Plenty of FPL hopes riding on Ings as Gross misses out for Brighton

The final match of Gameweek 5 takes place this evening as Southampton take on Brighton and Hove Albion at St. Mary’s, with kick-off at 20:00 BST.

It would be fair to say interest is fairly minimal in the match from a Fantasy perspective, with Danny Ings (£5.7m) the most-owned player on show sitting in 7.7% of squads.

Ings was the third-most-bought Fantasy Premier League forward of this Gameweek, having been drafted in by just over 216,000 FPL managers.

The on-loan Liverpool striker will sit next weekend out, with the Saints taking on Ings’ parent club at Anfield.

Shane Long (£4.9m), who had been a minor doubt for this match, is fit to start in the Southampton line-up as Mark Hughes names an unchanged team for the third league fixture in a row.

Charlie Austin (£5.7m) has also recovered from a hamstring strain to take his place on the home bench.

Chris Hughton has made only one alteration to his starting XI, but it is a significant one: Pascal Gross (£6.8m), who had limped out of the 2-2 draw with Fulham a fortnight ago with an ankle knock, is missing from the Brighton squad altogether, with Yves Bissouma (£4.9m) taking his place in midfield.

Jose Izquierdo (£5.9m) and Florin Andone (£5.0m) are not quite ready to feature for the Seagulls, but Bruno (£4.4m) is fit enough for a place among the substitutes.

Brighton had the worst away record in the Premier League last season and have started this campaign in much the same manner, suffering defeats to Watford and Liverpool without scoring a goal.

That Dale Stephens (£4.4m), benched by 80.8% of his owners in Gameweek 5, is the most-selected Brighton player on show tonight says much about the Fantasy community’s faith in the visitors.

Southampton meanwhile had racked up more shots (64) than any side outside of last season’s top six coming into this Gameweek.

Ings himself is averaging a chance every 19.4 minutes, a better rate of goal attempts than all other FPL forwards who have started a match this season except for Sergio Aguero and Gabriel Jesus.

Southampton XI (4-4-2): McCarthy, Soares, Vestergaard, Hoedt, Bertrand, Lemina, Hojbjerg, Elyounoussi, Redmond, Long, Ings.

Brighton XI (4-4-1-1): Ryan, Montoya, Duffy, Dunk, Bong, Knockaert, Stephens, Pröpper, March, Bissouma, Murray.

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