Our coverage of the weekend’s Premier League matches from a Fantasy perspective continues with a look at the matches contested at the Amex Stadium and Goodison Park on Saturday.

Gylfi Sigurdsson emerged from Everton’s 1-0 win over Cardiff City with his third double-digit haul of the season, but there was frustration for Richarlison‘s owners as the Brazilian blanked.

Glenn Murray and Jamie Vardy traded goals on the south coast, while the first-half dismissal of James Maddison left those Fantasy managers who kept faith in the Leicester City midfielder through his knee injury cursing their luck.

As usual, we’ll round up the goals, assists, injury news, manager quotes and Fantasy Premier League talking points from the two matches in question.

Everton 1-0 Cardiff City

• Goal: Gylfi Sigurdsson (£7.4m)
• Assist: Theo Walcott (£6.3m)

No FPL midfielder has scored more goals than Gylfi Sigurdsson (£7.4m) since the first international break of the season in September.

The Iceland international, who tapped home Everton’s winner on Saturday, has six goals and one assist in his last nine league appearances for the Toffees.

Saturday was a day when Everton’s front four didn’t click as they have been in recent matches at Goodison, which will stick in the throat of those FPL managers who handed the armband to Richarlison (£7.0m) for Gameweek 13 – the Brazilian was the front-runner in our captain poll ahead of Saturday’s deadline.

Richarlison led the line once more in Marco Silva’s now-customary 4-2-3-1 but didn’t get much change out of Sol Bamba (£4.5m) in the Cardiff backline, though should have scored when nodding a Sigurdsson free-kick straight at Neil Etheridge (£4.5m) just before the break.

The Brazilian also forced a save out of the Filipino goalkeeper in the final minute of the match but otherwise he didn’t trouble the Cardiff goal, looking fairly out of sorts throughout and not getting a great deal of service from the players behind him.

Once again, Bernard (£5.9m) and Theo Walcott (£5.1m) were largely ineffective on the flanks, and the middling form of both players might tempt Silva into a shake-up for the Merseyside derby next Sunday.

Richarlison moving back to the left flank is one option, while Ademola Lookman (£5.1m) looked fairly sprightly upon his introduction on 73 minutes and could be an option on the wing too.

Lookman almost scored a fine individual goal when wriggling through the Cardiff backline on 82 minutes but was denied by Etheridge.

That Sigurdsson was the pick of Everton’s attacking quartet isn’t much of a compliment and in truth, the Icelandic international’s influence on the match was minimal in the opening 45 minutes.

The former Swansea and Spurs midfielder gradually came into the game after the break and served Cardiff fair warning before his goal with one skied effort from outside the box and another attempt cleared off the line by Bamba.

Sigurdsson finally got on the scoresheet on the hour when Walcott’s saved shot fell kindly into his path seven yards out.

The best player on the park was unquestionably Andre Gomes (£5.4m), whose appeal is very limited as a Fantasy option – particularly with goalscoring midfield alternatives in Richarlison and Sigurdsson available – but whose presence in the double-pivot is increasingly key to Everton’s good form. There is little doubt that the on-loan Barcelona star helps their more popular FPL assets to prosper.

Silva highlighted Gomes’ importance when paying tribute to Sigurdsson at full-time:

Gylfi is performing well and being helped by the fantastic work the other two – Andre Gomes and Idrissa Gana Gueye – are doing behind him.

He is understanding better what I want, the moves I want him to make and the space and positions on the pitch where I want him to receive the ball.

He is a very good player with a lot of quality and can arrive in the box when it matters, which is what I want from the player in his position.

He is a fantastic professional and gives 100 per cent every day on the training ground.

Gomes, in fact, had more penalty box touches than any other player on show at Goodison and showed attacking intent with two first-half shots off target.

His presence in front of the back four, along with that of Idrissa Gueye (£4.8m), has seemingly settled the Everton backline too, and this was the Toffees’ third clean sheet in the five matches that Gomes has started.

Yerry Mina (£5.4m) kept his place at the heart of the Everton backline at the expense of Kurt Zouma (£5.0m) and produced an encouraging performance alongside Michael Keane (£5.0m), who delivered more of the same with three headed efforts from set-piece situations: no first-choice FPL defender has a better minutes-per-chance rate than the Everton centre-back this season.

Lucas Digne (£4.9m) didn’t perhaps offer his usual menace from open play but was again prominent at dead-ball situations and could have easily registered an assist for one of Keane’s headed attempts.

The Everton defence were largely untroubled by the Cardiff attack, though Callum Paterson (£5.2m) – again playing “out of position” up front – wasted a glorious headed opportunity late in the game.

Paterson represented Cardiff’s only real goal threat, limited as it was, and it wasn’t until the 72nd minute that Jordan Pickford (£4.9m) was tested in the Everton goal, with the England goalkeeper saving from a long-range Victor Camarasa (£4.5m) effort.

Neil Warnock had ostensibly packed the middle of the park with four central midfielders, with Harry Arter (£4.9m) back from his ban and lining up on the left.

Josh Murphy (£4.8m) dropped to the bench as Kadeem Harris (£4.5m) kept his place and with Nathaniel Mendez-Laing (£4.8m) almost back to full fitness, Murphy’s competition on the flank will only intensify.

Warnock hailed his side’s resolute display, with the Bluebirds next up against Wolves on Friday night:

When you look at their [Everton’s] last few performances they have been as good as anyone else in the Premier League.

So to come here and nullify them as much as we did was pleasing. To stay up we’re going to need to show a little bit more quality in certain areas.

We could have done better in the final third during the first half.

We’ve got to make home games count, that’s a big thing for us in the Premier League. It’s a tasty game next Friday night against Wolves.

Warnock also hinted that he’d like to delve into the transfer market in January, suggesting that he doesn’t see Paterson as a long-term solution to his striking problems:

We’re going to have to do a bit of shopping because that’s the best we can do, that. I think to stay up we have to have that little bit more quality which we’re looking at now.

I think when they see how close we are, with that little bit more quality, we’ve got a right-back up front at the minute and he’s doing really well, but that little bit more quality and nous in certain areas I think is what we need.