It was an emotional afternoon on Saturday as Leicester City hosted Burnley.
The Premier League meeting between the two sides was understandably overshadowed by tributes to the recent passing of Vichai Srivaddhanaprabha.
Meanwhile, Southampton and Watford played out a controversial draw at St Mary’s Stadium.
We’ve got the Fantasy talking points from those matches in this latest Scout Notes article.
Leicester 0-0 Burnley
Goals: None
Assists: None
Leicester City can consider themselves a little unlucky not to have secured three points as they played their first home game since the tragic passing of chairman Vichai Srivaddhanaprabha. No team had more shots on goal in Gameweek 12 than the Foxes who failed to find the net with any of their 22 efforts.
It is difficult to read too much into any of the data for this particular match given the circumstances. It has been an emotional few weeks for all connected with Leicester City and before Saturday’s encounter it had been agreed by manager Claude Puel, and even Burnley’s Sean Dyche, that the result mattered little in the grand scheme of things. The Foxes boss believes that the international break has come at a good time.
“We cannot train a lot in the last two weeks so it will be important to maintain our fitness levels for the next games. For all the international players it will be an opportunity to play with other team-mates. I hope they can think of other things with their national team and I hope they come back fit and with a good rest for their minds.” – Claude Puel
As expected, the Foxes lined up without James Maddison (£6.8m) or Harry Maguire (£5.5m) who had been ruled out through injury. There has been no update on their condition since Saturday’s draw. Rachid Ghezzal (£5.2m) came in for Maddison and was used in the number 10 role instead of wide midfield, where he has mostly been deployed this season. Interestingly, his average position against Burnley was further forward than all of his Leicester team-mates, including centre-forward Jamie Vardy (£9.0m). Furthermore, he assumed Maddison’s set-piece responsibilities, despite suggestions that Marc Albrighton (£5.2m) may have been the beneficiary.
Jonny Evans (£4.8m) slotted in for Maguire and was a standout figure in the game, but he was forced off in the 90th minute with a knock. There is no update on his condition either, so if both he and Maguire are unavailable for Gameweek 13 then the centre-back pairing is likely to be Wes Morgan (£4.5m) and Caglar Söyüncü (£4.9m).
There was a huge outpouring of emotion at the beginning and end of Saturday’s match, understandably so. Puel suggested in his post-match interview that the events of the last few weeks are likely to have an effect on his squad for the rest of the campaign.
“I think it will be a challenge all the time to manage the day before the game to find the good rewards and to prepare to have the focus and concentration without the emotion preventing the right performance. We will see, step by step, to anticipate and manage this situation. Of course, we want to continue to perform like the last two games but I don’t know our response every time. We want to perform and we cannot play all the time with this emotion. We need to speak about football, about details, different things. I saw their new maturity facing this event. I am sure they will continue in a good way and try to fulfil the dream of our owner.” – Claude Puel
Burnley’s struggles in front of goal continued in this match. No team had fewer shots in Gameweek 12 as Dyche made yet another change to his front two. Sam Vokes (£5.3m) started for the eighth league match in a row but he was paired with Chris Wood (£6.2m) at the King Power Stadium, having played alongside Matej Vydra (£5.8m) against West Ham.
Outside of Vokes, Wood has the most starts among Burnley forwards this season with a total of five accounting for 545 minutes. However, Vydra and Ashley Barnes (£5.7m) remain in the selection picture every week with three and two starts respectively, for 245 and 286 minutes.
Despite returning from injury in Gameweek 10, Robbie Brady (£5.4m) was named on the bench for the second week running. That continues to be good for Johann Berg Gudmundsson (£6.0m) owners who retains his monopoly on Burnley set pieces. However, the Clarets had just one on their visit to Leicestershire. Furthermore, the Icelandic international was forced out of the game in the 65th minute with a calf problem, Brady his replacement. Steven Defour (£5.4m) had to come off with a knee injury too.
Kevin Long (£4.2m) replaced James Tarkowski (£4.8m), who missed out on the match having had a hernia operation last week. With all three of these injury-related issues, Dyche believes they are minor.
“I don’t think they’re too serious and with a couple of weeks now to give them a break, hopefully, they will recover.” – Sean Dyche
Leicester City XI (4-2-3-1): Schmeichel; Chilwell, Evans (Söyüncü 90′), Morgan, R Pereira; Ndidi, Mendy; Gray (Okazaki 84′), Ghezzal, Albrighton (Iheanacho 60′); Vardy.
Burnley XI (4-4-2): Hart; Taylor, Mee, Long, Lowton; Gudmundsson (Brady 65′), Cork, Defour (Hendrick 55′), Lennon; Wood, Vokes (Barnes 73′).
