Lacazette the form FPL forward as Everton’s midfield options shine

Our penultimate set of Scout Notes from Gameweek 8 looks at the away victories for Arsenal and Everton from a Fantasy perspective.

Fulham’s porous defence is the gift that keeps on giving, with the Cottagers having now conceded more goals than any other Premier League side this season.

Alexandre Lacazette (£9.6m) and Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang (£10.7m) were the main beneficiaries of their hosts’ generosity as Arsenal’s main attacking assets once again highlighted their Fantasy appeal by scoring five goals in west London. No striker has scored more FPL points than Lacazette since Gameweek 3.

Richarlison (£6.7m) marked his first Everton start as an “out of position” striker with a goal, while Gylfi Sigurdsson‘s (£7.4m) purple patch continued at Leicester as Marco Silva’s side won away for the first time in 2018/19.

Fulham 1-5 Arsenal

• Goals: Andre Schurrle (£5.9m) | Alexandre Lacazette (£9.6m) x2, Aaron Ramsey (£7.4m), Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang (£10.7m) x2
• Assists: Luciano Vietto (£5.5m) | Nacho Monreal (£5.5m), Danny Welbeck (£6.5m), Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang, Aaron Ramsey, Hector Bellerin (£5.4m)

If in doubt, back whichever attacking asset plays Fulham. That seems to be Fantasy lesson from the first eight Gameweeks of this season, with the Cottagers conceding at a rate of 2.63 goals per match and being the only top-flight club yet to keep a league clean sheet.

Slavisa Jokanovic’s side have conceded at least two goals in seven of their eight fixtures this season and have allowed more shots on target, shots in the box and big chances than the 19 other clubs in the division.

While there will likely be little interest in Huddersfield Town or Cardiff City’s (two of Fulham’s opponents in the next four Gameweeks) attacking assets, the Cottagers also take on Bournemouth and Liverpool between now and the November international break. Unless Jokanovic stumbles on a magic formula over the coming weeks, the likes of Ryan Fraser (£6.0m), Callum Wilson (£6.3m), Mohamed Salah (£12.8m) and Sadio Mane (£9.9m) could have a field day when their respective sides face last season’s Championship play-off winners.

In mitigation, Jokanovic has been frequently hampered by injury and suspension in defence and was further handicapped by the unavailability of sidelined full-backs Joe Bryan (£4.9m) and Timothy Fosu-Mensah (£4.5m) this weekend.

In his latest attempt to stem the flow of goals, the Fulham boss switched to the 3-4-3 system that served him well in the Carabao Cup win over Millwall a fortnight ago. Maxime Le Marchand (£4.3m) joined Denis Odoi (£4.4m) and Tim Ream (£4.3m) at centre-back, with Cyrus Christie (£4.3m) and Ryan Sessegnon (£6.1m) operating as wing-backs.

This tactical tweak was abandoned after 54 minutes, however, with Arsenal 2-1 up and Jokanovic looking for a route back into the match. The move to a 4-2-3-1 and finally a 4-3-3 did nothing to prevent the rout, though, and more worrying still was that Fulham didn’t manage to block a single one of Arsenal’s nine goal attempts.

Alexandre Lacazette and Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang Aubameyang, indeed, found it all too easy to swivel and fire past Marcus Bettinelli (£4.4m) when six yards out for both of their first goals yesterday afternoon.

Jokanovic discussed his side’s defensive frailties after full-time:

I thought we played the first 45 minutes well. We created the chances, the team was running well and we didn’t give them many opportunities to score goals.

But in the second-half they scored really easy goals and I missed the team being more solid, I missed more speed, I missed more thought.

At the end we opened all the doors and they finished the action easily after not so many complicated situations for us. The second goal arrived from some throw in, they kicked the ball and finished the action, we weren’t strong or fast enough to stop the shot, and the first goal too, we needed to be more solid and better in this kind of situation.

At the moment we show so many weaknesses for this level where we are, especially on the defensive side so we must work very hard to find the solution to this kind of problem.

After they scored the second goal I tried to find some way to find the equaliser, I don’t believe in too many statistics but we finished the game with 21 shots and the opposite team with nine.

Christie was particularly suspect at right-back, with six of Arsenal’s seven chances being created from his flank. That could possibly bode well for Fraser, Mane and Andrew Robertson (£6.3m) when Bournemouth and Liverpool take on the Cottagers in October/November.

For all Fulham were creaky at the back, Arsenal were deadly going forward.

The Gunners once again did not rack up too many shots (nine to Fulham’s 21) but were clinical in their finishing. That was again true of Aubameyang and Lacazette, who each scored with both of their attempts on goal.

Unai Emery’s side haven’t really impressed for underlying attacking statistics this season, with 11 sides having registered more attempts on goal and ten clubs having recorded more shots in the box and big chances.

The statistic that matters, of course, is goal conversion rate. The Gunners sit top of the pile on 19.6%. Unsurprisingly, their shot accuracy of 47.4% is also a league-high.

