Sunday afternoon’s early kick-off yielded mostly frustration for Fantasy Premier League managers.
Eden Hazard and his Chelsea team-mates drew a blank against West Ham while Marko Arnautovic didn’t even play.
Furthermore, there was another big Lukasz Fabianski haul that looks set to be consigned to many of his owners’ benches.
We’ve gone over the key talking points in this latest Scout Notes article.
West Ham 0-0 Chelsea
Goals: None
Assists: None
Eden Hazard (£10.9m) blanked for the first time this season as Chelsea were held to a frustrating 0-0 draw by London rivals West Ham. That was a huge disappointment to the 619,636 Fantasy managers who signed him for Gameweek 6 on the back of last week’s hat-trick. In the end, he was the only one out of Mohamed Salah (£13.0m) and Sergio Aguero (£11.4m) not to return points. Up next, league leaders Liverpool visit Stamford Bridge.
At the London Stadium on Sunday afternoon, Hazard registered half as many shots compared to his three-goal performance against Cardiff, perhaps the biggest reason for his underperformance Fantasy-wise. Not surprisingly, West Ham proved a much sterner test than the newly-promoted side from south Wales. But Hazard actually enjoyed double the number of penalty area touches recorded in Gameweek 5 during his outing at West Ham. Furthermore, he managed a similar number of successful passes in the final third too (one more than last week). At the very least, this first blank of the campaign for Hazard confirms that he definitely overperformed in that 4-1 win over Cardiff.
Maurizio Sarri believes that Hazard did not have as much of an impact as possible at West Ham because of his positioning. The former Napoli manager claimed a week ago that Hazard needed to spend less time dropping deep. Asked if he saw any improvement in that area on Sunday he said:
“Not in the first half, but better in the second. Today it was difficult to play today. They were cutting every pass to Giroud. It was really very difficult for the strikers and wingers.” – Maurizio Sarri
Despite not finding the net, Chelsea dominated both possession and the shot count at West Ham. They spent 71% of the match with the ball and nearly tripled the Hammers’ number of efforts on goal (17 to 6). However, it might be less of a surprise to see Chelsea fail to make all of that count to those who have watched all their matches so far this season. Local press reported on Thursday night that Chelsea were not as clinical as they could have been in their Europa League win over PAOK, not for the first time in 2018/19. In fact, they even suggested the time might come when Chelsea dominated a match and failed to win it. That is exactly what happened at the London Stadium on Sunday.
The same reporters also warned that Chelsea’s performance levels against West Ham might have been put at risk by so many first-team players starting in Greece. Asked if his team selection against PAOK and the introduction of the Europa League into the schedule affected Chelsea’s play, Sarri did not rule it out.
“I don’t know. I don’t think so. In this period I don’t think so. After seven matches it is difficult in March and April, not now. I don’t know why in England with the match away you can’t ask for a Monday night. In Italy it is normal.” – Maurizio Sarri
The Chelsea centre-forward position remains an unsettled position after Sunday’s draw. Olivier Giroud (£7.8m) started against West Ham and was joint-top in the match for shots on goal, but was withdrawn just after the hour-mark. Álvaro Morata (£9.0m) nearly made an instant impact in replacing the Frenchman but had a good chance well-saved by Lukasz Fabianski (£4.5m).
Antonio Rüdiger (£6.0m) was forced off through injury in the second half. Gary Cahill (£5.2m) replaced him for the final 21 minutes and could start Gameweek 7 if the German does not win the race to be fit. Sarri is not too concerned about his knock though.
“I want to speak with the doctor. I think nothing serious. Maybe three or four days.” – Maurizio Sarri
Pedro (£6.7m) missed out on Gameweek 6 after injuring his shoulder in the Europa League. However, Sarri provided a positive update on the player in his post-match press conference.
“He is very important for us as he is the best player with movement without the ball. We are hoping to have him back by the end of the week.” – Maurizio Sarri
Meanwhile, Mateo Kovacic (£6.0m) recovered from the dead leg which forced him off against Cardiff, Cesc Fabregas (£6.3m) returned to the bench and Ruben Loftus-Cheek (£5.3m) missed out on the matchday squad entirely.
Chelsea now prepare for a League Cup match with Liverpool at Anfield on Wednesday night. Sarri is currently uncertain of his team selection though.
“They have had one more day of rest. I want to see the picture of the situation tomorrow morning in the training session. I don’t know, maybe I will change 11, maybe 5.” – Maurizio Sarri
The leading Fantasy story from a West Ham perspective was that Marko Arnautovic (£7.0m) was not passed fit. He was withdrawn with an injury in Gameweek 5 and could not recover in time for Gameweek 6. Manager Manuel Pellegrini did not give any timeframe on Arnautovic’s return, nor on Javier Hernandez (£6.3m) who missed out through illness. Michail Antonio (£6.8m) led the line for 65 minutes before Lucas Pérez (£6.3m) replaced him.
“Marko tried in the last minute to see if he was 100 per cent fit. He just worked yesterday a little bit on set pieces and he felt uncomfortable, and this morning he couldn’t run. So he tried, but he could not make it.” – Manuel Pellegrini
Fabianski proved to be the highest-scorer in Sunday’s match, continuing the trend of saving his best performances for the tough matches. A first clean sheet of the campaign, six saves and three bonus made for an 11-point haul. However, as is often the case, very few Fantasy managers are expected to benefit as he was benched by 564,795 for Gameweek 6.
West Ham had the best chance to win the game but could not take it. Substitute Robert Snodgrass (£5.4m) found an unmarked Andriy Yarmolenko (£6.8m), who scored twice last week, at the far post, but the Ukrainian headed wide.
West Ham XI (4-3-3): Fabianski; Masuaku, Diop, Balbuena, Zabaleta; Rice, Obiang, Noble (Sánchez 85′); Anderson (Snodgrass 75′), Antonio (Pérez 65′), Yarmolenko.
Chelsea XI (4-3-3): Kepa; Alonso, Rüdiger (Cahill 69′), David Luiz, Azpilicueta; Kovacic (Barkley 79′), Kanté, Jorginho; Hazard, Giroud (Morata 65′), Willian.
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