Liverpool midfielder Mohamed Salah reaches the Fantasy Premier League points summit with help from the fit-again Sadio Mane, while Riyad Mahrez continues his fine form with another goal for Leicester City.
Elsewhere, the pickings are rather slimmer, with a late blow to investors in Newcastle’s backline, more stout defending from Burnley and Tony Pulis going uber-defensive to no avail.
Here are the notes from Saturday’s six matches.
In Salah we can trust
Only three players are more popular, and now none more productive, than Liverpool’s Mohamed Salah in Fantasy Premier League (FPL).
His brace and maximum bonus in a 4-1 win at West Ham took him to the top of the overall FPL charts with 72 points.
While most managers hope to settle down to a Sunday lunch of goals and all the trimmings from captain Harry Kane, a quarter of a million handed the armband to the Liverpool midfielder, and he did them proud, dishing up a personal season-high tally of 15 points.
Just three of the top 100 managers feasted on that double portion from the Egyptian, but he is starting to look like the only midfielder with both the form and the guaranteed starts to even be considered as captaincy material.
Salah was the most signed player overnight, having previously lost over 270,000 owners through Gameweeks 8 and 9.
He was helped by a surprise return from Sadio Mane, back after three matches out to set up both of Salah’s goals in a 10-point display – another season’s best – that included two bonus points.
The Senegalese international was one of last year’s star turns at Anfield, but he’ll have to play second fiddle to Salah for now unless we’re considering a double-up on Liverpool’s many attacking assets.
Jurgen Klopp’s men certainly have the fixtures – SOT CHE stk bha EVE WBA bou – for that option, but Salah is the must-have man for now.
Alex Oxlade-Chamberlain was handed only his second league start by Klopp and marked it with his first goal for the Reds.
The former Arsenal man came in on the right flank as Klopp switched from his regular 4-3-3 to almost a 4-4-2, pairing Salah and Roberto Firmino in attack.
Elsewhere, Joel Matip also chipped in with only his second league goal for the club, while Jordan Henderson missed out with a knock to his thigh sustained in training.
For the Hammers, only goalscorer Manual Lanzini consistently rose above the palpable sense of frustration displayed by the home crowd as Slaven Bilic’s side dropped to just one place above the relegation zone.
Andrew Ayew provided the assist.
More goals from Puel’s players
Leicester City fans would have been anticipating a return to more solid defensive ways under new boss Claude Puel.
Instead, they were treated to a second consecutive match in which their men scored twice, although back-to-back clean sheets were beyond them thanks to a stubborn Stoke City display in a 2-2 draw.
Riyad Mahrez again underlined his personal return to form with a third goal in five matches in all competitions.
The 4.9%-owned midfielder has also provided three assists in that spell to remind us of his pedigree and justify his 8.4 price tag.
Any thoughts of a return to the glory days of two seasons ago might have to be put on hold, however, as the Foxes face both Man City and Spurs over the next three Gameweeks.
Mahrez, deployed on the right flank, was undoubtedly the star turn – he fired in six attempts against the Potters – but Jamie Vardy blanked for the fourth time in his last five matches.
Over on the opposite wing, Demarai Gray caught the eye again and could have earned at least one assist. His cross to the recalled Shinji Okazaki resulted in the striker’s first-half header being turned away spectacularly by Jack Butland in the Potters goal.
Meanwhile, our assessment of the out-of-position potential of full-back Ben Chilwell had to be put on hold as the youngster was sidelined with a knee issue. Chilwell took up a left-wing role against Everton in Puel’s first match in charge.
Leicester’s assits came from Wilfred Ndidi and Harry Maguire – the latter’s fourth attacking return of the season.
Xherdan Shaqiri rewarded his loyal band of 3.7% followers with his first double-digit haul of the campaign from a goal, an assist and maximum bonus. Veteran striker Peter Crouch was also among the goals.
Stoke’s most popular asset, Eric Choupo-Moting (6.0%), was less spectacular but kept things ticking over with a third assist from his last five outings, although he has now gone seven league matches without a goal.
Last gasp pain for Newcastle backers
Newcastle’s Rob Elliot is the second most popular keeper in FPL; his 26.7% ownership bettered only by Man United David De Gea.
A whopping 57% of them left the stopper on the bench against Bournemouth and would have been mightily relieved to see Steve Cook grab a last-gasp goal, from an Andrew Surman assist, for the Cherries in a 1-0 win.
There was much woe to be found among the 13.1% of bosses backing Jamaal Lascelles for a clean sheet.
