Our review of the weekend’s matches looks at the Fantasy talking points from three more Gameweek 10 fixtures.
Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang became the Premier League’s joint-top goalscorer of 2018/19 with his seventh strike of the season, though there was little to show for Arsenal’s other widely owned Fantasy assets.
Watford’s budget Fantasy options impressed us in their victory over Huddersfield Town, with the “out of position” Gerard Deulofeu someone we will be paying particularly close attention to in the coming weeks.
And the struggle was real for football writers at St. Mary’s as Southampton and Newcastle United played out a dire 0-0 draw – but there is encouragement at least for those of us backing the Magpies’ defensive assets for their excellent run of fixtures.
Crystal Palace 2-2 Arsenal
- Goals: Luka Milivojevic (£6.1m) x2 | Granit Xhaka (£5.3m), Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang (£10.8m)
- Assists: Cheikhou Kouyate (£4.7m), Wilfried Zaha (£6.9m) | Lucas Torreira (£4.9m)
An entertaining match at Selhurst Park on Sunday afternoon saw Arsenal drop points for the first time in eight Premier League fixtures but for Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang‘s (£10.8m) owners, it was more of the same from the Gabonese striker.
Aubameyang had scored four goals in two substitute appearances going into this match against the Eagles and was on target again in south London, underscoring the point that some strikers don’t need a wealth of chances to find the back of the net when putting Arsenal 2-1 with his only shot of the game.
Aubameyang was recalled to the Arsenal starting XI at the expense of Henrikh Mkhitaryan (£6.8m), lining up on the left of midfield with Alex Iwobi (£5.5m) switching to the opposite flank.
Again Aubameyang was peripheral for much of the match, only touching the ball once in the Palace box, not creating a single chance for his team-mates and registering as many touches in the final third as defensive midfielder Lucas Torreira (£4.9m).
Granit Xhaka (£5.3m) being stationed at left-back meant Aubameyang was also a somewhat isolated figure further up the wing, with the Swiss midfielder not offering the same overlapping threat that the injured Nacho Monreal or Sead Kolasinac (£4.9m) do when in the side.
There is a sense that he is somewhat wasted out on the left flank but while he is still popping up with goals on a weekly basis, his owners in Fantasy Premier League will care little.
Aubameyang’s goal was a controversial one, the ball having flicked off Alexandre Lacazette‘s (£9.8m) hand en route to the Gabonese striker.
Lacazette’s owners will bemoan the fact that he wasn’t awarded an assist for that goal, but as we understand it, the touch off Jordan Ayew‘s (£5.8m) head – rather than the fact Lacazette handled the ball – was crucial in the decision to award no assist: Ayew’s unwitting back-header deviating the ball from its intended destination (Shkodran Mustafi (£5.4m) in the centre of the six-yard box) towards Aubameyang at the far post.
Lacazette was to blank for the second match in succession and like Aubameyang, was a marginal figure for much of the game – his only chance came in the first half when screwing wide from a presentable position.
Mesut Ozil (£8.4m) was the fifth-most-bought FPL player of Gameweek 10 but after his superb display in the win over Leicester City on Monday, this was the German midfielder at his anonymous worst – bar one chance created for Hector Bellerin (£5.4m) in the first half.
Ozil’s inability to string a series of excellent performances together is what deters many from investing in the premium midfielder and he was even hauled off with a quarter of the match remaining at Selhurst Park, having touched the ball only once in the Palace area and not registering a single effort on goal.
His surly reaction to being substituted was downplayed by Emery after the match, however:
It is normal not to be happy [when being substituted]. I like the players like him who show the character when we are not playing well, and when I substituted him at 2-1 usually every player wants to continue playing.
Xhaka, who had scored Arsenal’s first goal with an excellent free-kick, was perhaps missed in midfield as he was redeployed in defence but the Arsenal full-back situation worsened at the interval when Bellerin was forced off through injury.
Emery gave an update on Bellerin after the match:
Yes, he’s injured. I hope it’s not a big injury, but he had muscular pains. I don’t know [whether he will be fit to play Liverpool next Saturday].
Budget defender Rob Holding (£4.4m) produced another steady display at centre-back in his fourth straight league start, while Petr Cech (£5.0m) was back among the substitutes after recovering from injury.
Emery discussed his goalkeeping options just before kick-off:
I am very happy with both. The performance of both goalkeepers and also Emiliano Martinez is very high level, but today I think it is good to continue with Leno because he is playing at a very good performance.
But also Cech is with us today and he has the possibility to play the next matches, but for today the first decision [Leno] is to start the match.
Palace were well worthy of a point and there were some stand-out performances from the likes of Cheikhou Kouyate (£4.7m) and Aaron Wan-Bissaka (£4.3m), even if their displays were commendable for the shackling of Arsenal’s attack rather than anything to excite Fantasy managers.