Southampton 1-1 Watford
Goals: Manolo Gabbiadini (£5.6m) | Jose Holebas (£4.8m)
Assists: Danny Ings (£5.5m) | Gerard Deulofeu (£5.4m)
Danny Ings‘ (£5.5m) 40-minute spell on the pitch against Watford turned heads in the Fantasy community on Saturday. Despite coming off injured in the first half, his assist for Manolo Gabbiadini’s (£5.6m) goal ensured he still finished the match with two bonus points.
“Danny [Ings] unfortunately overstretched in the warm-up and we weren’t sure whether he was going to start the game and he wanted to see if he could have an impact for us. Clearly, he was struggling and couldn’t get around the pitch and he needed to come off. That was on the back of losing Shane Long yesterday and it looks like he might need a small procedure on his ankle to address that problem he’s had for some time now.” – Mark Hughes
The forward proved to be the best of a bad bunch when it came to performance on the baseline Bonus Points System. He amassed a total of 18 on that scale, the same number as goalkeeper Alex McCarthy (£4.5m), with seven other players within five points of catching him.
In truth, it was a poor game, which is perhaps why it is being remembered more for Charlie Austin‘s (£5.5m) post-match rant and unintended collaboration with Britpop legends Blur. His second-half goal was ruled out for Maya Yoshida‘s (£4.2m) offside position.
“It’s ridiculous. They shouldn’t be in the game. They get a point. We scored a perfectly good goal to make it 2-0 and the game is done and dusted. We won the game, but the officials cost us two points today. They said it was offside. They said it hit Maya [Maya Yoshida], but it didn’t. I hit it twice. It hit me and bobbed up. That’s why it has done Foster. It’s a joke. You go on about VAR this and VAR that, help the officials out. Clearly, they need help. We play in the Premier League, the best league in the world, the most-watched league in the world. So give them all the help they need because clearly, they cost us two points today. It’s a joke.” – Charlie Austin
— Charlie Austin (@chazaustin10) November 11, 2018
Attacking midfielder Stuart Armstrong (£5.1m) came back into the starting XI for the first time since Gameweek 1 and he did make a noticeable difference. No player created more chances in the game than him.
Yoshida also made only his second start of the campaign having previously played 90 minutes against Chelsea in Gameweek 8. He will be fighting to hold onto his place.
“I’m really happy to be back in the starting XI and I’ll keep fighting, as well as the rest of the players. I understand what I need to do and I understand when the chance is coming. I always prepare well, but we couldn’t win and we couldn’t keep a clean sheet, so it’s not enough.” – Maya Yoshida
Meanwhile, Ryan Bertrand (£4.8m) picked up his fifth yellow card of the season and is now suspended for Gameweek 13.
Watford lined up in 4-4-2 again with Gerard Deulofeu (£5.4m) deployed as a centre-forward alongside Isaac Success (£4.6m), making his fourth successive start. Troy Deeney (£5.9m) was reintroduced earlier than expected with a 40th-minute injury to Will Hughes (£5.0m). However, comments from Javi Gracia earlier this week suggest that Success and Deeney could form a partnership in recent weeks.
Gabbiadini’s first-half goal ensured that Watford have kept just three clean sheets in their first 12 matches. In one sense, that damages the appeal of popular option José Holebas (£4.8m) but his equaliser at St Mary’s was his sixth attacking return of the campaign. After two games out of the side, he has started at left-back for the last two weeks running and appears to be an established figure at Watford again.
“[Holebas is playing] very well. A moment when he didn’t play but I know Jose is important for us, but all the players are. When Jose didn’t play, Adam Masina showed a very high level as well and this is the strength of the squad and the club. Now we can trust all of them because when they have the chance to play – like Chalobah today – all of them show a good level and thinking in the collective target before the individual target. For these reasons, I’m very proud of them and know all of them to deserve more minutes to play, but I can’t do it.” – Javi Gracia
Southampton XI (4-2-3-1): McCarthy; Bertrand, Hoedt, Yoshida, Cedric; Lemina, Højbjerg; Redmond (Obafemi 90′), Armstrong (Ward-Prowse 74′), Gabbiadini; Ings (Austin 40′).
Watford XI (4-4-2): Foster; Holebas, Cathcart, Mariappa, Kiko Femenía; Pereyra (Gray 68′), Chalobah, Doucouré, Hughes (Deeney 40′); Success, Deulofeu.
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5 years, 5 months agoVardy + Mane to Arnie + Sterling.
Makes sense?