Dugout Discussion

Still no Barkley or Konsa for Villa as Allardyce era gets underway at West Brom

Sam Allardyce takes charge of West Bromwich Albion for the first time this evening.

The Baggies take on Aston Villa in the last of four Premier League matches to take place on Sunday, with kick-off in the Black Country at 19:15 GMT.

The former Bolton Wanderers, Blackburn Rovers and England head coach has succeeded Slaven Bilic in the hot seat the Hawthorns, with the Croat losing his job following Tuesday’s 1-1 draw at the Etihad.

The impressive showing against Manchester City and limited time with his new charges has persuaded Allardyce to name an unchanged side from Gameweek 13.

As for the visitors, Dean Smith welcomes back two players from suspension today – and both return straight to the starting XI.

Douglas Luiz (£5.0m) and Matty Cash (£5.0m) are newly available after one-match bans and replace Marvelous Nakamba (£4.3m) and Ahmed Elmohamady (£4.3m) in central midfield and at right-back respectively.

There is still no Ross Barkley (£5.9m) for the Villans, as the loanee nears a return from a hamstring injury.

The ill Ezri Konsa (£4.8m) also isn’t part of the 18-man matchday squad.

FPL’s most popular goalkeeper, Emiliano Martinez (£4.9m), starts between the posts and will be hoping to continue his fine form on the road.

The Villa custodian has registered clean sheets in four of his side’s five away fixtures this season, averaging 6.6 points per match on his travels.

Jack Grealish (£7.8m) is the most-owned player on show: he sits in 43.2% of Fantasy squads at present, with only Son Heung-min (£9.7m) proving to be a more in-demand purchase among midfielders.

Not one of Albion’s players is owned by more than 2% of FPL managers.


West Bromwich Albion XI: Johnstone, Furlong, Ajayi, O’Shea, Gibbs, Phillips, Sawyers, Livermore, Gallagher, Diangana, Grant.

Aston Villa XI: Martinez, Cash, Hause, Mings, Targett, Douglas Luiz, McGinn, Traore, Grealish, El Ghazi, Watkins.

GET IN-GAME DATA AT LIVE FPL

Check your own rank and in-play FPL stats on LiveFPL.net every Gameweek

1,454 Comments Post a Comment
  1. ‘Tis the Season
    • 5 Years
    3 years, 4 months ago

    If grealish gives away another pen, he is gone!

  2. sully29
    • Fantasy Football Scout Member
    • 9 Years
    3 years, 4 months ago

    Points since Spurs' fixtures turned in GW9:

    Salah: 51
    Bruno: 47 + incoming bonus points
    Son: 42
    KDB: 38
    Kane: 31

    Salah and Bruno didn't start all those games, Salah and KDB have better fixtures than the Spurs assets next week too.

    People who sold Kane to bring in another big hitter pretty conclusively did the right thing. Son, less so.

    Also, if you'd captained the big hitter with the best fixture (as per the season ticker) in each of those gameweeks you'd have got 22, 20, 28, 16, 8 and 30+ points.

    The moral of this story: fixtures matter and selling good players with bad fixtures can pay off.

    1. TOLV TUMS
      • Fantasy Football Scout Member
      • 9 Years
      3 years, 4 months ago

      Nice post 🙂

    2. BeWater
      • 3 Years
      3 years, 4 months ago

      I brought in KDB and Bamford for Kane and Barkley. I captained KDB v Fulham so it's gone pretty well. Hoping for a KDB super show v Newcastle. Hope Aguero is back.

    3. Nightcrawler
      • 4 Years
      3 years, 4 months ago

      Yup. Sold kane after the arsenal game. 13 points from 3 since then

    4. diesel001
      • 7 Years
      3 years, 4 months ago

      Vardy also done very well since GW9.

      I went with Vardy, KDB, Salah from GW10. Got rid of Vardy for Bruno last GW. Am happy with my three big hitters (KDB, Salah, Fernandes) at the moment. Will look to get in Kane at some point as well after GW16.

    5. Eat my goal!
      • Fantasy Football Scout Member
      • 5 Years
      3 years, 4 months ago

      Fixtures are about to turn back in Kane’s favour

    6. Bounce
      • 3 Years
      3 years, 4 months ago

      Kane is a million cheaper than KDB, for 7 points less.

      1. sully29
        • Fantasy Football Scout Member
        • 9 Years
        3 years, 4 months ago

        True. But that's picking the worst of the alternatives you could have sold him for and even then KDB would have got you 20, 28 and 8 points if you'd captained him in the games where he was the obvious candidate.

    7. Paqueta Rice
      • 3 Years
      3 years, 4 months ago

      I was stubborn and held Kane and Son and tried Hokey Cokey between the other big three mids. Didn’t work got it all wrong.

  3. Botman and Robben
    • 7 Years
    3 years, 4 months ago

    CS for big Sam today.

