Sheffield United 2-0 Aston Villa
Goals: John Fleck x2 (£4.9m)
Assists: John Lundstram (£5.2m), David McGoldrick (£5.4m)
Bonus Points: Fleck x3, Lundstram x2, Chris Basham x1 (£4.5m)
John Lundstram (£5.2m) rewarded those who kept the faith in Gameweek 17 by securing an 11-point score in Sheffield United’s 2-0 win over Newcastle.
Amid claims from several owners that his usefulness was starting to wane, we recently highlighted how close he came to a monster-haul in Gameweek 16’s win at Norwich, and Lundstram duly delivered on Saturday afternoon.
The central midfielder, classified as a defender in Fantasy Premier League, registered his third assist and the sixth clean sheet of the campaign against Aston Villa.
An excellent back-heel flick from Chris Basham (£4.5m) released Lundstram on the right flank, where he often drifts from his central midfield berth. He then whipped a textbook ball into the box where John Fleck (£4.9m) finished first-time.
It is no surprise to see Lundstram involved in goals again as his preference to play balls in from the right against Norwich was what brought him so close to a big haul in Gameweek 16.
The 11-points secured against Aston Villa means that, since Gameweek 11, Lundstram is back ahead of George Baldock (£4.8m) in terms of recent form.
In the last seven matches, he has accrued 42 points, an average of six per game, while the cheaper Baldock has registered 40 points, at 5.7 per game.
Both players will remain on the Fantasy radar for another two Gameweeks with Brighton (away) and Watford (home) the next opponents for Sheffield United.
However, with Baldock and Lundstram in particular, managers will have to keep an eye on their disciplinary record over the next few matches.
Each player is on four yellow cards for the season and are one away from a one-match suspension.
The two-goal Fleck fell foul of this in the win over Aston Villa meaning that, even though his points potential moving forward looks promising, he will miss the Gameweek 18 trip to Brighton.
As for Lundstram and Baldock, their owners will be hoping they can make it to the yellow card amnesty which comes into play for them at the end of Gameweek 19.
When a club has played 19 matches in the league, the threshold for a one-match ban moves to 10 yellow cards.
Therefore, if Lundstram gets booked in Gameweek 19 he will miss Gameweek 20. However, if his fifth yellow card were to come in Gameweek 20, he would not miss Gameweek 21.
Fantasy managers should be aware that things are slightly different for Liverpool and West Ham because of their blank in Gameweek 18.
For players of those clubs, they have to wait for one more Gameweek to pass for the amnesty to come into play.
For example, if Trent Alexander-Arnold (£7.3m) were to pick up his fifth yellow card of the season in Gameweek 20 he would miss Gameweek 21 but if this were to occur in Gameweek 21 then he would still be able to play in Gameweek 22.
Once Fleck has returned from his one-match suspension, he may well be on the receiving end of serious Fantasy interest.
The central midfielder took on some advanced positions against Aston Villa, leading to his two goals.
As already mentioned, the first came after a trademark Lundstram cross, the second a lovely hooked finish underneath Tom Heaton (£4.5m) from a relatively tight angle after David McGoldrick (£5.4m) had played a flicked ball over his head into the box.
Fleck is now on four goals and one assist for the season, all five of his attacking returns coming in the last seven Gameweeks.
During that spell, Todd Cantwell (£4.7m), a similarly priced attacking (so-called fifth) midfielder, has scored just twice and been benched on three occasions too, while Fleck has been both more dangerous and started every match.
Conversely, Lys Mousset (£5.1m) may have seen his previously impressive form come to an end as he blanked for the third match in a row.
The French centre-forward does appear still top of the pecking order up-front, alongside McGoldrick, but neither one of them is consistently finishing games.
Mousset was replaced by Oli McBurnie (£5.7m) in the 60th minute on Saturday, which means he has lasted longer than 67 minutes just twice in the last nine Premier League matches.
Aston Villa did ask some questions of the Sheffield United defence at Bramall Lane but could not find a breakthrough.
Their best chance of the game came from the penalty spot after John Egan (£4.5m) was adjudged to have handled a cross into the box.
Jack Grealish (£6.1m) stood up to take it but could only strike the bar. While that preserved Sheffield United’s clean sheet, there were no penalty save points for Dean Henderson (£4.7m) who did not touch the ball.
Despite that disappointing effort, Grealish was comfortably Villa’s most threatening asset at Bramall Lane.
With centre-forward Wesley (£5.7m) virtually anonymous for much of the game, it was Grealish who was the target for Villa balls into the box.
He went close to scoring in the second half with a back-post header after an Anwar El Ghazi (£5.5m) cross.
With matches against Southampton (home), Norwich (home) and Watford (away) over Christmas, Grealish is looking more and more attractive as an option, especially with Chelsea assets such as Christian Pulisic (£7.4m) and Mason Mount (£6.5m) offering very little in recent weeks.
However, Villa’s defence continues to struggle this season as they are still bottom of the league for shots conceded in the box.
Dean Smith’s men also came to Sheffield without first-choice centre-back Tyrone Mings (£4.5m), who sustained a potentially long-term hamstring injury against Leicester in Gameweek 16.
It was Kortney Hause (£4.4m) who was paired with Bjorn Engels (£4.5m) at the heart of the defence but he could not improve Villa’s defensive frailties.
They have conceded at least twice in all but one of the last eight Premier League matches, which bodes well for Danny Ings (£6.4m) and Teemu Pukki (£6.6m), who are both set to face Villa over the Christmas period.
Sheffield United XI (3-5-2): D Henderson; O’Connell, Egan, Basham; Stevens, Fleck, Norwood (Bešić 86′), Lundstram, Baldock; Mousset (McBurnie 61′), McGoldrick.
Aston Villa XI (4-3-3): Heaton; Targett, Hause, Engels, Guilbert; Lansbury, Nakamba, McGinn; Grealish, Wesley, El Ghazi.