Kouyate did win one of the two penalties converted by Luka Milivojevic (£6.1m), however, the Serbian midfielder registering his first attacking returns of the season after missing from the spot against Everton a week earlier.
Milivojevic’s 15-point haul was a hark back to last season when he scored on ten occasions for the Eagles but his overly inflated price tag in 2018/19 and his side’s tough upcoming fixtures will likely deter any interest in the Palace midfield general aside from the usual smattering of knee-jerking short-termists.
Wilfried Zaha (£6.9m) won Palace’s second penalty and the Ivorian forward was a bright spark all afternoon, playing on the left of a front three that also featured the less-effective Jordan Ayew (£5.8m) and Andros Townsend (£5.7m).
Zaha’s owners dwindle by the week and he is unlikely to attract much investment before December but he looked a real threat on Sunday, striking the woodwork with one effort and then teeing up substitute Max Meyer (£5.6m) to do the same in the second half.
No player had more shots on goal or created more chances at Selhurst Park than Zaha, who also recorded more than twice as many penalty box touches as any player on show in this fixture.
Roy Hodgson paid tribute to his defence after full-time, also highlighting how more effective Zaha and his attacking players were compared to Arsenal’s:
To keep all of their players of note so quiet as we did – the one we didn’t keep quiet was [Granit] Xhaka with his bullet of a free-kick.
But if we take the players up the front I’ve got to say that our front players, and the players we had offensively in our line-up, were much more noticeable today than the Arsenal ones and that’s great credit to the defenders I have in this Crystal Palace team.
Crystal Palace XI (4-3-3): Hennessey; Wan-Bissaka, Tomkins, Sakho, Van Aanholt; Kouyate (Puncheon 88′), Milivojevic, McArthur (Meyer 62′); Ayew (Sorloth 64′), Zaha, Townsend.
Arsenal XI (4-2-3-1): Leno; Bellerin, Holding, Mustafi, Xhaka; Guendouzi, Torreira; Iwobi, Ozil (Welbeck 67′), Aubameyang (Ramsey 78′); Lacazette.
Watford 3-0 Huddersfield Town
- Goals: Roberto Pereyra (£6.3m), Gerard Deulofeu (£5.4m), Isaac Success (£4.5m)
- Assists: Adam Masina (£4.3m), Etienne Capoue (£5.0m), Kiko Femenia (£4.2m)
After a downturn in form between the September and October international breaks, Watford are once again establishing themselves as a force to be reckoned with in the Premier League – as well as offering us Fantasy managers some appealing cut-price options in every position.
There has been something of a changing of the guard in the past fortnight, with early-season success stories Jose Holebas (£4.8m), Christian Kabasele (£4.5m), Daryl Janmaat (£4.9m), Andre Gray (£6.0m) and Troy Deeney (£5.9m) forced to watch on from the sidelines as a new generation of Watford players have presented themselves as decent budget FPL picks in wins over Wolves and now Huddersfield.
The Hornets’ midfield remains reassuringly consistent, however, with Abdoulaye Doucoure (£5.9m), Will Hughes (£5.0m), Etienne Capoue (£5.0m) and Roberto Pereyra (£6.3m) having started all ten of Watford’s Premier League fixtures this season.
Pereyra was again excellent on Saturday, cutting in off the left flank and registering more penalty box touches than any of his team-mates. Pereyra’s goal – Watford’s opener – was likened to Ricky Villa’s by a number of pundits and is all the more impressive given that the opposition knows exactly what to expect from this “inverted winger” who is more comfortable on his right foot.
While Pereyra is understandably attracting plenty of Fantasy investment – the Argentinean schemer being the second-most-bought midfielder of Gameweek 11 so far – it was one of his team-mates who caught the eye in the 3-0 win over the Terriers.
Gerard Deulofeu (£5.4m) was often lumbered with the “Fantasy troll” tag at Everton after some mixed displays for the Toffees but the former Barcelona midfielder hinted at greater things to come in his loan spell at Vicarage Road last season before injury curtailed his campaign.
Having returned to the Watford starting XI at Wolves after an extended layoff, Deulofeu once again lined up as the “false nine” in the Hornets’ attack on Saturday with Isaac Success (£4.5m) providing the requisite bustling in the injured Deeney’s absence.
Success’s tireless and selfless link-up work allowed Deulofeu to roam across the front line and the Spaniard’s three best chances all came after receiving the ball in different positions.
Deulofeu’s fine individual goal originated from the former Everton player collecting the ball wide on the right flank, before the budget midfielder went close minutes later when cutting in off the left wing and shooting narrowly wide.