  4. TOLV TUMS
    • Fantasy Football Scout Member
    • 9 Years
    3 years, 4 months ago

    Anyone hear anything about Aguero’s timing to come back in full? He’ll be lovely to have back

  5. Kryptonite666
    • 4 Years
    3 years, 4 months ago

    Vardy to Kane was

    A. Stupid Decision
    B. Bad Luck

    1. Party time
        3 years, 4 months ago

        A

      • BenDavies
        • 11 Years
        3 years, 4 months ago

        b

      • TOLV TUMS
        • Fantasy Football Scout Member
        • 9 Years
        3 years, 4 months ago

        See Sully’s post above for your answer 🙂

      • BenDavies
        • 11 Years
        3 years, 4 months ago

        b without doubt

      • el polako
        • 6 Years
        3 years, 4 months ago

        Bad luck, Kane will come good over Xmas.

        Leicester results are very unpredictable.

      • Baps hunter
        • Fantasy Football Scout Member
        • 6 Years
        3 years, 4 months ago

        B) Kane had to be better option for this week. Vardy was extremely jammy with that Aurier mistake. And Toby scoring his assist.... Should that fixture be played 100 times, Kane would get more pts imho.

      • Camzy
        • Fantasy Football Scout Member
        • 13 Years
        3 years, 4 months ago

        B. Long term it will work. Spurs fixtures are nice.

    2. Nightcrawler
      • 4 Years
      3 years, 4 months ago

      Ughhh why is el ghazi starting again

      Grealish blank confirmed

    3. moment
      • Fantasy Football Scout Member
      • 12 Years
      3 years, 4 months ago

      0-0 would do me nicely here.

    4. TorresMagic™
      • Fantasy Football Scout Member
      • Has Moderation Rights
      • 14 Years
      3 years, 4 months ago

      LMS safety score currently 41

      https://www.livefpl.net/LMS

    5. GoonerSteve
      • 14 Years
      3 years, 4 months ago

      77 with Grealish, Chilwell and Taylor to go.

      Happy days!

      1. Silecro
        • 6 Years
        3 years, 4 months ago

        Good one!

        84 here with Martinez, Grealish and Taylor to go.

      2. BeWater
        • 3 Years
        3 years, 4 months ago

        Nice score 🙂

        I'm on 66 with Martinez, Zouma, Taylor and Grealish left. Thank you Bruno and Dallas!

    6. GreennRed
      • 12 Years
      3 years, 4 months ago

      Is there a new COVID strain on the mainland and will it put a halt to crowds going to games?

      1. ClassiX
        • Fantasy Football Scout Member
        • 5 Years
        3 years, 4 months ago

        Yes, and seems to be more contagious (not known if it's impact is more severe, though). There is a new strain here in South Africa, too, which is displaying similar characteristics as the UK strain. Could well affect crowds and could also affect teams more severely.

        1. GreennRed
          • 12 Years
          3 years, 4 months ago

          Fair point. Never thought about players! Close to deadline transfers for now so.

      2. Cookie Kid
        • Fantasy Football Scout Member
        • 7 Years
        3 years, 4 months ago

        Yes mainly in London but Londoners are making their way out so it will spread

      3. Bounce
        • 3 Years
        3 years, 4 months ago

        Hopefully.

      4. Tommy Tynans Left Shin Pad
        • 12 Years
        3 years, 4 months ago

        New 'variant' which apparently spreads more quickly.

        Tier restrictions are still in place. If you're Tier 4, I assume crowds will not be allowed, as per tier 3. Tier 2 regions are allowed 2k max. Tier 1 are allowed 4k max

    7. R.C
      • 6 Years
      3 years, 4 months ago

      Bruno surely takes over KDB as the 2nd best FPL asset this season?

      (Considering KDB 2nd based on previous year)

      1. TorresMagic™
        • Fantasy Football Scout Member
        • Has Moderation Rights
        • 14 Years
        3 years, 4 months ago

        Bruno has been the best since restart.

        1. R.C
          • 6 Years
          3 years, 4 months ago

          Yeah

          Most goal involvements by midfielders in Europe's top five leagues since Bruno Fernandes' PL debut:

          29 - Bruno Fernandes
          28
          27
          26
          25
          24
          23 - Henrik Mkhitaryan
          22
          21
          20 - Kevin De Bruyne

      2. diesel001
        • 7 Years
        3 years, 4 months ago

        1. Bruno
        2. Salah
        3. Difficult choice between Son and Vardy
        4. See (3) above
        5. Kane
        6. KDB

        But I still expect KDB to do very well against Newcastle.

        1. el polako
          • 6 Years
          3 years, 4 months ago

          If he plays.

          1. diesel001
            • 7 Years
            3 years, 4 months ago

            Yes. Need to see what happens in EFL Cup in midweek. I hope he is rested.

