They might be tired – Gameweek 4

It’s the second week with this community article – the goal again is to review midweek games to help with last-minute decisions (transfers, captaincy choice, 50/50 calls on who to start or bench).  It’s almost September, so we have to start looking out for League (aka Carabao) Cup matches in addition to ongoing Europa League qualifying rounds.  Eventually we’ll include Champions League and FA Cup too.  And after this weekend’s games we get the dreaded first international break.  Don’t make your transfers too early next week before potential injury news from players on overseas duty (unless you’re using your wildcard!).

Previously we’ve only seen one or two midweek games, but they seemingly left Wolves struggling on the weekends more than you’d expect.  Liverpool were also not at their best before the last gameweek – they were lucky to hold on to win over Southampton after being run ragged by 120 minutes of Super Cup action against Chelsea.

This week we had 14 out of 20 teams play either Tuesday, Wednesday or Thursday – only the Top 6 got a break.  Surely every FPL manager had at least one of their starting players in action (or in my case, four), so let’s review the midweek matches and a few relevant stats (minutes, attacking returns, injuries) for popular fantasy players (those with more than 5% ownership).

These are just the headline stats – all in one place – and I recommend you read the recent Scout Notes articles on the site for excellent summaries on the individual midweek games that your squad’s players were involved in.  This also applies if you have players from these teams who are lesser owned in FPL since this article does not cover everyone.  Ok… let’s see who might be tired!

Midweek Games Before FPL Gameweek 4 – As It Happened

League/Carabao Cup – 2nd Round

Some FFS readers commented before these games that it’s not worth paying much attention because most Premier League teams will start second-string players against teams from England’s other leagues.  I beg to differ.  As in previous seasons, even in early rounds of Cup competitions many Premier League sides will play at least half of their starters in these matches.  Lots of popular FPL players logged serious minutes this week.  Luckily for fantasy managers, a few teams bowed out of the competition early (Burnley, Newcastle, Crystal Palace and Norwich all losing) and will not have additional League Cup matches this year.  They will all have FA Cup games but those don’t start until December for Premier League teams.

Tuesday matches

Bristol 1, Brighton 2

(Brighton GW4 – Saturday, away at Man City, 3 days’ rest)

·        David Button (25%) – 90 minutes

·        Matt Ryan (15%) – 0 minutes

·        Lewis Dunk (12%) – 0 minutes

Crawley Town 1, Norwich 0

(Norwich GW4 – Saturday, away at West Ham, 3 days’ rest)

·        Teemu Pukki (35%) – 0 minutes

·        Todd Cantwell (13%) – 0 minutes

·        Michael McGovern (5%) – 0 minutes

Crewe Alexandra 1, Aston Villa 6

(Aston Villa GW4 – Saturday, away at Crystal Palace, 3 days’ rest)

·        Tom Heaton (7%) – 0 minutes

·        John McGinn (6%) – 0 minutes

·        Jack Grealish (5%) – 22 minutes, 1 goal

Crystal Palace 0, Colchester United 0 (Colchester win on penalties)

(Crystal Palace GW4 – Saturday, home vs. Aston Villa, 3 days’ rest)

·        Martin Kelly (28%) – 45 minutes

·        Wilfried Zaha (13%) – 27 minutes

·        Patrick van Aanholt (8%) – 0 minutes

·        Connor Wickham (7%) – 63 minutes

·        Luka Milivojevic (5%) – 0 minutes

Southampton 1, Fulham 0

(Southampton GW4 – Saturday, away at Crystal Palace, 3 days’ rest)

·        No FPL players with 5% or more ownership.  Worth noting that Nathan Redmond (for the 1.7% of managers who own him) was injured and seen leaving the stadium later in a protective boot.

