Gundogan injury latest as Antonio, Benrahma and Son rack up FPL hauls

NEWCASTLE UNITED 2-4 WEST HAM UNITED

• Goals: Callum Wilson (£7.5m), Jacob Murphy (£5.0m) | Aaron Cresswell (£5.5m), Saïd Benrahma (£6.0m), Tomas Soucek (£6.0m) Michail Antonio (£7.5m)
• Assists: Allan Saint-Maximin (6.5m), Matt Ritchie (£5.0) | Pablo Fornals (£6.0m), Antonio x2, Benrahma
• Penalty misses: Antonio
• Penalty saves: Freddie Woodman (£4.5m)
• Bonus: Antonio x3, Benrahma x2, Soucek x1, Saint-Maximin x1

A frantic start set the tone in a thrilling match at St. James’ Park on Sunday, as West Ham United beat Newcastle United 4-2. 

The Hammers were in devastating form going forward, especially in the second-half, as goals from Aaron Cresswell (£5.5m), Saïd Benrahma (£6.0m), Tomas Soucek (£6.0m) and Michail Antonio (£7.5m), who also registered two assists and missed a penalty, handed them three points in their Premier League opener.

Newcastle United had twice taken the lead via Callum Wilson (£7.5m) and Jacob Murphy (£5.0m), but essentially lost out due to a flimsy defensive performance which bodes well for Aston Villa’s attacking assets next weekend.

DOUBLE-DIGITS FOR BENRAHMA AND ANTONIO

Benrahma and Antonio scored a combined 25 Fantasy Premier League (FPL) points as both players started the 2021/22 campaign in style.

Antonio (no. 9, below) played more of a deeper-lying forward role which allowed Benrahma (no. 22, below) to push high up the pitch. In fact, the Algerian was West Ham’s most advanced player in Gameweek 1:

It was an excellent performance by Antonio and he was perhaps unfortunate not to score more, as his penalty was met by a wonderful Freddie Woodman (£4.5m) save in the second-half.

However, he did earn an assist after Soucek slammed in the rebound and later scored a brilliant counter-attacking goal himself.

Meanwhile, his total of three big chances was more than any other player in Gameweek 1, which is an encouraging sign for his owners ahead of games against Leicester City, Crystal Palace and Southampton in the coming weeks.

As for Benrahma, after an impressive pre-season, he continued to shine in a no. 10 role and ended the game with his first double-digit FPL haul courtesy of a goal, an assist and two bonus points.

Defensively, West Ham struggled for large periods, which manager David Moyes touched on in his post-match interview:

“I thought it was a great game, I really enjoyed it myself. The first half was end-to-end, unfortunately we gave them a bit of a leg up in giving them a second goal. I thought we had done enough to be in front even then, I thought we played well, but we didn’t make the final pass as well as we should have done and we didn’t defend a couple of crosses that well.

There was no message [at half-time], I thought we’d done a lot. I was more annoyed because of how we’d done defensively. We also had so many counter-attacks, but we didn’t make the final pass well enough. We needed to do that better and I thought we did.

Last season, we were talking about teams winning away because there was no crowd in the stadium. But I think we approached the game exactly as we would have done at home. We want to go win, attack and score goals. I think we’re a pretty good watch and I think we were last year, but I don’t want us to be losing two goals every week because it’s not my style. But I like the thought that we’re scoring four because that’s always good.”

DEFENSIVE ISSUES REMAIN AT NEWCASTLE

A new season, but the same defensive issues remain at Newcastle United.

Even after taking the lead twice at St. James’ Park, the Magpies failed to contain their opponents and collapsed in the second-half, shipping three goals in a disastrous 13-minute spell.

We conceded far too many goals last year and we have to sharpen up defensively. 

In the Premier League, when you chase it, you leave yourself exposed and once we do that, it becomes difficult for us. Overall, I was really pleased with a lot of it, but we have to be better defensively.” – Steve Bruce

However, there was nothing wrong with the attacking display on show as Wilson and Murphy were amongst the FPL points, along with team-mates Allan Saint-Maximin (£6.5m) and Matt Ritchie (£5.0m), who both supplied assists.

The latter was especially impressive going forward.

Ritchie registered 12 crosses in all (see below), a total only Kostas Tsimikas (£4.0m) could equal in Gameweek 1, and created four chances for his team-mates. He also had a share of set-pieces, taking five of Newcastle’s seven corners. 

If Newcastle can tighten up at the back, the 31-year-old could perhaps become an option for our backlines.

