Our write-up of the ten Gameweek 23 fixtures continues with a look back at a match that was contested on Saturday afternoon.
A Marko Arnautovic-less West Ham United fell to a 2-0 defeat to Bournemouth, who lost Callum Wilson to yet another injury on his comeback from a hamstring problem.
We round up the main Fantasy talking points, relevant manager quotes and headline injury updates from the mid-table clash at the Vitality Stadium in our Scout Notes article below.
Bournemouth 2-0 West Ham United
- Goals: Callum Wilson (£6.5m), Joshua King (£6.3m)
- Assists: David Brooks (£5.1m)
After scoring his tenth Premier League goal of the season and registering three Fantasy Premier League bonus points on his return from a hamstring injury, Callum Wilson (£6.5m) is back on the treatment table.
Wilson was replaced by Junior Stanislas (£6.0m) after 72 minutes of Saturday’s victory over West Ham United, with Eddie Howe providing an update in his post-match press conference:
I think it’s a problem with his knee. It’s nothing to do with his previous hamstring injury.
Callum’s very much a team player. He’s a vital part of what we do here and he knew how important the game was for us as a group. He delivered a very good display.
Joshua King (£6.3m) also hobbled off late in the match, with Howe telling Sky Sports:
Got nothing to tell you, we need to see how they are. Callum would appear the more serious, limping off, which is unlike him.
Any expectations of a goalfest at the Vitality Stadium failed to materialise and this was a cagier contest than perhaps anticipated, with not one shot on target being registered in the opening 45 minutes.
Wilson was at the heart of whatever the Cherries did well in attack, however, and showed just what his side were missing in the 2-0 defeat to Everton a week earlier.
The England striker’s goal was a superbly executed half-volley from outside the box and Wilson could have left with a double-digit haul had Lukasz Fabianski not brilliantly tipped his low drive onto the post just before the mid-price Fantasy forward’s substitution.
Wilson, who sits joint-first for assists among FPL forwards this season, could have banked an attacking return earlier in the game when his cross from the byline was nodded wide by David Brooks (£5.1m) with a fair chunk of the goal gaping.
King hadn’t previously scored since Gameweek 13 and it wasn’t until the final minute on Saturday that he registered his first shot on goal of the game, tapping in a Brooks pass after a swift counter-attack to put the match to bed.
Brooks and Ryan Fraser (£6.1m) continued in the same vein as much of the season: the young Wales international posing the bigger goal threat (registering more penalty box touches than anyone on show), with Fraser the arch-creator in the Bournemouth midfield.
On another day, the Scottish winger could have banked an attacking return or two.
Steve Cook (£4.4m) drew an excellent save from Fabianski with a header from a Fraser free-kick before the pint-sized midfielder’s deflected cross was almost turned in to his own net by Pablo Zabaleta (£4.3m).
Fraser was also denied an assist for Wilson’s goal, as it was deemed that Issa Diop‘s (£4.3m) tackle deviated the cross from its intended destination.
Fraser happened to be the provider of a Nathan Ake (£5.0m) header that was ruled out for offside, meanwhile, with Wilson judged to be interfering with play.
Howe sprang a surprise by naming Artur Boruc (£4.0m) in goal instead of Asmir Begovic (£4.4m) and explained his decision after full-time:
[Boruc’s] form’s been very, very good, he’s trained excellently. In our Carabao Cup game against Chelsea, he was outstanding and made a number of good saves.
You tweak other positions in the team without really thinking about it but the goalkeeper one is always analysed greatly and I understand why, but I just felt he deserved to play today.
He’s the ultimate professional, Asmir. He’s fine and he understood the decision and very much supported Artur and his performance.
Bournemouth recorded only their second clean sheet in 13 Gameweeks, restricting West Ham to one shot on target and generally looking more solid than they have been in recent months.
Howe said his side have been working on tightening up at the back:
We’ve put a lot of hard work into the last few weeks and concentrated on our defending. It goes without saying, after the run that we’ve been on that’s what we would do and I’m very pleased that the players got their reward.
While far from their best in an attacking sense, West Ham still had their chances: Samir Nasri (£5.5m) firing inches wide of Boruc’s post in the first half before Andy Carroll (£5.4m) somehow skied an effort over the bar from close range after the break.
Carroll led the line to little effect on a rare start up front before being replaced by the fit-again Javier Hernandez (£6.1m) midway through the second half, with the Mexican forcing Boruc into his only save of the game on 79 minutes.
Carroll wasn’t helped by the ineffectual performances of Nasri, Felipe Anderson (£7.3m) and Michail Antonio (£6.8m) behind him, with the manner of the Hammers’ meek away loss conjuring up memories of the 2-0 defeat to Burnley in Gameweek 20.
Manuel Pellegrini said:
I am disappointed with the result. Maybe we had lots of possession and good football but you need to create more chances and shoot more against a team that has conceded 12 goals in the last four games. That is something we did not do well.
West Ham, of course, were without Marko Arnautovic (£6.9m) for this encounter, the Austrian having been omitted from the match-day squad after a week dominated by talk of a potential move to China.
It was difficult to argue that West Ham didn’t miss the nous of their talismanic forward given the difficulty they experienced in breaking down the Cherries but Pellegrini said:
As a manager, you must make decisions on the players that work better during the week. Marko has another issue so I thought that it was not a good idea for him to play today.
We don’t need to talk about a player that was not in the squad. I never complain about players who are not here. We have nine players injured, let’s talk about the ones here that we brought to play this game.
We didn’t win, Marko Arnautovic didn’t play, so we must have other players to step up.
Lucas Perez (£6.2m) was also omitted from the 18-man squad, with Pellegrini adding:
Same as Marko, I chose the 18 players who performed the best during the week.
Jack Wilshere (£4.8m) was once again missing but Pellegrini is optimistic of the midfielder’s return early next month.
The Chilean manager said:
He is continuing with his six weeks of rest about his ankle. He is in treatment and I hope that next week maybe he can start making some running, on the treadmill or the other gym.
He will be ready the beginning of February.
Bournemouth XI (4-4-2): Boruc; Clyne, S Cook, Ake, Smith; Brooks (Mousset 90′), Gosling, Lerma, Fraser (Daniels 90); King, Wilson (Stanislas 73′).
West Ham United XI (4-3-3): Fabianski; Zabaleta, Diop, Ogbonna, Cresswell; Noble (Diangana 78′), Rice, Nasri (Snodgrass 66′); Antonio, Carroll (Hernandez 66′), Anderson.
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