Crystal Palace 1-1 Spurs
- Goals: Jeffrey Schlupp (£5.4m) | Harry Kane (£10.9m)
- Assists: Eberechi Eze (£5.8m) | Son Heung-min (£9.6m)
- Bonus points: Kane x3, Eze x2, Schlupp x2, Moussa Sissoko x2 (£4.8m)
DYNAMIC DUO
Harry Kane (£10.9m) and Son Heung-min‘s (£9.6m) simply cannot stop involving themselves in each other’s goals as they combined yet again in a 1-1 draw with Crystal Palace on Sunday.
Spurs’ main striker was the man who found the net this time, his ninth goal of the season, securing maximum bonus for the third time in five matches too.
Putting that into some wider context, since Jose Mourinho’s first game in charge of Spurs, Kane has been involved in more goals in all competitions than any other Premier League player, not including Fantasy assists. 29 of those have been his own while has provided assists for a further 14 (total of 43).
With Son providing the assist with a deft touch in the middle of the park, it means, even excluding Fantasy assists, that the pair are just one short of matching the famous partnership between Alan Shearer and Chris Sutton in 1994/95 who linked up 13 goals that season.
Considering how often the two players are involved in each other’s goals, the need to own both of them in Fantasy Premier League continues to intensify, especially considering their power to dictate rank.
Sat in 60.3% of squads, Son is the most popular asset in the game right now while 41.1% own Kane, Dominic Calvert-Lewin (£7.9m) the only one considered more fashionable among forwards than him.
Crucially, 31.9% of managers worldwide are currently in possession of both players and a massive 58.7% hold that combination inside the top 10k.
WHILE MY GUAITA GENTLY SWEEPS
While Vicente Guaita (£4.9m) was somewhat to blame for Spurs’ only goal of the game at Selhurst Park, he played a big part in restricting the visitors.
The fact that Kane and his colleagues were afforded so many chances bodes well for their upcoming fixtures while anyone soon to face Palace may be a little concerned about their Spanish shot-stopper.
He made excellent reflex saves from Tanguy Ndombèlé (£5.9m) and Eric Dier (£5.0m) as well as spectacularly denying Kane twice.
“(Asked if Spurs’ players tried hard enough to get a second goal): I want to admit that they couldn’t. I want to admit that they didn’t have that capacity. Some of my, let’s say build-up players, they lost a lot of passes in the first phase of the build-up. In the second half, we were not very accurate so I want to admit that if we didn’t, it’s because we couldn’t.” – Jose Mourinho
Over the last three matches, Guaita has earned at least one point for saves, one stop away from double save-points in two of those. Lukasz Fabianski (£5.1m) and Illan Meslier (£4.6m) are the only goalkeepers with more saves in that time than Guaita too.
It will be interesting to see how attacking assets from West Ham, Liverpool and Aston Villa cope with his impressive form over the next three Gameweeks – clubs with plenty of Fantasy interest too…
DIER HUNT
Following Spurs’ recent string of clean sheets, Dier earned some Fantasy interest for Gameweek 12 as the cheapest starting defender in their side.
However, his new owners went unrewarded at the first hurdle as Jeffrey Schlupp (£5.4m) turned in a spill from Hugo Lloris (£5.6m) in the second half.
That was the first Premier League goal Spurs had conceded since the start of November, against Brighton, ending a run of 475 minutes without conceding.
That particular statistic indicates that there is still potential for clean sheets further down the line for Spurs, especially with Wolves and Fulham two of their next three opponents.
That said, Palace can probably consider themselves unfortunate not to have found the net more often on Sunday with Wilfried Zaha (£7.5m) going close from range and set-piece taker Eberechi Eze (£5.8m) clipping the post.
Meanwhile, anyone wondering about Dier’s offensive potential was provided with encouraging signs at Selhurst Park, as he was a high, sprawling Guaita save away from sinking a direct free-kick in the closing stages.
Whether he will hold onto them when Gareth Bale (£9.4m) breaks into the team on a more regular basis remains to be seen though.
“Bale was ill, not COVID-19, not even flu that keeps you in bed for a week. I believe for Wednesday he will be fine.” – Jose Mourinho
Crystal Palace XI (4-4-2): Guaita; van Aanholt, Cahill, Kouyaté, Clyne; Eze (A Townsend 89′), McArthur, Milivojevic (Riedewald 73′), Schlupp; Zaha, Benteke.
Tottenham Hotspur XI (4-2-3-1): Lloris; Reguilón (B Davies 84′), Dier, Alderweireld, Aurier; Højbjerg, Sissoko; Son, Ndombèlé (Lo Celso 67′), Bergwijn (Alli 85′); Kane.
Lessons learned from FPL Gameweek 12
- Leeds United 1-2 West Ham United
- Wolves 0-1 Aston Villa
- Newcastle United 2-1 West Bromwich Albion
- Manchester United 0-0 Manchester City
- Everton 1-0 Chelsea
- Southampton 3-0 Sheffield United
- Crystal Palace 1-1 Tottenham Hotspur
- Fulham 1-1 Liverpool
- Arsenal 0-1 Burnley
- Leicester City 3-0 Brighton and Hove Albion