Deulofeu’s best opportunity of the match came when he received the ball centrally from Success and attempted to chip the ball into an unguarded Huddersfield net after rounding Jonas Lossl.
It’s still early days for Deulofeu and weighting has to be given to Watford’s limited opposition on Saturday, with tougher tests awaiting on the horizon in the form of Liverpool and Manchester City.
That he is keeping Gray out of the side is a positive sign, though, with Deeney’s return to fitness more likely to affect Success’s security of starts than the Catalan midfielder’s.
Those Fantasy managers considering a move for Success as a budget third-choice forward may be a tad premature, with Deeney’s hamstring injury not expected to keep him out for too much longer.
Success has laid down a marker in the past fortnight, however, and it could be that Watford’s club captain will have to join Gray on the Hornets’ bench on his return given how seamlessly Success has slotted into the side in the last two Gameweeks.
Success got a deserved goal to cap off Watford’s victory, tapping in from six yards after a nicely worked free-kick routine.
Javi Gracia paid tribute to the Nigerian striker after full-time:
Isaac was working very hard before coming [back for pre-season]. He was fit, he was ready to play and he has been waiting for his moment, his chance, and now he’s showing his level.
I don’t think there is a secret or something special. It is about hard work and being patient for his chance to play.
While there has been plenty of focus on Watford’s attacking assets over the last two weeks, the Hornets’ budget back four have been quietly going about their business in keeping two clean sheets and with goal-shy Newcastle and Southampton (see below) their opponents in the next two matches, further shut-outs could easily be banked before the November international break.
Kabasele and Holebas returned from suspension for this fixture but had to make do with a place on the bench, with Gracia preferring the same backline that kept out Wolves at Molineux.
The biggest surprise was perhaps Adrian Mariappa (£4.2m) retaining his place at the expense of Kabasele, but the FPL bench fodder of yesteryear has struck up a good partnership with Craig Cathcart (£4.5m) in Gameweeks 9 and 10 and seems set to keep his place for the time being.
Gracia set of Mariappa:
He is always an example for rest of the players. He’s always ready. If you play him right-back, centre-back or left-back, he’s always ready with a smile on his face, always trying his best to help everybody. It’s a pleasure to have players like Mariappa.
Adam Masina (£4.3m) and Kiko Femenia (£4.2m) have also had to be patient for their chances this season and these two full-back “understudies” picked up where Holebas and Janmaat left off in registering assists to go with their clean sheets on Saturday.
Masina was also on corner-taking duties at the weekend in Holebas’s absence.
While Masina and Femenia aren’t quite as gung-ho as their predecessors, they are arguably not quite as susceptible to being exposed defensively – evidenced perhaps in the fact that the Hornets have not conceded a single big chance in the last two Gameweeks.
Watford weren’t totally dominant, it must be said, and had to rely on a handful of spectacular stops from Ben Foster (£4.5m) to preserve their clean sheet, even if most of Huddersfield’s best efforts came from distance.
For the Terriers, it was a similar story: plenty of effort and numerous chances but a lack of cutting edge in attack.
Town have scored fewer goals (four) than any Premier League club this season but here they had more attempts on goal, shots on target and efforts from inside the box than Watford – the crux, however, being that none of their opportunities were considered “big chances”.
Chris Lowe (£4.4m) was unfortunate to see his long-distance howitzer thunder back off the crossbar via a Foster glove, while the Watford goalkeeper also had to be alert to stop efforts from Philip Billing (£4.5m) and Isaac Mbenza (£5.9m).
Huddersfield had reverted to a 4-2-3-1 for this fixture, with Lowe and Erik Durm (£4.4m) back at full-back and Aaron Mooy (£5.2m) joining Mbenza and Alex Pritchard (£4.8m) in the three attacking midfield positions behind Laurent Depoitre (£5.2m).
Terence Kongolo (£4.3m) was still unavailable, meanwhile.
David Wagner said of his side’s performance:
First of all, we have to be honest with ourselves and say today was not good enough. We conceded two goals which are easy to defend if we’re more aggressive and take more responsibility for these challenges.
We didn’t deserve anything out of this game because defensively we weren’t good enough. I will not judge my players on one performance and one game, but I have to be honest – defensively this was not our level. If everyone thinks the other guy will do it, this just does not help.
With the Terriers in such defensive disarray, FPL managers thinking about cashing in Aleksandar Mitrovic (£6.9m) may be tempted to give the Serbian striker one more week with Fulham visiting West Yorkshire next Monday.
