Scout Notes – Deeney Delivers

Troy Deeney is Watford’s match winner for the second Gameweek running, while Burnley come from behind to inflict more away woe on Everton.

West Ham are hammered, Bournemouth denied at the death and Stoke City keep it clean at St Mary’s.

Liverpool aside, those few teams with a Gameweek 31 fixture are not doing a great job of persuading Fantasy Premier League (FPL) managers to invest in their key players.

Watford are the exception, with three wins and a draw from their last five fixtures and three clean sheets also collected along the way.

The only problem for the Hornets is that they have to travel to Anfield in that four-fixture Gameweek.

That will reduce the attractiveness of budget backline buys Adrian Mariappa (4.1), Orestis Karnezis (4.5) and Jose Holebas (4.8) as Liverpool have plundered 12 goals from their last four home matches.

Holebas was arguably the pick of the Watford defence in yesterday’s 1-0 win over West Brom, creating four chances to take home two bonus points.

Since returning to the Watford line-up in Gameweek 25, he’s created 10 chances – more than any other defender in that period.

But he limped off late with an ankle issue, while keeper Karnezis also brought in two bonus as he moved to a very respectable 30 points from his six starts this season.

Maximum man on the day was Troy Deeney, who is starting to make a habit of being the difference in tight encounters.

The victory was Watford’s second straight 1-0 win, both involving Deeney scoring and taking three bonus points for his efforts.

The forward has now scored in three successive home matches and should see his 44,000+ ownership increase as a result.

But he has yet to find the net on his travels this season and will have to go to Arsenal and then Liverpool to try and break that unwanted run.

Will Hughes came off the bench and marked his first appearance since Gameweek 14 with an assist, while previous Fantasy darling Richarlison continued his personal plummet with an eighth straight blank, which led to his withdrawal after just 53 minutes.

As for West Brom, who travel to Bounemouth in Gameweek 31, it was bad business as usual.

They’ve now lost five matches on the bounce, scoring just three times, and haven’t kept a clean sheet since Gameweek 23.

Arguably the only surprise yesterday was that boss Alan Pardew finished it still in a job.

Burnley battle to win

Another member of the Gameweek 31 club, Everton, did their cause plenty more harm by allowing Burnley to end an 11-match winless streak.

Toffees boss Sam Allardyce rang the changes at Turf Moor, dropping the team’s two most popular FPL assets, Wayne Rooney (10.4%) and Oumar Niasse (8.0%), to the bench.

They were replaced by Cenk Tosun and Dominic Calvert-Lewin and for 45 minutes it all went to plan, Everton going into the break a goal to the good thanks to the former’s first goal for his new club.

Seamus Coleman, back in the side in place of Jonjoe Kenny, provided the assist to further undermine the attraction of his 3.4%-owned understudy.

Burnley manager Sean Dyche responded by bringing on fit-again striker Chris Wood at the break, and his partnership with Ashley Barnes turned the match around.

Barnes made it back-to-back goals when he converted Matthew Lowton’s through ball and Wood then grabbed the winner from a Johann Berg Gudmundsson corner.

That was the Icelander’s sixth assist of a fine season, albeit his first since Gameweek 16, and he also had five shots on the day, while Lowton impressed from right-back with four chances created, two of those big chances.

At the back, Burnley were bolstered by the return of James Tarkowski, although he couldn’t stop an eighth straight match without a clean sheet for the Clarets.

That sorry statistic isn’t doing the claims of Nick Pope, or indeed any cut-price keeper, much good as premium options such as David De Gea, Ederson and Hugo Lloris have been piling on the points in recent weeks.

Among the best mid-price keepers, Pope sits third with no clean sheet in eight, Lukasz Fabianski fourth with two in 14 and Mat Ryan in sixth with no shut-out in six.

Only recent penalty saves have ensured the trio have offered some rewards to their owners.

Further up the pitch, Theo Walcott blanked for a fourth successive match, although he could (and should) have scored with a first-half opportunity, one of three shots he had on the day.

Moved on by 80,000 ahead of Gameweek 29, time continues to run out for the ex-Arsenal man – he’s the fourth most sold player of Gameweek 30, with the rest of the top five made up of injured players.

Everton travel to Stoke City for Gameweek 31 with all manner of issues for Fantasy managers.

Rooney and Niasse’s starting berths are no longer assured, the defence will have to be re-shaped following Ashley Williams’ dismissal yesterday and their away form is truly terrible.

Only two sides have conceded more than the Toffees’ 31 on the road, while the 10 goals they’ve scored in 15 away days is the fourth worst record in the league.

