Watford 2-3 Everton
- Goals: Adam Masina (£4.3m), Roberto Pereyra (£5.6m) | Yerry Mina (£5.3m) x2, Theo Walcott (£6.2m)
- Assists: Troy Deeney (£6.3m), Gerard Deulofeu (£6.1m) | Gylfi Sigurdsson (£7.3m), Mason Holgate (£4.5m), Moise Kean (£6.4m)
- Red Cards: Fabian Delph (£5.3m)
- Bonus: Mina x3 Sigurdsson x2 Walcott x1
Five goals, a red card and a last-gasp winner to cap a dramatic comeback – whatever else Watford versus Everton might have been, it wasn’t boring.
But from a Fantasy perspective, the players from both sides are producing more questions than answers at present.
The key concern with Watford is the growing sense that the bubble is looking like bursting.
Having lost, for the first time since Gameweek 17, at Aston Villa last week, the Hornets were well on course to bounce straight back when goals from Adam Masina (£4.3m) and Roberto Pereyra (£5.6m) put them 2-0 up with half-time on the horizon.
Nigel Pearson’s side were good value for that lead, Masina firing home from a Gerard Deulofeu (£6.1m) pass following a sweeping team move, before Pereyra doubled the advantage after being put through by Troy Deeney (£6.3m).
Keeping the lead until half-time seemed easy enough as Everton had been entirely toothless, only for two quick goals from Yerry Mina (£5.3m), both from corners, to change everything.
His first was a scrambled affair, with an assist for Mason Holgate (£4.5m) awarded as the ball bounced off him while he lay on the ground. The equaliser was much more clear-cut, the centre-half shrugging off his marker to head home emphatically from Gylfi Sigurdsson‘s (£7.3m) in-swinging delivery.
Toffees boss Carlo Ancelotti admitted his side “didn’t deserve to equalise” before the interval, but they earned their win after the break, although they had to do it the hard way when Fabian Delph (£5.3m) was dismissed for two bookable offences with 20 minutes still left to play.
They ended up out-shooting their hosts 12-11, with five attempts on target to Watford’s two, and coped admirably with ten men as the Hornets ran out of ideas, and steam, as time ticked down.
Ancelotti shored things up following Delph’s dismissal by replacing Dominic Calvert-Lewin (£6.1m) with defender Michael Keane (£5.2m) and instructing Holgate to sit and sweep up in front of the back four.
The move was tough on the 11.2%-owned Calvert-Lewin, who had scored in back-to-back games coming into the fixture and was Everton’s key attacking target at Vicarage Road, with a team-high three attempts.
But Ancelotti’s plan helped to contain Watford and Theo Walcott (£6.2m) then punished them with a 90th-minute breakaway goal when substitute Moise Kean‘s (£6.4m) mis-hit shot found him at the far post.
Defeat might have been tough on Watford, but the nature of it exposed a newly-developed fragility in the side as they succumbed to a late goal for the second successive week.
Pearson refused to dwell on such negatives, however:
I would rather people be questioning making positive decisions rather than being negative, because I think this football club has had too much of that this season. The players will deal with it, they’ll get on with it and they’ll have me nudging them and encouraging them still in the same way that I would do when we win.
Despite their great recent run, Fantasy managers have generally steered clear of Hornets players, although both Deulofeu (3.1%) and Deeney (2.3%) have been producing decent-enough returns over the past six Gameweeks.
Their upcoming schedule might stem that modest flow, however, with Manchester United, Liverpool and Leicester to come over the next five games.
Business in Everton players, helped by just the one loss in seven league matches under Ancelotti, has been brisker, with both Calvert-Lewin and Lucas Digne (£5.8m) enjoying double-digit ownership.
But their upcoming fixtures are little short of brutal, involving Arsenal, United, Chelsea, Liverpool, Leicester and Spurs as part of a relentless eight-match run.
Watford have now conceded five goals in their last two matches, while Everton have kept only one clean sheet since Gameweek 19.
As a result, finding consistent points-scorers from either team looks decidedly tricky for the foreseeable future.