The centre-half went off with an ankle injury just six minutes short of the hour-mark that would have handed him shut-out points. He later left St James’ Park on crutches and wearing a protective boot, reportedly as a precaution at this stage. We’d expect a prognosis from scans by Tuesday.
Meanwhile, at the other end, Newcastle couldn’t find a way past Asmir Begovic.
The Bosnian keeper made four saves and Matt Ritchie hit the post, but Rafa Benitez’s decision to field both Joselu and Dwight Gayle up front failed to invigorate a side with just ten goals from 11 matches this season.
It was only Bournemouth’s second league clean sheet of the campaign.
That was great news for those owning the ever-popular Charlie Daniels (9.1%) and a well-timed display at the start of a fine run for the Cherries – HUD swa BUR SOT cry – through to mid-December.
Daniels has played every minute of the season thus far, but coach Eddie Howe is certainly not afraid to chop and change elsewhere.
At Newcastle, he brought in Callum Wilson, Harry Arter, Josh King, Jordan Ibe and Marc Pugh, with Benik Afobe and Junior Stanislas missing out due to injury, while Adam Smith, Jermain Defoe and Lewis Cook were all benched.
Reliable points…from some
Burnley won ugly for the second time in a week with a 1-0 victory at Southampton in which they scored from their one and only effort on target.
That came from substitute Sam Vokes, who replaced the fit-again Chris Wood after 65 minutes. Midfielder Johann Berg Gudmundsson was the provider – his second assist in seven days.
The Clarets managed just five shots, the lowest total of the Gameweek to date, but their resilience is never in doubt.
Nick Pope continued to channel his inner Tom Heaton with a clean sheet and both save and bonus points. The stand-in keeper now has seven bonus points overall, although he has a way to go to catch his counterpart’s 21 from the last campaign – an FPL record.
Ben Mee is another bonus magnet, the defender picking up two more yesterday to go with the maximum award he received in Monday’s 1-0 win over Newcastle.
Southampton continued to deceive without ever bothering to flatter.
Saints boss Mauricio Pellegrino brought Maya Yoshida back in at centre-half, having swapped him out for Wesley Hoedt in Gameweek 10, while Nathan Redmond was given his first 90 minutes in five matches.
But despite a very kind run of fixtures since the get-go, Southampton have failed to deliver at either end of the pitch.
They’ve managed just one clean sheet in six and have scored only nine goals in 11 attempts.
Their schedule stiffens markedly through to the New Year, and it’s now most definitely the time to be looking elsewhere for FPL joy.
Murray mint for the Seagulls
Glenn Murray won the battle of the budget strikers with the only goal of the match in Brighton’s 1-0 win at Swansea City.
The veteran forward scored for the fourth time in three matches to reward the 1.3% invested in his 5.7 charms.
A huge 17.3% were on Tammy Abraham (5.9), but he blanked for the third straight match, although he does have one assist to his name from that otherwise barren spell.
Anthony Knockaert set up Murray’s winner, much to the chagrin of the 18.7% who now own Pascal Gross. Knockaert continues to show signs of progress – he now has a goal and an assist from his last four starts after blanking in the first seven Gameweeks.
Swans coach Neil Clement changed things up in an attempt to breathe some life into a listless campaign, switching to a four-man defence and handing Nathan Dyer a first start out wide in midfield.
But Abraham was again starved of service, although he was unlucky not to record another assist when winger Luciano Narsingh hit the bar when put through by the new England call-up.
Last and most decidedly least
Coming in last in Saturday’s Scout Notes are Huddersfield and West Brom.
In a match that had 0-0 written all over it, Baggies boss Tony Pulis tried to guarantee it by picking a five-man defence and three defensive midfielders.
But Huddersfield found a way through the West Brom wall courtesy of Rajiv van La Parra’s winner from a Scott Malone assist.
The Terriers kept their sixth clean sheet of the season; hardly surprising, perhaps, from a match in which the teams managed just 16 attempts between them (Liverpool had 15 on their own at West Ham).
But the 4.4% who owned Christopher Schindler were handed a double dose of pain; the defender dismissed for two yellow cards just four minutes shy of picking up clean sheet points.
He slumped off having provided -2 for his owners, who will now have to do without his services for Gameweek 12’s trip to Bournemouth.
Early-season bandwagon Ahmed Hegazi is still owned by 21.4% of managers, but has now not been involved in a shut-out since Gameweek 5.
The big Egyptian is either in a lot of ghost teams, or his managers are uncommonly loyal.
The Baggies’ shrug-inducing form and their immediate schedule – home to Chelsea, away to Spurs – will test that loyalty further.