Swans glide past West Ham

Swansea City made it seven straight wins at home in all competitions as a woeful West Ham were dispatched 4-1.

The goals came from Andy King, Mike van der Hoorn, Jordan Ayew and Ki Sung-yeung, with the latter pair paticularly impressive.

Ki put in a season-best shift with a goal, an assist and maximum bonus for 13 points, and now has two goals and as many assists from his last four Gameweek starts.

Ayew converted a penalty to make it five goals in ten starts, keeping him at the top of the value table for strikers with 17.0 points per million.

His brother Andre also prospered on his first league start since returning to the club, providing two assists.

David Moyes declared West Ham’s performance ’embarrassing’, although their cause was clearly not helped by the absence of Angelo Ogbonna through illness and James Collins with a hamstring problem.

Matters were then compunded by a nasty knee injury sustained by the returning Winston Reid.

Up front, Marko Arnautovic was the fifth most signed player of the Gameweek, but his 98,000+ new owners came away with a measly one point when the Austrian picked up a booking.

Michail Antonio came off the bench to score a consolation goal at Anfield last week and he repeated the trick at Swansea, with the assist coming from Aaron Cresswell.

Neither side has a Gameweek 31 fixture, but a possible double Gameweek 34 for both should keep their assets – and in particular Jordan Ayew and Arnautovic – in our thoughts.

The Hammers should have two home matches, against Man United and Stoke, while the Swans are in line for a much more attractive double-header at home to Everton and Southampton.

Mahrez leaves it late

A sublime free-kick from Riyad Mahrez seven minutes into stoppage time rescued a point for Leicester City as Bournemouth were denied what would have been a second clean sheet in 16 long Gameweeks.

Kelechi Iheancho drew the foul that led to the equaliser as the Cherries just failed to hold onto a lead they’d secured from the penalty spot after 35 minutes.

Josh King earned and took the spot-kick – a bitter pill for Callum Wilson’s 8.6% ownership, who had hoped their man would retain penalty-taking duties.

The striker was sold by 69,000 going into the weekend – only Sergio Aguero had suffered more departures among forwards – despite the Cherries having a Gameweek 31 fixture.

The return of Jermain Defoe also poses a threat to his starting role, although the veteran was an unused substitute yesterday.

Mahrez’s goal helped justify his hike in ownership of 145,000 managers over the last two Gameweeks, particularly after his six-shot blank in the 1-1 draw with Stoke.

He delivered against Bournemouth, firing in four efforts, two of which came inside the box, and has now produced a goal or an assist in 10 of his last 13 Gameweek starts.

But Jamie Vardy’s 18.7% ownership were left to deal with a second straight blank as the theory that deep-lying defences can nullify his threat rang true once again.

He did at least muster three shots on goal, compared to just the single effort against the Potters, while it was a case of no clean sheet in five for the Foxes’ defence.

Daniel Amartey earned a surprise start at right-back ahead of Danny Simpson, only for the Ghanian to be forced off with a hamstring problem on 20 minutes.

Ben Chillwell, initially dropped to the bench for Christian Fuchs, ended up replacing him.

Shut-outs continue to be even rarer for the Cherries, with Mahrez’s last-gasp equaliser particularly hard for the 381,000 managers who own Charlie Daniels to take.

Then again, they would have been relieved to see their man retain his start after his half-time benching last week.

He lined up at left wing-back, with Adam Smith recalled on the right and Ryan Fraser dropping to the bench.

Stoke and Southampton stalemate

The final Gameweek 31 outfit in action yesterday was Stoke City, who produced a third clean sheet in six league matches for boss Paul Lambert.

That confirmed Moritz Bauer and, in particular, Jack Butland as the side’s standout Fantasy assets.

The England goalkeeper picked up his second successive maximum bonus award with six saves at St Mary’s.

Butland has now made 30 saves under Lambert and has picked up bonus four times (for nine points) – more than any other goalkeeper during that six-match period.

For those yet to bring in a Gameweek 31 keeper, he has to be the obvious choice, particularly as he’ll be facing an Everton side whose dismal away record is detailed above.

In attack, Xherdan Shaqiri, who has more than doubled his ownership over the last five Gameweeks, blanked but still created five chances – no midfielder has produced more in Gameweek 29 to date.

Mame Diouf was an early casualty, picking up a suspeced dislocated shoulder as midfielder Eric Choupo-Moting ended up playing as the lone striker.

But the Cameroon international continued his five-match run without a goal or an assist and was duly hooked just after the hour-mark.

Despite managing a first clean sheet since Gameweek 2, Southampton assets remain the wrong side of unattractive, particularly with Arsenal, Chelsea and Man City still to play before the end of the season.