Injuries to Wilfried Zaha (£7.1m) and Theo Walcott (£6.8m) caused plenty of frustration for Fantasy managers on Saturday.
The former missed out on Crystal Palace’s defeat to Southampton while Walcott was taken off after 55 minutes for Everton.
Updates on the two highly-owned players form part of our latest Scout Notes article on Saturday’s Fantasy Premier League action.
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CRYSTAL PALACE 0-2 SOUTHAMPTON
- Goals: Danny Ings (£5.6m), Pierre-Emile Højbjerg (4.4m)
- Assists: Cédric Soares (£4.5m), Matty Targett (4.4m)
Crystal Palace manager Roy Hodgson has not given any timescale on the return of popular FPL asset Wilfried Zaha (£7.1m). It was a groin injury sustained in training that forced him out of Saturday’s 2-0 loss to Southampton. Owned by 32 percent of Fantasy managers, Zaha will remain a doubt for the Gameweek trip to Huddersfield Town, even if that is two weeks away with the first international break of the season about to start.
“It was last minute in the training session yesterday, and he was being assessed in the afternoon when the session was over. He came back in early this morning to see the medical staff to see if it maybe wasn’t that serious, but the injury was sufficient enough to keep him out of the game, so I knew that early this morning he couldn’t play. But I was somewhat prepared for that as I left the training ground yesterday because it was fairly clear that he had done something to his left abductor [groin] through a forced movement, so it didn’t come as a big surprise.” – Roy Hodgson
The defeat at Selhurst Park means that the Eagles are still waiting for a first win without Zaha since beating Sunderland 3-2 in September 2016. That discouraging two-year spell may put off investment in Palace if the Ivory Coast international gets ruled out for a number of weeks with this groin injury.
“Yes, of course, I am aware of (the record without Zaha). But I don’t quite know what I can do about it, until such time as we play a game without Wilf and win. Until such time as we do that, everyone will be quite entitled to bring that record up and remind us of it, and beat the rest of the team, or the rest of the squad over the head with the paper bag carrying that record, because it is a fact. Again he couldn’t play today and again we didn’t win, so it is a fact. It is a fact we have to learn to live with, and we will continue to have to keep working hard to try and make certain that we put that fact and situation behind us, because there will be games when Wilf Zaha doesn’t play, and I would like to think that we are good enough as a team, and a squad, to win games without him.” – Roy Hodgson
Going more under the radar, the absence of James Tomkins (£4.5m) appears to be causing just as many problems at the back for Palace as the Zaha-shaped hole has offensively. The former West Ham centre-back has now missed the last two matches after pulling up in the warm-up at Watford. The Eagles have allowed more goal attempts from open play and big chances in the two matches without Tomkins when compared to the two they played with him in the side. Considering one of those was the Gameweek 2 meeting with the forward-thinking Liverpool shows just how bad things have got in his absence. Such numbers may suggest starting Palace defensive assets, such as Aaron Wan-Bissaka (£4.1m) is an unwise decision until Tomkins returns.
Despite failing to find the net in the match, Christian Benteke (£6.5m) remains in Hodgson’s good books. No player had more attempts on goal than the Palace striker and he was unfortunate not to score any of them.
“He worked very hard again and got into the right areas and won headers, but on the three or four occasions he got into those positions and you hope that the ball will fall kindly and he will get it into the goal, he found a very good Alex McCarthy in front of him, and he made the saves. But I couldn’t fault his effort or desire, and he is certainly not hiding, or being afraid to go for these chances. But we are still waiting for that happy day when one of them goes in and he does score, and it takes that monkey off of his back, just as we are waiting, after this game, when we take the monkey off our back of ‘Crystal Palace only when Wilf Zaha plays’ – that is great for Wilf Zaha, but not for Crystal Palace Football Club.” – Roy Hodgson
Danny Ings (£5.6m) overcame the problems caused by a blister earlier this week to not only start the match but also score an all-important second-half goal. Manager Mark Hughes was full of praise for the striker, as well as his initial partner Shane Long (£4.9m) who was forced off with an injury.
“They were excellent. Long has got an issue with his foot so he had to come off. Ings hasn’t trained all week because of the blister and the issue he’s had with his foot so for him to score a goal and last as long as he did was remarkable really. So it was always at the back of my mind that at some point we’d have to take them off. But the lads have come on and stuck to the task… I’m not sure if (Long) got a kick, but he is hobbling around, and I think he is likely to miss the internationals.” – Mark Hughes
It was a mixed display for Long’s replacement Charlie Austin (£5.8m) who came out of the match joint-top for goal efforts despite playing just 28 minutes. However, his usually impeccable record from the penalty spot took a hit as his effort was saved by Wayne Hennessey (£4.5m). Admittedly, it was the first one he’d missed since August 2014 and it sounds as if Hughes is prepared to let him continue as the designated taker for the Saints when he’s on the pitch.
“Maybe, just maybe (asked if he could forgive Austin’s miss). It was one of those things. He wanted to take it and nobody was going to argue. Charlie usually dispatches them time and time again, but today he was unfortunate.” – Mark Hughes
It may be time to consider Alex McCarthy (£4.5m) as part of a budget goalkeeping rotation. His efforts at Selhurst Park on Saturday contributed to a second clean sheet of the campaign for Southampton and took him second in the save-charts, behind only Lukasz Fabianski (£4.5m). The former Reading man, who earned a call-up to the England squad earlier this week, has accrued additional points for saves in every match so far this season and sits just behind current leader Neil Etheridge (£4.6m) for total FPL score among goalkeepers. A home match against a typically travel-sick Brighton side up next certainly looks appealing.