Watford XI (4-4-1-1): Foster; Femenia, Mariappa, Cathcart (Kabasele 85′), Masina; Pereyra, Doucoure, Capoue, Hughes; Success (Gray 81′); Deulofeu (Sema 65′)
Huddersfield Town XI (4-2-3-1): Lossl; Durm, Zanka, Schindler, Lowe; Billing (Bacuna 78′), Hogg; Mbenza (Sobhi 63′), Mooy, Pritchard; Depoitre (Mounie 63′)
Southampton 0-0 Newcastle United
With not one player on show in this match owned by more than 6% of FPL managers and the Match of the Day producers so short of highlights that they included a long-distance Jonjo Shelvey (£5.4m) effort that sailed high into the stands, there is little to note from this drab stalemate on the south coast.
For those backing Newcastle’s defenders for their fine run of fixtures between now and Boxing Day, however, there was at least the encouragement of a third clean sheet away from home in 2018/19 – already more than they managed on their travels in the whole of last season.
After looking a little shaky at home to Brighton last weekend, there were more assured performances from the fit-again, first-choice back four of DeAndre Yedlin (£4.5m), Federico Fernandez (£4.4m), Jamaal Lascelles (£4.8m) and Paul Dummett (£4.4m) but the Magpies also owed their clean sheet to a fine display between the posts from Martin Dubravka (£5.0m), who made smart – if not spectacular – stops from Mohamed Elyounoussi (£6.3m) and Jack Stephens (£4.3m).
The positive statistic for those FPL bosses who own Dubravka or a Newcastle defender is that only five Premier League clubs have conceded fewer big chances than the Magpies in their last two matches (United’s fixtures having taken a turn for the better in Gameweek 9).
After peppering the Brighton goal last weekend Newcastle were limp in attack, not mustering a single attempt on target all game. Kenedy (£4.9m) was anonymous after two promising performances from the budget midfield option in previous weeks, while Ayoze Perez (£6.1m) is living up to his tag as perhaps the most overpriced FPL forward of 2018/19 with another ineffectual performance.
Yoshinori Muto (£5.7m) once again led the line in an unchanged Newcastle team, though Salomon Rondon (£5.7m) recovered from injury sufficiently to appear as a second-half substitute.
Rafael Benitez discussed his striking options after full-time:
Muto worked hard. We needed hard work from the strikers and we needed pace.
I am happy with Muto. He has to learn about English football especially when challenging in the air. But he is working hard and I am happy with him.
It is good to have another striker [Rondon] and more competition, but his match fitness needs to improve by playing games. He was training with the fitness coach.
Now in the last couple of weeks, he has been more involved with the team. He is a little far away from his condition but he is another option and that’s quite positive.
There will perhaps be even less interest in Southampton’s FPL assets than Newcastle’s given that the Saints face Manchester City, Manchester United and Spurs in the next five Gameweeks, but there was at least a second successive clean sheet for Mark Hughes’s side with budget defenders Stephens, Wesley Hoedt (£4.4m) and Cedric Soares (£4.4m) once again returning value for money for the few FPL managers who own them.
Hughes paid tribute to his two centre-backs after full-time:
We take what we’ve taken in the end, which is a point and another clean sheet. It’s back-to-back clean sheets which reinforces our feeling that defensively we’re in a better shape than we have been.
That will help us and give us confidence at the top end of the pitch to really go for teams because we should know that we have got good defensive capabilities.
In the second half, Jack and Wesley stopped things at the source and were prepared to step in and start to ask questions with their passes to set off attacks in the opposition half. We need that from them as well.
Overall, there were a number of things I was pleased with but clearly, at the top end of the pitch, we need to start converting chances.
It is five league fixtures without a goal for the Saints and those Fantasy bosses sitting on Danny Ings (£5.6m) will likely be losing patience with their budget forward.
No player on show at St. Mary’s had more penalty box touches or shots on goal than Ings, but in truth he never posed Dubravka a serious threat and his afternoon was summed up when strike partner Charlie Austin (£5.5m) wandered into the path of one goal-bound effort.
Southampton’s plight in front of goal was summed up by their only “big chance” of the match, with Elyounoussi firing straight at Dubravka from a narrow angle when a square ball across the six-yard box would have left Austin with a tap-in. Shane Long (£4.8m) also screwed wide from a good position with just two minutes to go.
Mario Lemina (£4.9m) recovered from injury to line up in midfield, but Pierre-Emile Hojbjerg (£4.5m) missed out through illness and Austin was substituted with a knock just after the hour-mark.
Southampton XI (4-4-2): McCarthy; Cedric, Stephens, Hoedt, Bertrand; Redmond, Lemina, Romeu (Ward-Prowse 78′), Elyounoussi (Long 78′); Ings, Austin (Gabbiadini 64′).
Newcastle United XI (4-4-1-1): Dubravka; Yedlin, Fernandez, Lascelles, Dummett; Ritchie, Shelvey, Diame (Ki 75′), Kenedy; Perez (Rondon 68′); Muto (Atsu 79′).
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