of the firing line and possibly turning to Sadio Mane and Shane Long to lead the attack for the visit of Palace on Tuesday: Southampton have scored just once in their last five league matches, stalling their top four ambitions.

Koeman certainly demonstrated that he’s not shy to make changes. He took the decision to tweak Southampton’s formation to a 3-4-3 for the Hawthorns visit, bringing in Florin Gardos, Ryan Bertrand, Morgan Schneiderlin, Dusan Tadic and Mane. Bertrand and Nathaniel Clyne were deployed as wing-backs, with Tadic and Mane lending their support to the hapless Pelle. The Saints’ quickly scrapped the formation after just 27 minutes having seen his side fall behind, re-introducing Eljero Elia and the 4-4-2. It remains to be seen how Koeman approaches the Eagles clash and whether he continues to put faith in Pelle to make a recovery.

Berahino Revels In Home Comforts

Saido Berahino’s stunning early strike against Southampton was the 21-year-old’s eighth at the Hawthorns in his last six outings in all competitions. The 30,000 managers that sold the 5.6-priced forward in the light of his fitness concerns heading into this weekend were left ruing their decision, as Berahino blasted home his only attempt of the match, claiming maximum FPL bonus for the fourth time this season. However, he later suffered a foot injury which forced him off on the hour-mark and, along with strike partner, Brown Ideye, Berahino is now a doubt for Tuesday’s derby clash with Villa.

Baggies boss Tony Pulis named the same XI that secured a 0-0 draw at Sunderland in the previous wave of fixtures, as his organised outfit recorded their third clean sheet on the bounce – their fifth in seven matches under Pulis. With Stoke, QPR and Leicester due at he Hawthorns in the next five, investment in the Baggies backline looks near essential, with Craig Dawson appearing to offer optimum value as a 4.4 option.

Scrappy Swans Seal The Points

A fortuitous own goal handed Swansea the points at Turf Moor as Garry Monk’s defence kept out Danny Ings and Ashley Barnes to register only their second clean sheet in the last nine. Without the craft of Gylfi Sigurdsson, who sat out with a hamstring problem, Swansea struggled to pose a significant goal threat. The 1-0 win took them to 40 points in the league but Monk’s side have only scored more than once in a league match on one occasion in their last 13 fixtures – that was last weekend in the win over United.

Ings blanked for only the third time in eight league outings but now faces an evil run of fixtures that will test his ability to score against top level defences. The Clarets take on Liverpool, City, Southampton, Spurs and Arsenal over their next five.