            1. el polako
              • 6 Years
              3 years, 4 months ago

              Then its only 1 day rest and another game, Pep's roulette in full swing.

      3. GreennRed
        • 12 Years
        3 years, 4 months ago

        Would put Bruno, Son and Kane ahead of De Bruyne so far this season.

        1. R.C
          • 6 Years
          3 years, 4 months ago

          Nah Son is overperforming. Maybe Kane yeah.

          1. GreennRed
            • 12 Years
            3 years, 4 months ago

            Wouldn't quite say overperforming. Doing better than previous seasons because he's more injury-free and playing more advanced. But, like Kane it'll be interesting to see how long they'll remain injury free.

        2. TOLV TUMS
          • Fantasy Football Scout Member
          • 9 Years
          3 years, 4 months ago

          16 players (as of yesterday) outscoring KDB this season and only one costs more.

      4. Camzy
        • Fantasy Football Scout Member
        • 13 Years
        3 years, 4 months ago

        He could be straight-up best.

      5. Berkshire Hafaway-Line
        • 3 Years
        3 years, 4 months ago

        Yes! Though Man U are iffy he will be like Stevie G at a mediocre Liverpool.

    8. That Was Easy!
      • Fantasy Football Scout Member
      • 9 Years
      3 years, 4 months ago

      89 with 3 to go and a 1.1M green....up to 2M. Been a tough season but hopefully this is the corner.

      1. TOLV TUMS
        • Fantasy Football Scout Member
        • 9 Years
        3 years, 4 months ago

        Wow, congrats! Nice week

      2. JabbaWookiee
        • Fantasy Football Scout Member
        • 9 Years
        3 years, 4 months ago

        Don’t get your hopes up. There’s usually a truck there ready to bring you back down to earth if my experience this season is anything to go by.

    9. DaisyDaisyDaisyDaisy
      • 10 Years
      3 years, 4 months ago

      Mane to Salah transfer and when Mane assisted and scored the weekend was ruined. Now an outside chance of a ton

    10. Drop Dead Tsimikas
      • 12 Years
      3 years, 4 months ago

      Right, that’s Aurier and Soucek to Coufal and Rafinha for free done.

      1. _Ninja_
        • Fantasy Football Scout Member
        • 13 Years
        3 years, 4 months ago

        City, spurs, Everton, Man u etc play midweek. Would have waited

    11. Champions League Varane
      • 5 Years
      3 years, 4 months ago

      Villa cs PLEASE

      1. TOLV TUMS
        • Fantasy Football Scout Member
        • 9 Years
        3 years, 4 months ago

        And Grealish Hattie and Martinez pen save

        1. Champions League Varane
          • 5 Years
          3 years, 4 months ago

          Wouldn’t mind that at all

        2. BeWater
          • 3 Years
          3 years, 4 months ago

          This would be awesome!

    12. Pep Roulette
      • 6 Years
      3 years, 4 months ago

      Kane, Lamptey & Torres to Salah(C), Adams & 4.1 defender for -4? WC in GW16.

      McCarthy
      Robbo Dallas Mitchell
      Salah(C) KDB Bruno Son
      DCL Bamford Adams

      Button Anguissa Ferguson 4.1 def

      1. Champions League Varane
        • 5 Years
        3 years, 4 months ago

        Oh yes

      2. TOLV TUMS
        • Fantasy Football Scout Member
        • 9 Years
        3 years, 4 months ago

        Why didn’t Lamptey play today?

        1. BeWater
          • 3 Years
          3 years, 4 months ago

          He took a knock in the previous game. Potter said he 'recovered well' but would need a late fitness test.

          1. TOLV TUMS
            • Fantasy Football Scout Member
            • 9 Years
            3 years, 4 months ago

            Thanks

    13. Champions League Varane
      • 5 Years
      3 years, 4 months ago

      Thoughts on Greenwood and Mitchell -> Reguillon and Raphina? Have Bamford.

      Raphina looked excellent

      1. luk46
        • 5 Years
        3 years, 4 months ago

        well, 2 non starters or rotation players out sounds good... not too sold on Reguilon tho

        1. Champions League Varane
          • 5 Years
          3 years, 4 months ago

          Great assist potential and with them fixtures !

    14. Shark Team
      • 6 Years
      3 years, 4 months ago

      James out for the next two games. No surgery though. Source: The Athletic

    15. Burger
      • Fantasy Football Scout Member
      • 8 Years
      3 years, 4 months ago

      Chance of Balbuena and/or James playing tomorrow? I have Justin and Dallas in the wings if no show.

      1. R.C
        • 6 Years
        3 years, 4 months ago

        Balbuena 75%
        James 25%

      2. BeWater
        • 3 Years
        3 years, 4 months ago

        James sounds like he's certain to be out.

