West Ham midfielder Felipe Anderson showed signs of consistency as West Ham drew at Huddersfield on Saturday.
The Brazilian is making a case for inclusion in Fantasy Premier League squads as the Hammers continue to perform well on our Season Ticker for future Gameweeks.
Meanwhile, there were afternoons to forget for owners of Marko Arnautovic and Grady Diangana as West Ham’s defensive problems continued too.
Huddersfield 1-1 West Ham
Goals: Alex Pritchard (£4.8m) | Felipe Anderson (£6.9m)
Assists: Jonathan Hogg (£4.4m) | Michail Antonio (£6.8m)
Felipe Anderson (£6.9m) scored his third goal in two games to increase his Fantasy appeal as West Ham’s appealing schedule continues. Importantly, it was the second match in a row where none of his colleagues had more shots on goal than him. The Brazilian is proving more of a central figure with each subsequent performance. Manager Manuel Pellegrini admits that he still wants improvement from Anderson, which can only really bode well for his 5.1% ownership and any potential suitors.
“Felipe scored a beautiful goal, it is always important for a player to do but I think that Felipe and the team must improve.” – Manuel Pellegrini
Marko Arnautovic (£7.1m) was less influential in this particular match than expected. Usually the dominant force in the penalty box, Anderson and Huddersfield forward Steve Mounié (£5.8m) both had more touches in that area of the pitch while Javier ‘Chicharito’ Hernandez (£6.2m) managed the same number as the Austrian in just 45 minutes. Furthermore, he had just one shot, only seven players had more. Arnautovic’s only chance of the match saw him go through on goal early on and spurn a decent chance to find the back of the net.
There was significant attention directed at Grady Diangana (£4.5m) before Gameweek 12 after he started three previous matches in a row and assisted against Burnley. The 20-year-old was indeed named on the team-sheet at right attacking midfield once again but was substituted at half-time. Pellegrini needed to change things up after Huddersfield took a fifth-minute 1-0 lead. Chicharito came into the game to act as an additional centre-forward to Arnautovic, and it paid off. West Ham were much better in the second half and Pellegrini was keen to accredit that to the changes made.
“Well, there is more risk if you continue trying to play the same way and don’t make a change. If you are not creating chances then you must try with another player with different conditions, to try to create options. So I think that the substitutions, same as last game, Antonio and Javier, played very well in the second half. We scored our goal and we had three more chances at goal so we improved but not enough to win the game.” – Manuel Pellegrini
Mark Noble (£4.9m) returns from suspension in Gameweek 13 which should shake things up in the West Ham midfield. The Hammers have been using a 4-1-4-1 formation recently, with the last two matches featuring Declan Rice (£4.4m) sitting deep behind a central midfield partnership of Robert Snodgrass (£5.3m) and Pedro Obiang (£4.4m). Noble will almost certainly take one of their places long-term and with either Snodgrass or Diangana the most likely to miss out, the former Hull man fully capable of pushing out to the wing if required. Furthermore, he was a key player for West Ham at Huddersfield. His average position was very similar to that of Arnautovic and more completed passes in the final third than any of his colleagues. However, Diangana should get at least one more week in the starting line-up as Snodgrass picked up his fifth yellow card of the season at Huddersfield and is now suspended for one match.
“Well, I think that Mark Noble and all the other players we are missing at the moment, it is difficult. We have six or seven injuries, that’s why if you take out the four games at the start of the season that was very bad so we are improving for sure, with different names. That is important and I hope that we will finish the first round in a better position than what we are now.” – Manuel Pellegrini
Andy Carroll (£5.4m) and Jack Wilshere (£4.8m) could soon further complicate West Ham selection as Pellegrini issued positive updates on the pair after Saturday’s match.