Only Manchester City have now scored more league goals in 2018/19 than Arsenal, whose attacking assets continued to be overlooked going into Gameweek 8. Not one of their midfielder or attackers was owned by more than 10% of FPL managers before Sunday.

The time for jumping on the Arsenal attacking bandwagon may have come and gone, however, as the Gunners face a particularly tricky-looking run of fixtures from Gameweeks 11-15.

For Fantasy managers that prioritise form over fixtures, however, Lacazette is your man. The French striker has delivered attacking returns in each of his last six Gameweeks, in spite of his key performance indicators reflecting those of his team-mates in not being particularly strong. Lacazette has had half the number of attempts on goal that Sergio Aguero (£11.3m) has recorded this season, for instance.

Lacazette and Aubameyang’s personal goal conversion rates are over 20%, however, and better than those of Aguero, Harry Kane (£12.5m), Jamie Vardy (£9.0m) and Aleksandar Mitrovic (£7.0m).

Fantasy managers who owned Aubameyang and Aaron Ramsey (£7.4m) would have been cursing the team news at 11am on Sunday, with both dropping to the bench having been doubts for this fixture through illness and personal circumstances.

Both players emerged as second-half substitutes to deliver double-digit hauls for their owners, however, with Ramsey’s finish from a superb team move to make it 3-1 highlighting the confidence with which Arsenal are playing going forward.

The Welshman also set up Aubameyang’s stoppage-time goal to put further gloss on the scoreline.

Nacho Monreal (£5.5m) and Hector Bellerin (£5.4m) compensated for their loss of clean sheets with assists, meanwhile.

Alex Iwobi (£5.5m), Danny Welbeck (£6.5m) and Henrikh Mkhitaryan (£6.9m) came into the starting XI in Emery’s customary 4-2-3-1, with Mesut Ozil (£8.3m) missing out with a back spasm. Despite decent displays from the second-string attacking midfielders (Iwobi especially), the performances of Ramsey and Aubameyang on their introduction was a reminder that the deputising trio will most likely be back among the substitutes for the visit of Leicester City in Gameweek 9.

Iwobi’s quotes after the match suggest the Arsenal camp is a happy and confident one currently:

The team spirit is better. The confidence is definitely better. We analyse the games a bit more and we’re proving to the fans as well as ourselves that we’re able to compete for the title.

Arsenal’s defence was breached just before half-time by Andre Schurrle (£5.9m), who scored his third goal of the season from a Luciano Vietto (£5.5m) cross. Only Salah has racked up more shots than Schurrle among FPL midfielders this season, with the German firing off seven attempts on goal yesterday.

Aleksandar Mitrovic (£7.0m) blanked for the second week in a row and never really looked like scoring, cutting the kind of frustrated, surly figure that Newcastle United fans were more used to seeing at St. James’ Park. Fulham’s forthcoming trio of fixtures (particularly matches against Cardiff and Huddersfield), however, bode well for more healthy returns from the Serbian striker.

Tom Cairney (£4.8m) was missing from the Fulham squad, meanwhile, with Jokanovic having this to say about his influential midfielder:

He is not working with us at the moment and we are waiting. I am not a doctor but we believe he will soon be back with the team, he is still with pains and he is not available to help us.

Fulham XI (3-4-3): Bettinelli; Odoi, Ream (Kamara 54′), Le Marchand; Christie, Seri, Zambo Anguissa (McDonald 62′), R. Sessegnon; Vietto (Johansen 83′), Mitrovic, Schurrle.

Arsenal XI (4-2-3-1): Leno; Bellerin, Mustafi, Holding, Monreal; Xhaka, Torreira; Mkhitaryan, Iwobi (Ramsey 67′), Welbeck (Aubameyang 62′), Lacazette (Guendouzi 80′).

Leicester City 1-2 Everton

• Goals: Ricardo Pereira (£5.1m) | Richarlison (£6.7m), Gylfi Sigurdsson (£7.4m)
• Assists: Kelechi Iheanacho (£5.9m) | Bernard (£5.9m), Kurt Zouma (£5.0m)

The battle of the mid-priced midfielders at the King Power Stadium ended in a victory for two of Everton’s assets, with James Maddison (£6.9m) unable to continue his fine run of form.

A significant move from a Fantasy perspective was Marco Silva shifting Richarlison to the problem centre-forward role, which further adds to the Brazilian’s appeal as an FPL asset if he is to continue “out of position” in the coming weeks.

That being said, the former Watford striker only had one shot all match as Everton’s “number nine” – that being the game’s opening goal.

Richarlison’s deployment as an out-and-out striker allowed Bernard (£5.9m) to start on the left flank, and Silva’s tactical move looked like a masterstroke when the pair combined for Everton’s opener after just seven minutes – Bernard producing some clever wing play before crossing for his countryman to convert.

Bernard was superb on the left flank and has surely done enough to keep his place for the visit of Crystal Palace, with his blend of trickery and graft earning plenty of plaudits. Indeed, no player at the King Power created more chances than Bernard on Saturday.

