Wolves are proving an excellent source of Fantasy Premier League options this season as they won another game to nil in Gameweek 8.
The defensive options at Molineux have been of particular appeal to FPL managers and they are certain to earn new owners over the international break.
Meanwhile, Crystal Palace assets are rapidly declining in popularity and Burnley and Huddersfield remain out of fashion too.
In this latest Scout Notes article we’ve got all the Fantasy talking points from Crystal Palace 0-1 Wolves and Burnley 1-1 Huddersfield.
Crystal Palace 0-1 Wolves
Goals: Matt Doherty (£4.7m)
Assists: Raúl Jiménez (£5.6m)
Crystal Palace fans still wait for their first home goal of the season as their team was the latest to fall victim to newly-promoted Wolverhampton Wanderers. The Eagles have registered the same number of shots at home as Spurs so far this season, but are five goals behind them. That’s because their accuracy in front of their own fans ranks among the bottom five for the division, while only three sides have registered fewer big chances while at home. With Arsenal (home), Chelsea (away), Tottenham (home) and Manchester United (away) all on Palace’s schedule for the next six Gameweeks, it is almost certainly time to sell Wilfried Zaha (£7.0m).
“That’s football. If you go several games without scoring, you feel that pressure. I’ve never known fans come to watch football matches, having seen their team play three games at home without seeing a goal, then they have a fourth one, not being frustrated and disappointed by it. But there is only one way out of the situation and that is to make certain you score goals in the next game. Until such time as we do that I will be facing this question.” – Roy Hodgson
Manager Roy Hodgson made just one change as he switched from 4-3-3 to 4-4-2 in Gameweek 8, Jeffrey Schlupp (£4.5m) coming in at left-midfield for Max Meyer (£5.7m). However, that added pace could bring about the goal Hodgson had been searching for.
Palace’s defence continued to disappoint with the popular Aaron Wan-Bissaka (£4.3m) justifying our decision to remove him from the Watchlist for Gameweek 8. Coming into the match, Palace ranked third worst for big chances allowed at home in 2018/19, so it was no surprise to see them breached for the fifth time in four matches at Selhurst Park.
“If we really put our finger on where we lost it, that first half performance when we really played very well, we had most of the possession and really the best of the game, but we didn’t take a chance to put us 1-0 in front. If we had got a goal, which I think we would have deserved, it would have made it harder for Wolves. As it was they got it and it made it harder for us.” – Roy Hodgson
Wolves are looking every bit the ‘Old Gold’ mine many expected them to be this season. Their clean sheet was a fourth of the campaign, with their defensive options streaks ahead of other squad members. The reigning Championship title winners came into the match ranking best for big chances allowed away from home, prompting those in the know to start every Wolves defensive option they had available to them. It proved a sound decision, with this match ensuring Nuno’s side remained top of the pile for that particular statistic.
Matt Doherty (£4.7m) recorded his third double-figure haul with his goal, clean sheet and three bonus. The Irishman has claimed maximum bonus on three occasions this season and is taking up dangerous enough positions to be dubbed ‘The New Alonso’ already. Meanwhile, Rui Patrício (£4.6m) added save points for the sixth time this season and claimed two bonus for the second week running.
Raúl Jiménez (£5.6m) continues to offer excellent value among forwards as he laid on his third assist in three matches.
Not only are Wolves options delivering on the pitch, but Nuno is also very much in Fantasy managers’ good books right now. The Wolves boss has now named an unchanged 3-4-3 side for the first eight matches in a row, a new Premier League record. His selection decisions have made it very easy to cherry pick the best Fantasy assets out in the early part of 2018/19.
Crystal Palace XI (4-4-2): Hennessey; van Aanholt, Sakho, Tomkins, Wan-Bissaka; Schlupp (Sørloth 82′), McArthur (McArthur 63′), Milivojevic, Townsend; Zaha, Ayew (Kouyaté 72′).
Wolves XI (3-4-3): Patrício; Boly, Coady, Bennett; Jonny, Neves, Moutinho, Doherty; Jota (Traoré 87′), Jiménez (Cavaleiro 75′), Costa (Saïss 84′).