CRYSTAL PALACE XI (4-4-2): Hennessey; Van Aanholt, Sakho, Kelly, Wan-Bissaka; Schlupp (Meyer 76’), McArthur, Milivojevic, Townsend (Kouyaté 72’); Ayew (Sørloth 76’), Benteke.
SOUTHAMPTON XI (4-2-3-1): McCarthy; Bertrand, Hoedt, Vestergaard, Cedric; Hojbjerg, Lemina; Elyounoussi (Targett 73’), Redmond, Long (Austin 62’); Ings (Romeu 78’).
EVERTON 1-1 HUDDERSFIELD TOWN
- Goals: Dominic Calvert-Lewin (£5.4m) | Philip Billing (£4.5m)
- Assists: Lucas Digne (£4.8m) | Chris Löwe (£4.5m)
A familiar FPL curse struck the most transferred-in player once again in Gameweek 4 as Theo Walcott (£6.8m) was forced out of Everton’s draw with Huddersfield in the 55th minute. The former Arsenal man was the people’s replacement for Richarlison (£6.7m), earning 772,000+ new owners in the last seven days but he managed just a solitary FPL point at Goodison Park. Thankfully, the FFS chosen man to replace the Brazilian did much better.
There was some encouragement for those with Walcott in their squads as no Everton player bettered his minutes per chance in the match, indicating that if he is able to face West Ham in Gameweek 5 he should have opportunities to score. However, Walcott owners will have to sweat over his fitness during the international break as Marco Silva has provided no timeline for his return yet.
“As well as Richarlison, Theo with a problem in his hips is another problem for us.” – Marco Silva
The club have since confirmed that the issue is with Walcott’s ribs.
The general feeling from Everton fans, and indeed their manager, was that was the Toffees lacked creativity in Richarlison’s absence. It certainly was not the one-sided thrashing that many had predicted before the game.
“Tough day, really we expected something like that when we face Huddersfield. We expected them to come here to be defensive. We have to create enough challenges and we didn’t do that. We have to play faster in our offensive half.” – Marco Silva
That said, a brief comparison of Everton first two matches of the season, in which Richarlison completed 90 minutes both times, and the draw with Huddersfield is not quite as damning as Silva or Toffees fans might expect, although it doesn’t make for great reading. Without Richarlison in the side, Everton actually managed more attempts on goal than they averaged across Gameweeks 1 and 2 and more chances were created too. However, their shots on target count was considerably lower (Huddersfield had more in this game) and total big chances was halved. Those particular numbers suggest that investment in Everton while Richarlison is missing is not necessarily the answer.
Once again, Everton also let down those who had backed defensive assets. They have now conceded six times in four matches and are still without a clean sheet. They could not even record one against a Huddersfield side that had registered just three shots on target prior to the draw at Goodison Park. Most popular option Jordan Pickford (£5.0m) is not really making it up to his 17 percent ownership in saves either, further reducing his overall value. Five £4.5m options have registered more saves than him in the first three Gameweeks, two of which have played only three times and one of them has beaten his total in just two matches.
New signing Lucas Digne (£4.8m) made his first start for the club in this match, which pushed Leighton Baines (£5.5m) down to the bench. The former Barcelona man assisted Dominic Calvert-Lewin’s (£5.4m) first-half equaliser and created more chances than any of his team-mates during the match. His inclusion in the side is also good news for Gylfi Sigurdsson (£7.4m) whose role in set pieces looks set to rise without Baines on the pitch. Goal-scorer Calvert-Lewin also deserves a mention as he topped the charts for Everton goal attempts, coming into the starting line-up on the flanks for Richarlison.
Huddersfield are still without a goal in open play in 2018/19 and further justified the decision to avoid their attacking assets. The fact they found the net in this particular match shouldn’t really hold too much hope for the Terriers going forward. That’s because, as we pointed out earlier in the week, Everton came into Gameweek 4 second only to Brighton for attempts allowed from set pieces, so it’s not surprising Philip Billing’s (£4.5m) goal came from that route. Of some encouragement to manager David Wagner was that only Manchester City (eight) registered more efforts on target than Huddersfield (six) on Saturday, although they still couldn’t make five of them count.
“With a little bit more calmness on the ball maybe we would be able to create some better opportunities, in the transition as well. We scored a wonderful set-play goal which we worked a lot on this week because we knew Everton, in the past, were not the strongest at defending set plays.” – David Wagner
EVERTON XI (4-2-3-1): Pickford; Digne (Baines 76’), Zouma, Holgate, Coleman; Davies, Schneiderlin; Calvert-Lewin, Sigurdsson (Niasse 76’), Walcott (Lookman 57’); Tosun.
HUDDERSFIELD TOWN XI (5-4-1): Lossl; Lowe, Schindler, Zanka, Kongolo, Hadergjonaj (Durm 76’); Mooy, Billing, Diakhaby (Kachunga 60’), van la Parra; Mounie (Depoitre 92’).
READ NEXT: The FPL lessons learned from Liverpool’s 2-1 win at Leicester City
READ NEXT: Chelsea showing FPL consistency as Brighton boss clarifies penalty takers
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