Southampton 0 West Ham United 1
Goals: Sebastien Haller (£7.0m)
Assists: Pablo Fornals (£6.0m)
Bonus Points: Haller x3 Fabian Balbuena (£4.3m) x2 Ryan Fredericks (£4.5m) x1
A hard-fought win at Southampton ensured West Ham boss Manuel Pellegrini will spend Christmas in full-time employment as the one key Fantasy asset on display endured a frustrating evening.
The Hammers came into the fixture with just one win from 11 matches – a surprise 1-0 victory at Chelsea in Gameweek 14.
They eased the pressure on their manager by repeating that scoreline at St Mary’s thanks to striker Sebastien Haller‘s (£7.0m) first goal since Gameweek 8 and a series of tough breaks for his opposite number Danny Ings (£6.4m).
The Southampton forward, owned by 12.4% of Fantasy Premier League managers, came into the fixture on a five-match scoring streak.
He ended it having hit both the bar and the post before being denied what would have been a screamer of an equaliser when referee Martin Atkinson halted play for an earlier foul by Moussa Djenepo (£5.2m).
It was a decision which could be charitably described as borderline and more accurately as bewildering. Either way, it cost Southampton a point and Ings’ ownership four of them, plus in all likelihood a bonus award as well.
Saints coach Ralph Hasenhuttl was certainly feeling rueful about his forward’s lot.
“Ingsy was unlucky today – two good finishes. In the end we had the chance to turn the table but we didn’t today, so it’s normal that we are disappointed. The foul was against Moussa in the run up to Ingsy’s goal. That probably sums up the whole evening.” – Ralph Hasenhuttl
That the striker’s backers might get further returns from their man in Gameweek 18’s trip to Aston Villa will be of minimal comfort, particularly as sales are likely to kick in after that when the Saints embark on a nasty little four-match run involving trips to Chelsea and Leicester and visits from an obdurate Crystal Palace and a much-improved Spurs.
Ings and midfielder James Ward-Prowse (£5.9m) have been rare beacons of light during the dark times ushered in by Gameweek 10’s 9-0 mauling at the hands of Leicester City, but both toiled in vain on Saturday as Southampton were kept to just two shots on target all match.
The once-dynamic Nathan Redmond (£6.2m) has suffered more than most while Hasenhuttl struggles to find both the system and the personnel needed to dig the team out of the increasingly large hole in which they find themselves.
The winger was hauled off after 45 minutes against West Ham as the coach ditched the 4-4-2 formation that had served his side relatively well in recent weeks.
Ironically, it was that self-same old school set-up which inspired the Hammers’ unlikely win and could put some of their assets back on the Fantasy radar.
Pellegrini rolled the dice when pairing match-winner Haller with midfielder Michail Antonio (£6.9m) up-front, but it was a gamble that paid off as the duo worked excellently together.
Haller, in particular, was reborn. He’d struggled to replicate the form that had prompted his transfer from Eintracht Frankfurt, partly because he thrived in Germany alongside Luka Jovic, now of Real Madrid.
Antonio is unlikely to be moving to the Bernabeu anytime soon, so his presence could continue to galvanise both Haller and the team as an attacking force.
The 0.7%-owned midfielder led the way for chances created and was unlucky to have a goal ruled out by VAR for an inadvertent handball when he muscled his way through the Southampton defence and lashed the ball past Alex McCarthy (£4.3m).
The decision prompted the player to suggest a decidedly extreme solution to the issue.
“I think I’m going to cut my hands off. It happened to me at Chelsea and it happened to me today. It is like they are magnets or something.” Michail Antonio
He helped Haller top the attempts chart and could be an interesting future option – with major differential credentials – if Pellegrini continues to deploy him out of position, with or without both hands intact.
The manager’s post-match comments suggested he will.
“Both of them worked very well attacking. We knew Southampton were a team who concede goals and both of them had different actions, one inside the box, and the other running into space. We had a few more chances too. Antonio is an important player as is so many of the players we are missing. We know he makes an impact. He can improve more and I think we will see him score more.” Manuel Pellegrini
But any moves for Antonio will have to wait as West Ham are without a Gameweek 18 fixture while Liverpool sweat it out in Qatar at the Club World Cup.
After that, though, the Hammers have a fairly decent run of fixtures from which Antonio could profit. Crystal Palace and Leicester await just after Christmas before they face Bournemouth, Sheffield United, Everton and Brighton across a five-match stretch that takes them into early February.
They’ll have to prove the Southampton performance was no one-off to justify investment, but the signs were certainly encouraging at St Mary’s.
West Ham had twice as many shots on target as their hosts, with a Haller header forcing McCarthy into one excellent second-half save, and were the dominant force in a match where Pablo Fornals (£6.0m) offered further evidence that he is finally adapting to life in the Premier League.
The Spanish midfielder provided the knock-down from which Haller scored, making it three assists from his last four starts.
Owned by just 0.3% of FPL managers, that sort of consistency is proving incredibly rare in a midfield containing explosive, but often explosively anonymous, talents such as Andriy Yarmolenko (£5.5m) and Felipe Anderson (£6.7m).
The Ukraine international, who managed just 17 minutes from the bench on Saturday, has not started a match since Gameweek 13, while Anderson didn’t even make the squad through illness.
But in that 4-4-2 formation, neither was missed.
At the back, the Hammers have now kept two clean sheets in four Gameweeks, with centre-half Fabian Balbuena (£4.3m) and full-back Ryan Fredericks (£4.5m) handed bonus points for their efforts against Southampton.
The latter also picked up a fifth yellow card of the season, however, and will miss the Boxing Day match away at Palace that offers a half-decent chance of another shut-out.
Another who could be out of action at Selhurst Park is third-choice keeper David Martin (£4.1m), who tweaked a muscle in his leg late on at St Mary’s.
He has impressed in the four matches he’s started since back-up goalkeeper Roberto (£4.4m) was dropped, but the issue might just mean a festive return for the latter, although Lukasz Fabianski (£4.9m), who has had surgery for a hip injury picked up in Gameweek 7, is closing in on a return to full fitness.
Permutations involving West Ham goalkeepers are unlikely to vex many of us, but it might just be a different matter further up the pitch if Haller and Antonio can build on the promise of their first outing as an attacking duo.
Southampton XI (4-4-2): McCarthy; Bertrand, Bednarek, J Stephens, Cédric (Adams 87′); Redmond (Romeu 46′), Højbjerg, Ward-Prowse, Djenepo; Ings, S Long (Armstrong 84′).
West Ham United XI (4-4-2): Martin; Cresswell, Ogbonna, Balbuena, Fredericks; Fornals, Rice, Noble (Diop 88′), Snodgrass (Yarmolenko 73′); Haller (C Sánchez 79′), Antonio.
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