“Andy [Carroll] is close to playing again. At the start of last week, he started working a little bit with the squad, not 100%, and he will work again this week. On Thursday we will play a friendly game and we’ll see if he can play some minutes. I think in the second week of the international break, Jack Wilshere will also be able to work with the squad.” – Manuel Pellegrini
Pellegrini went with the same back-four for the second match in a row, Aaron Cresswell (£5.1m) and Pablo Zabaleta (£4.3m) flanking Issa Diop (£4.3m) and Fabian Balbuena (£4.4m). However, recent interest in West Ham’s defensive assets seems to have been ill-judged. Despite playing goal-shy Burnley and Huddersfield in their last two matches they still managed to concede three goals and have still have just one clean sheet all season. Crucially, the Clarets have had fewer shots on target than any other side in the last four matches while Huddersfield had not scored from open play at home in 2018/19 until they faced the Hammers’ defence. It took Alex Pritchard (£4.8m) just five minutes to break through. Since Gameweek 8, West Ham have allowed the same number of shots on target as Fulham, who played away at Liverpool this weekend.
Lukasz Fabianski (£4.5m) looks perhaps the only viable option in terms of defensive cover for the Hammers. His well-earned reputation for saves and bonus has helped make up for the shortfall in clean sheets so far, his Gameweek 12 score of five points comprising of six stops and one bonus. Only Joe Hart (£4.5m) has made more saves this season than Fabianski, and no goalkeeper has more than his seven bonus thus far. For some context, Kepa Arrizabalaga (£5.5m) has clean sheets in 2018/19 but is just six FPL points ahead of Fabianski’s total score, while Rui Patricio (£4.6m) has four shutouts and is just three points ahead.
Zabaleta’s hold on the right-back berth looks to have been strengthened by a late injury to Ryan Fredericks (£4.6m). The former Fulham man came on as a 73rd-minute substitute and twisted his ankle, forcing West Ham to play with 10 men for the final five minutes.
“Ryan has a twist in his ankle, he cannot walk, so we played the last five minutes with one player less but he told me he couldn’t walk. We will see tomorrow with the doctors how bad it is.” – Manuel Pellegrini
As much as West Ham were poor defensively, Huddersfield were very good going forward, especially in the first-half. The Terriers may be starting to find their shooting boots as they won the shot-count for the afternoon and registered more on target than West Ham (seven to three). Mounié led the line for the second week in a row and emerged as the match’s most accurate player, with four shots on goal, all of which were on target. The Benin international has just one attacking return this season and seems to still be rotating often with Laurent Depoitre (£5.2m).
“I keep trying. To score goals you need chances. If you have no chances you will never score a goal, so at least I am getting those chances. I am sure I am going to score soon. Of course, as a striker, I can’t spend all season without a goal but I will score soon, I am sure about that. It was very unlucky. We had so many opportunities as well. We have been very unlucky this season, but we just keep going and we will keep working hard to change this. If we stop trying we will never score, so we need to keep trying and I am sure that we will have some good wins with some big scores.” – Steve Mounié
Huddersfield are improving defensively too with just four teams allowing fewer shots on target in the last four Gameweeks. They are also rising up the table for big chances conceded too. The Terriers’ next three home games actually look quite appealing with Brighton, Newcastle and Southampton coming to the John Smith’s Stadium. Those three sides combine for 12 goals in 18 away matches this season, an average of 0.67 per game.
However, Chris Löwe (£4.4m), who had shown great attacking potential recently, is unlikely to be eligible to tap into that. He was taken off with a serious looking shoulder injury against West Ham and has been ruled out for several weeks.
“He has a shoulder injury which looks serious. It’s a shoulder ligament injury. He is in the hospital at the minute and we have to wait to see how serious it will be, but he will be out for a few weeks. This isn’t nice for all of us, but especially for him as he was in great form and has been so reliable and so good since the beginning of the season. But now it is all about supporting him as well as we can so he comes back as quick and as strong as possible.” – David Wagner
Thomas ‘Zanka’ Jorgensen (£4.4m) will also miss Gameweek 13 having picked up his fifth yellow card of the season against West Ham.
Huddersfield Town XI (3-5-1-1): Lössl; Kongolo, Schindler, Zanka; Löwe (Durm 45′), Billing, Hogg, Mooy, Hadergjonaj; Pritchard (Mbenza 72′); Mounié (Depoitre 89′).
West Ham United XI (4-1-4-1): Fabianski; Cresswell, Diop, Balbuena, Zabaleta (Fredericks 73′); Rice; Anderson, Snodgrass, Obiang (Antonio 64′), Diangana (Chicharito 45′); Arnautovic.
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