Wilson boasting form and fixtures ahead of Calvert-Lewin’s tough schedule

Crystal Palace 0-2 Newcastle

• Goals: Callum Wilson (£6.5m), Joelinton (£5.7m)
• Assists: Joelinton, Wilson
• Bonus points: Wilson x3, Joelinton x2, Karl Darlow x1 (£5.0m)

WILSON!!

Callum Wilson‘s (£6.5m) ruthless finishing helped him pass another audition for Newcastle’s favourable fixtures in a 2-0 win at Crystal Palace on Friday evening.

The former Bournemouth forward contributed a late goal and assist, his ninth and tenth attacking returns of the campaign, ahead of facing all three newly-promoted sides in the next four Gameweeks.

Wilson’s third double-figure haul since Gameweek 4 is the most of any Fantasy Premier League forward in that time (at the time of writing) and takes his points per game in 2020/21 to a healthy 7.5.

The fact that he came out of Gameweek 10’s opening fixture with 12 points highlights how efficient Wilson has been this season.

With no player on the Selhurst Park pitch playing more than two key passes each Friday’s evening entertainment was short on clearcut creativity.

In fact, Wilson had largely played second-fiddle to strike-partner Joelinton (£5.7m) in terms of attempts on goal, waiting the nearly the whole game before a clear chance came his way.

Not for the first time this season, the moment it arrived, after good link-up with Joelinton, Wilson stuck the ball under Vicente Guaita (£5.0m) and into the back of the net.

“We’ve got a goalscorer. When he gets through we’re all saying ‘goal’. He’s had a really, really good start and him and Joe today were a handful for any defence.” – Steve Bruce

“Wilson is a goalscorer. The way he is as a boy, a team player, I’m delighted for him. Him and Joe(linton) today were a handful.” – Steve Bruce

Considering Wilson continues to prove he does not require constant service to deliver big FPL hauls, the fact that Aston Villa (away), West Bromwich Albion (home), Leeds (away) and Fulham (home) are his next four opponents is encouraging indeed.

And if Steve Bruce can get Allan Saint-Maximin (£5.3m) back to full fitness, that can only boost Newcastle’s number 13 in terms of goal threat.

“Allan Saint-Maximin had a calf injury and we will see how bad he is over the next couple of days.” – Steve Bruce

With Dominic Calvert-Lewin (£7.9m) experiencing a toughening fixture-turn in Gameweek 12, Wilson has already put himself top of the list of potential replacements for the highly-owned Everton forward.

SCHLUPP-FRONT

Crystal Palace have now blanked in both matches played without Wilfried Zaha (£7.3m) this season.

The Ivory Coast international’s importance to the Eagles is well-documented but it was laid bare once again as they struggled to offer much threat against Newcastle, who managed only their second clean sheet since Gameweek 1 on Friday night.

“All those people who claim we are unable to win without Zaha, it’s another notch in the belt for. I would be very frustrated if I was another of the outfield players, and unfortunately, we cannot deny the fact. He wasn’t able to play, and somewhere along the line we have to accept that he can’t get us out of a hole every game.” – Roy Hodgson

Roy Hodgson’s latest solution to Zaha’s absence was to deploy Jeffrey Schlupp (£5.4m) up-front alongside Jordan Ayew (£5.7m), having tested him there during pre-season.

While Crystal Palace were predictably flat, with the possible exception of Eberechi Eze (£5.8m), it must be said that their best chance of the game fell to Schlupp.

During the first half, the former Leicester City man was played through on goal by a woeful wayward ball by Wilson. He bore down on Karl Darlow (£5.0m) by shrugging off the defensive pressure of Federico Fernández (£4.9m) forcing an impressive save to stop a certain goal.

“We know what Jeffrey Schlupp can do. We know his quality. He’s had a lot of absences due to injury but we know that when he’s fit, we’ve got a quality player. He had good threat tonight but we did not do enough to provide him with ammunition.” – Roy Hodgson

Even though Schlupp’s role in Friday’s defeat triggered the out-of-position klaxon he has plenty of work to do to convince Fantasy managers he is worth taking a punt on.

Zaha is likely to be fighting for a start against West Bromwich Albion in Gameweek 11 and could well replace him in the Palace XI. However, based on what we saw of Schlupp against Newcastle, if Hodgson were to take Ayew out of the team to facilitate Zaha’s return, then his Fantasy credentials will carry much more weight.

DISTAL PALACE

Conceding two goals against Newcastle on Friday night, Crystal Palace defenders continue to highlight how unreliable they are this season.

Previously a side Fantasy managers could rely on for clean sheets, Hodgson’s men have been anything but airtight in 2020/21.

They are still without a clean sheet since their Gameweek 1 win over Southampton, which was their only shut-out across their last 18 Premier League games.

Hodgson did make some changes from the defeat at Burnley, recalling Gary Cahill (£4.5m) to play alongside Scott Dann (£4.4m) at centre-back, pushing Cheikhou Kouyaté (£5.0m) back into central midfield at the expense of Jairo Riedewald (£4.4m).

Despite marginally controlling possession, Palace lost the shot count and, crucially, lapsed in concentration twice in the closing stages, not for the first time this season. Owners of their defenders will remember losing clean sheets late on against Brighton (Gameweek 5), Fulham (Gameweek 6) and now Newcastle.

“We let in two goals today, one in 86th minute and another in stoppage time. I don’t know that the performance would suggest we weren’t capable of keeping a clean sheet. I think most people would have thought we were heading for a 0-0. My major concern is that the two games where we’ve been dominant we haven’t looked like scoring.” – Roy Hodgson

Such a display probably ends any long-term interest in Patrick van Aanholt (£5.4m) considering next weekend’s trip to West Bromwich Albion is followed by games against Spurs (home), West Ham (away) and Liverpool (home).

The left-back remains a willing participant in Palace’s attacks, going close to assisting Michy Batshuayi (£5.8m) on Friday night but paying £5.4m for a defender who cannot keep clean sheets is probably too much to ask in this case.

Crystal Palace XI (4-4-2): Guaita; van Aanholt, Dann, Cahill, Clyne; Eze, McArthur (Batshuayi 82′), Kouyaté, Townsend (Riedewald 67′); Schlupp, Ayew (Benteke 66′).

Newcastle United XI (4-4-2): Darlow; Lewis, Clark, Fernández, Manquillo; Almirón (Ritchie 68′), S Longstaff, Shelvey, Hendrick; Wilson, Joelinton (Schär 90+3′).

Lessons Learned from FPL Gameweek 10

• Crystal Palace 0-2 Newcastle United
• Brighton and Hove Albion 1-1 Liverpool
• Manchester City 5-0 Burnley
• Everton 0-1 Leeds United
• West Bromwich Albion 1-0 Sheffield United
• Southampton 2-3 Manchester United
• Chelsea 0-0 Tottenham Hotspur
• Arsenal 1-2 Wolves
• Leicester City 1-2 Fulham
• West Ham United 2-1 Aston Villa