    16. R.C
      • 6 Years
      3 years, 4 months ago

      Justin on 2 baps rip

      1. BeWater
        • 3 Years
        3 years, 4 months ago

        When the hell is Ricardo Pereira coming back?! I'll chip in with any treatment he needs.

    17. JabbaWookiee
      • Fantasy Football Scout Member
      • 9 Years
      3 years, 4 months ago

      Of course I had to captain Kane over Fernandes and Salah. Pretty furious right now.

      1. Baps hunter
        • Fantasy Football Scout Member
        • 6 Years
        3 years, 4 months ago

        Me too 🙁

        1. JabbaWookiee
          • Fantasy Football Scout Member
          • 9 Years
          3 years, 4 months ago

          Ok mate. Just seen your team and moves. You win!

      2. TOLV TUMS
        • Fantasy Football Scout Member
        • 9 Years
        3 years, 4 months ago

        Well at least you had Bruno and Salah, suspect you’re okay.

        1. JabbaWookiee
          • Fantasy Football Scout Member
          • 9 Years
          3 years, 4 months ago

          Below average and a red arrow. Not really!

    18. That Was Easy!
      • Fantasy Football Scout Member
      • 9 Years
      3 years, 4 months ago

      Anyone without a FH and 1st WC? Figuring out how to handle the blank and double. Considering eating the blank and taking a red with 6-7 players and preserving the 2nd WC.

      Or, use FTs up until the double, then WC that week?

        1. That Was Easy!
          • Fantasy Football Scout Member
          • 9 Years
          3 years, 4 months ago

          Cheers!!

    19. Tango74
      • 3 Years
      3 years, 4 months ago

      Dreading next 3 games weeks.

      Where premium will get rotated, who to pick as captain ?

      Advice ?

      1. JabbaWookiee
        • Fantasy Football Scout Member
        • 9 Years
        3 years, 4 months ago

        Not Kane

      2. el polako
        • 6 Years
        3 years, 4 months ago

        Stay calm, captain big hitter.

      3. luk46
        • 5 Years
        3 years, 4 months ago

        stick it on Salah and dont think about it that much

      4. Nightcrawler
        • 4 Years
        3 years, 4 months ago

        Salah vs wba

        Son vs leeds

        Salah vs soton

      5. The Red Devil
        • 9 Years
        3 years, 4 months ago

        Rotate between Salah & Fernandes simple

      6. diesel001
        • 7 Years
        3 years, 4 months ago

        1. Treat the next 3 GWs as a large GW. There will be rotation although some (Kane, Bruno) are less likely to be rotated than others.
        2. Based on this large GW, who do you want?
        3. Once you have your list from 2. Work out which ones will give you the most bang for your buck and whether any hits should be taken.

        1. Tango74
          • 3 Years
          3 years, 4 months ago

          Thanks depressing when your captain is rested

      7. Karhumies
        • 11 Years
        3 years, 4 months ago

        Salah already got his rest.

    20. HNI
      • 11 Years
      3 years, 4 months ago

      Worth having both Son and Kane as part of BB chip team for dgw 19? Great run from Fulham onwards but they not being as bad as before and was looking to just have Son and use rest of transfers to get dgw players like Che Adams...

    21. Nightcrawler
      • 4 Years
      3 years, 4 months ago

      Ohj edge of the box maybe?

      Could have been a penalty

    22. RAFA THE GAFFA
      • 8 Years
      3 years, 4 months ago

      How’s he not carded?

    23. The Red Devil
      • 9 Years
      3 years, 4 months ago

      No card for handball outside the box?

      1. Pukki Party
        • 6 Years
        3 years, 4 months ago

        It's just a handball

      2. djman102
        • 14 Years
        3 years, 4 months ago

        I'll take it. Brought him him to double up on a one week punt and he pulls this after two master classes.

    24. Pukki Party
      • 6 Years
      3 years, 4 months ago

      7 players with a game in 18
      7 players with a double in 19

      Which one to FH or just ride out both?

      1. luk46
        • 5 Years
        3 years, 4 months ago

        well, in your case maybe fh in gw19, which players have you got for bgw18?

        1. Pukki Party
          • 6 Years
          3 years, 4 months ago

          Current gw18 team:

          Martinez
          Cancelo Lewis
          KDB Son
          DCL Watkins

    25. JelliedSpark968
      • 4 Years
      3 years, 4 months ago

      May be too early for this type of post, but I'm looking at my WC team for next week:

      Meslier/Steer

      Robbo/Chilwell/Justin/Taylor(Burnley)/Coufal

      Salah/Fernandes/Soucek/Raphinha/Anguissa

      Vardy/Martial/DCL

      0.2 ITB. Worried about no Son or Kane, and I'm still keeping 7 from my original team

    26. Paqueta Rice
      • 3 Years
      3 years, 4 months ago

      That’s not Grealish?