Newport County 0, West Ham 2

(West Ham GW4 – Saturday, home vs. Norwich, 3 days’ rest)

·        Felipe Anderson (5%) – 82 minutes (coming on after an injury to Michail Antonio)

·        Lucasz Fabianski (5%) – 0 minutes

·        Sebastien Haller (4% but rising) – 0 minutes

Sheffield United 2, Blackburn Rovers 1

(Sheffield GW4 – Saturday, away at Chelsea, 3 days’ rest)

·        John Lundstrum (19%) – 0 minutes

Watford 3, Coventry City 0

(Watford GW4 – Saturday, away at Newcastle, 3 days’ rest)

·        No FPL players with 5% or more ownership

Wednesday matches

Bournemouth 0, Forest Green Rovers 0 (Bournemouth win on penalties)

(Bournemouth GW4 – Saturday, away at Leicester, 2 days’ rest)

·        Nathan Ake (14%) – 0 minutes

·        Josh King (13%) – 30 minutes

·        Callum Wilson (11%) – 60 minutes

·        Ryan Fraser (8%) – 30 minutes

·        Jack Simpson (7%) – 90 minutes

·        Diego Rico (6%) – 90 minutes

Burnley 1, Sunderland 3

(Burnley GW4 – Saturday, home vs. Liverpool, 2 days’ rest)

·        Nick Pope (10%) – 0 minutes

·        Ashley Barnes (9%) – 0 minutes

·        Erik Pieters (7%) – 0 minutes

Everton 4, Lincoln City 2 (GW4 – Sunday, home vs. Wolves, 3 days’ rest)

·        Lucas Digne (27%) – 90 minutes, 1 goal

·        Jordan Pickford (12%) – 90 minutes

·        Maarten Stekelenburg (9%) – 0 minutes

·        Gylfi Sigurdsson (8%) – 90 minutes, 1 goal

·        Richarlison (6%) – 90 minutes, 1 goal

·        Yerry Mina (5%) – 0 minutes

Newcastle 1, Leicester 1 (Leicester win on penalties)

(Newcastle GW4– Saturday, home vs. Watford, 2 days’ rest.  Leicester GW4 – Saturday, home vs. Bournemouth, 2 days’ rest)

Newcastle

·        Jamaal Lascelles (6%) – 0 minutes

·        Isaac Hayden (6%) – 90 minutes

Leicester

·        James Maddison (11%) – 90 minutes, 1 goal

·        Ayoze Perez (9%) – 90 minutes

·        Jamie Vardy (8%) – 90 minutes

·        Kasper Schmeichel (7%) – 90 minutes

·        Ricardo Pereira (6%) – 90 minutes

Europa League

Finally, a more detailed note about Wolves who won again last night in Europa League with another goal by Raul Jimenez (and one by popular budget midfielder Leander Dendoncker).  As we might have expected, and similar to Everton, Burnley, and West Ham in recent years of Europa League qualifying… playing the extra games is a stretch for mid-table teams who are outside of the Top 6.  There’s no questioning the talent on the Wolves team, but only an extra-time penalty goal by Raul Jimenez against Burnley last weekend kept them from starting the season in the relegation zone.

As good as Wolves have been in Europa League, they are winless with only two goals in three Premier League matches and now they’ll be continuing their European play in the next round after impressive wins over Torino both home and away.  Kudos to the Wolves team, but I expect we’ll see them continue to struggle on the weekends given the demands of extra midweek Europa League games and travel.  I’ll soon be moving on from Diogo Jota but will keep my eye on Wolves’ talented players if they bow out of European competition and get some rest.

Thursday match

Wolves 2, Torino 1 (GW4 – Sunday away at Everton on 2 days’ rest)

·        Raul Jimenez (16% owned) – 90 minutes, 1 goal

·        Leander Dendoncker (14%) – 90 minutes, 1 goal

·        Diogo Jota (9%) – 81 minutes

·        Ruben Neves (9%) – 5 minutes

·        Joao Moutinho (7%) – 90 minutes

·        Willy Boly (8%) – 90 minutes

·        Rui Patricio (8%) – 90 minutes

Posted by FP Elephant