Watford XI (4-2-3-1):Â Foster; Mariappa, Cathcart, Kabasele, Masina; Capoue, Chalobah (Welbeck 57′); Pereyra (Success 75′), Doucoure, Deulofeu (Pussetto 82′); Deeney.
Everton XI (4-4-2):Â Pickford; Sidibe, Mina, Holgate, Digne; Walcott, Sigurdsson (Schneiderlin 67′), Delph, Iwobi (Kean 65′); Calvert-Lewin (Keane 73′), Richarlison.
Members Analysis
Newcastle United 0-0 Norwich City
- Goals: None
- Assists: None
- Bonus: Federico Fernandez (£4.4m) x3, Tim Krul (£4.5m) x2, Grant Hanley (£4.0m) x1
Norwich City’s slim hopes of avoiding relegation took another turn for the worse as they failed to turn their attacking superiority into goals at Newcastle.
Chief culprit on the day was Teemu Pukki (£6.5m), the 13.8%-owned striker blazing over the bar following a swift counter-attack and spurning an even better chance when one-on-one with Magpies keeper Martin Dubravka (£5.0m).
The Slovakia international has been Newcastle’s stand-out player this season, earning save points in 19 of his 25 starts, and it was a case of more of the same against Norwich as he kept out further efforts from Pukki and Sam Byram (£4.4m), while Ondrej Duda (£5.0m) should have done better when he fired a rebound into the side-netting.
Dubravka’s counterpart, Tim Krul (£4.5m) was also in fine form, earning two bonus points for an excellent display involving six saves and smart stops from Allan Saint-Maximin (£5.4m) and Joelinton (£5.5m), with Miguel Almiron (£5.8m) heading a rebound wide when he really should have scored.
As befits a goalless draw, the other bonus points went to defenders – opposing centre-halves Federico Fernandez (£4.4m) and Grant Hanley (£4.0m).
Byram wasn’t in the bonus points mix but helped secure a second clean sheet in three Gameweeks for the Canaries and was a threat at the other end, having four shots on goal.
Norwich defenders are on nobody’s radar at present, and coach Daniel Farke was in no hurry to single them out in his post-match comments:
The whole team worked hard. It’s not like just two centre-backs can defend their own goal. As a team we defended well. Two wins, one draw and one loss isn’t a bad outcome from the last four league games, but not a perfect one. We are all greedy and will search for wins in the next game
Those next games involve Liverpool and Leicester in the short term, so serious Fantasy interest is likely to involve only Todd Cantwell (£4.9m), although the 22.1%-owned midfielder was outshone by Duda at St James’ Park.
As for the hosts, they’re now unbeaten in four league matches and have kept clean sheets in two of them.
Manager Steve Bruce blooded three loan signings on the day, Nabil Bentaleb (£5.0m) playing the full 90 minutes and Danny Rose (£5.3m) and Valentino Lazaro (£5.5m) given second-half run-outs.
The newcomers will add some much-needed depth to an injury-hit squad, as Bruce was happy to acknowledge:
I think what’s important when you play so poorly is you don’t get beaten. That’s the only positive along with the introduction of the three new lads, who will help us. From the off, we looked tired and jaded.
But even with that fresh blood, consistent Fantasy returns remain hard to predict, although Fernandez has now brought in two nine-point hauls over the last three Gameweeks.
That could put him in some managers’ thoughts when the Magpies embark on an attractive run of fixtures following a Gameweek 26 trip to Arsenal.
Backing assets at the other end of the pitch is less obvious as Newcastle are in the bottom three for goals and shots in 2019/20 so far.
Newcastle (3-4-2-1):Â Dubravka; Fernandez, Lascelles, Clark; Yedlin (Lazaro 54′), Bentaleb, Hayden (S Longstaff 57′), Ritchie; Almiron, Saint-Maximin (Rose 78′); Joelinton.
Norwich (4-2-3-1):Â Krul; Aarons, Zimmermann, Hanley, Byram; Tettey (Hernandez 86′), McLean; Rupp (Vrancic 89′), Duda, Cantwell (Buendia 67′); Pukki.