Burnley 1-1 Huddersfield Town
Goals: Sam Vokes (£5.3m) | Christopher Schindler (£4.3m)
Assists: Johann Berg Gudmundsson (£6.0m) | Chris Löwe (£4.4m)
Sam Vokes (£5.3m) made it two goals in as many matches on Saturday as Burnley drew 1-1 with Huddersfield. More importantly, that form should keep him in the side long-term. The Welshman has now made four consecutive starts having been used only as a substitute between Gameweeks 1 and 4. Clarets manager Sean Dyche has rotated his forward options regularly this season, making it difficult to pinpoint who the favourites are, but Vokes appears to have secured his place now.
Meanwhile, despite starting the last two matches and scoring in one of them, Dyche replaced Matej Vydra (£5.9m) with Ashley Barnes (£5.7m). Chris Wood (£6.3m) featured as a second-half substitute for the second week in a row.
Johann Berg Gudmundsson (£6.0m) still remains the primary offensive Fantasy asset in Burnley’s ranks. Not surprisingly, it was the Icelandic international who provided the assist for Vokes’ first-half headed goal. We predicted such a strike in our most recent Scout Picks article, pointing out Huddersfield’s vulnerability in the air. Accordingly, Gudmundsson now ranks joint-second amongst all players for Fantasy assists this season.
Burnley are definitely improving on their awful start to the season. The Clarets have taken seven points from a possible nine in their last three matches, compared to just three from 30 prior to that.
However, Joe Hart (£4.6m) owners were left disappointed with another clean sheet wipe-out against lesser opposition. In both matches, Burnley’s opponents have beaten their shot count by some margin and were able to make a breakthrough. That said, the Clarets managed to significantly reduce the average number of shots on target and big chances allowed in Gameweeks 7 and 8 compared to the first six matches of the season. Considering even those improvements could not yield clean sheets in either case, the next two matches, against Manchester City (away) and Chelsea (away) should put Fantasy managers off starting Hart, or any of his Burnley colleagues, for a few weeks.
“In the first half, we were effective and should have been out of sight. In the second, credit to Huddersfield because they didn’t relent, kept playing and we lost our way. It’s seven points out of nine, and we are getting back to somewhere we were last season.” – Sean Dyche
“I think our defensive performance was strong but at home, we need to be stronger than that really and take the game to them, a bit more like we did against Bournemouth a couple of weeks and put that mark on the game, especially at home.” – Sam Vokes.
Huddersfield’s domination of the shot count (19 to 6) allowed them to score their first goal from open play in 2018/19. It was centre-back Christopher Schindler (£4.3m) who got on the end of a Chris Löwe (£4.4m) cross to equalise in the second half.
“In general, I have the feeling in the latest games that we have started to create opportunities, and we’ve started to control games. We have a better understanding of each other, and we are able to create chances, without converting all of them into goals at the minute. But, and I have said this often, I am more confident that in the 30 games we have in front of us we will get it fixed.” – David Wagner
However, the Terriers are still short on goals and shouldn’t concern anyone looking at backing Liverpool defenders against them in Gamewek 9. They have scored just seven times in their last 18 Premier League matches, at an average of 0.39 per game. The 19 goal attempts registered at Turf Moor was significantly higher than the average of 8.3 recorded over the first seven Gameweeks, which suggests this fixture is something of an outlier for their attacking potential. Burnley rank 16th for possession this season (43%) which means that most sides they face will see more of the ball anyway. It will be a different story when Huddersfield face Liverpool.
Schindler sustained a head injury during the match but was able to continue. Vokes’ elbow caught him in the face, drawing blood, but the centre-back was able to stay on his feet a few more seconds to block a shot with his face before receiving lengthy treatment. After that, he was able to continue.
“I don’t think my injury was deliberate, he [Sam Vokes] tried to create space for himself and caught me. I felt the blood pouring right away so knew I needed to get some medical attention, especially with a head injury. Today was our best performance in the Premier League this season. It’s a shame we didn’t go onto win but we’ll take the point.” – Christopher Schindler
However, left-back Löwe was forced to limp off in the closing stages with a knock. There has been no update on his fitness.
Burnley XI (4-4-2): Hart; Taylor, Mee, Tarkowski, Lowton; Lennon, Cork, Westwood (Hendrick 73′), Gudmundsson; Vokes (Vydra 90′), Barnes (Wood 61′).
Huddersfield Town XI (4-4-1-1): Lössl; Löwe (Hadergjonaj 86′), Schindler, Zanka, Durm; Hogg, Billing; van La Parra (Mounié 59′), Pritchard, Mooy; Depoître (Mbenza 59′).
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