Silva promised that even better things are to come from the Brazilian, who was only making his first league start of the season on Saturday:

He is a player I know can give different things to us. He is a winger with a different profile and can give different things with the ball in the last third of the park.

Today I took the decision to start with him on the left, and changed Richarlison’s role as well.

Bernard will get better because he hadn’t played since last March. He played 90 minutes on Tuesday in the Carabao Cup and almost 90 again today which is important to him.

The diminutive Brazilian adds to the plethora of attractive Everton midfield options in FPL, with Richarlison and Theo Walcott (£6.5m) – who had more penalty box touches than any of his team-mates at Leicester and who almost brilliantly converted an exquisite Bernard pass into a goal of his own – currently the two most popular choices in the Fantasy community.

The fourth Everton midfield alternative is also the most expensive choice, but happens to be the man in form. Gylfi Sigurdsson (£7.4m) registered more shots than any other player at the King Power Stadium and forced Kasper Schmeichel (£5.0m) into a fine save from distance just minutes before winning the match with a sensational turn and strike from over 25 yards out.

Penalty box touches are not the Icelandic midfielder’s thing and indeed Sigurdsson only made contact with the ball once in the Leicester area over the whole 90 minutes.

His ability to strike the ball from distance remains unparalleled, however, and no FPL midfielder has had more shots on goal over the last four Gameweeks than Sigurdsson – a period in which he has found the back of the net on four occasions.

On top of that, no midfielder has created as many chances than the former Swansea City man this season.

Silva was full of praise for the reborn Sigurdsson, who struggled under Sam Allardyce in 2017/18, after the match:

I don’t want to talk about last season. I want to be fair and it is not my way to talk about things I was not involved in.

I know from the first day I started working with him that Gylfi needs support and he needs confidence to play in his best level.

He has quality, he has character, he works really hard. He is enjoying what he is doing which is important to me. It is important for me to see Gylfi Sigurdsson enjoying what he is doing – and, of course, he can help our squad.

Since the first day, I have tried to get the best from him. When he plays in his normal position he can play better as well and that is good.

Session by session he is improving and understanding better what I want. Of course, there is still a long way to go because this is just the beginning but we are supporting him all the time.

When he doesn’t perform the way he really wants he has all the support from our technical staff and he has all my confidence.

The next five fixtures at Goodison Park are all eminently winnable and though the Toffees have some tricky away days in between, an Everton midfield asset is very tempting for those encounters on Merseyside.

Bernard revealed that the Toffees’ front four have developed a good understanding in the short time they have been together:

I am definitely excited by what we can do together. The manager has been practising with that forward line-up during training, Marco Silva likes to mix it round a lot in training sessions so we are comfortable on the pitch with different players and understand each other’s games.

They are all very good players, which makes it easier to develop an understanding and it felt very good. Although we [Bernard, Sigurdsson, Richarlison and Walcott] have not played together in a match, we have been working very hard as a unit.

Everton’s defence still doesn’t convince, with Jamie Vardy (£9.0m) spurning an excellent chance when clean through on goal and Daniel Amartey (£4.5m) somehow contriving to nod the ball wide from five yards in stoppage time.

It was a bad day for Fantasy managers who held a Leicester asset, unless of course that player was Ricardo Pereira (£5.1m). Lining up once again “out of position” on the right wing, Pereira actually popped up on the left flank to twist his way into the Everton box and fire a shot through Jordan Pickford (£4.9m) to draw the scores level before the interval.

Maddison had a quiet day at the office and failed to register a single key pass, while Vardy’s only two other efforts were headers that never really troubled the Everton goal.

Harry Maguire (£5.5m) also failed to build on last week’s 18-point haul, losing his clean sheet early on and failing to register a shot on goal.

Their cause wasn’t helped by a second red card of the season for Wes Morgan (£4.5m) on 63 minutes, who will now miss City’s next two fixtures. Jonny Evans (£4.9m) could benefit from the veteran stopper’s suspension.

Claude Puel, who had named an unchanged side going into this fixture, bemoaned his side’s fragility at the back early in matches:

We’re disappointed of course, we didn’t start the game with enough tempo, it’s another time we conceded a goal after six minutes. It’s too difficult after and we are giving ourselves a mountain to climb, we have to correct this.

After, I think our second half was better, the beginning of the second half had good intensity, we had good chances and we had chances to score to make the difference and after the sending off, it changes the game.

Leicester City XI (4-2-3-1): Schmeichel; Amartey, Morgan, Maguire, Chilwell; Mendy, Ndidi; Ricardo Pereira (Okazaki 86′), Iheanacho (Albrighton 67′), Maddison (Ghezzal 80′); Vardy.

Everton XI (4-3-3): Pickford; Kenny, Keane, Zouma, Digne; Davies (Tosun 71′), Gueye; Walcott (Calvert-Lewin 90′), Sigurdsson, Bernard (Schneiderlin 90′); Richarlison.

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