Meanwhile, Wilson has spoken openly about his desire to push towards the 20-goal mark this term, and judging by this display, he could well do that.

Newcastle United XI: Woodman, Kraft (S Longstaff 84), Fernandez, Clark, Murphy, Hayden, Shelvey (Fraser 70), Ritchie, Almiron, Saint-Maximin, Wilson (Joelinton 85)

West Ham United XI: Fabianski, Coufal, Dawson, Ogbonna, Cresswell, Rice, Soucek, Bowen (Yarmolenko 90), Benrahma (Fredericks 88), Fornals, Antonio (Johnson 90+3)

TOTTENHAM HOTSPUR 1-0 MANCHESTER CITY

• Goals: Son Heung-min (£10.0m)
• Assists: Steven Bergwijn (£6.0m)
• Bonus: Hugo Lloris (£5.5m) x3, Son x2, Eric Dier (£4.5m) x1, Sergio Reguilón (£5.0m) x1

Nuno Espirito Santo’s Tottenham Hotspur reign got off to a winning start as his team beat champions Manchester City 1-0, courtesy of Son Heung-min’s (£10.0m) second-half strike.

With Harry Kane (£12.5m) missing from the matchday squad, the South Korean international stepped up with the winning goal, a superb curling effort from the edge of the area.

City, who handed Jack Grealish (£8.0m) a start and later introduced Kevin De Bruyne (£12.0m) from the bench, dominated the early stages but failed to take advantage of their superiority, and for large parts looked extremely vulnerable on the counter-attack.

NO KANE, NO PROBLEM

Spurs were at their most dangerous on the break as the pace of Son, Steven Bergwijn (£6.0m) and Lucas Moura (£6.5m) caused plenty of problems, though a lack of quality from the latter two in the final moment prevented them taking real advantage.

As for Son, with five goal attempts, more than any other player on the pitch, he is surely set for huge investment ahead of Spurs’ next three fixtures: Wolverhampton Wanderers (a), Watford (h) and Crystal Palace (a).

Discussing Kane’s absence after the match, Nuno said:

“Look, Harry Kane is one of the best players in the world, honestly. We are very lucky to have him. He has to get ready and help the team. We still have to go to Portugal then we think about Wolves. Harry, like Bryan and Cristian, they joined us later so for Cristian and for Bryan it was very important to be with us today to feel the atmosphere and feel the meetings. Harry worked this morning and he is preparing himself. When he’s ready he will join the group and the team.”

He also reserved praise for the outstanding Japhet Tanganga (£4.5m), who operated at right-back in Nuno’s 4-3-3 / 4-2-3-1 formation:

“I think he did well. He was in the process of recovering from injury at the start of pre-season but he’s been able to keep growing. Japhet was huge today. He faced many one-v-ones today against fantastic players and he dealt extremely well with the situation.”

Defensively, Spurs impressed and there could be real value in one of their £4.5m defender options, once we have established who will be a regular starter, of course.

GREALISH SHOWS POTENTIAL BUT CITY LACK IDEAS

New signing Grealish showed glimpses of his potential and was heavily involved, ending the match with more final-third touches than any other player on the pitch.

When on the ball, the former Aston Villa captain always looked to make something happen and unsurprisingly won several free-kicks in dangerous areas.

Being deployed on the left of the midfielder three didn’t hold him back, either, as the no. 10 often found himself high up the pitch and as a result, level with the forward line:

On Grealish’s display, Guardiola said:

“He had an influence and got fouled a few times very early on. He’s a player who is so dangerous close to the box and he plays with real personality. He’ll be very important for us and I congratulate him for trying right up until the end.”

Attacking trio Riyad Mahrez (£9.0m), Ferran Torres (£7.0m) and Raheem Sterling (£11.0m) failed to make an impact, which suggests De Bruyne will be a starter sooner rather than later, having being afforded 20 minutes off the bench on Sunday.

Worryingly, fellow midfielder Ilkay Gündogan (£7.5m) went down just off the pitch at the end of the game, with Guardiola saying:

“Something in his shoulder. We will see what happens tomorrow. But something happened.”

With Norwich City up next in Gameweek 2, all eyes will be on Pep’s Friday’s press conference.

Tottenham Hotspur XI: Lloris, Tanganga (Doherty 83), Sanchez, Dier, Reguilon, Skipp, Hojbjerg (Romero 90), Alli, Bergwijn (Lo Celso 77), Moura, Son.

Manchester City XI: Ederson, Cancelo, Dias, Ake, Mendy (Zinchenko 79), Fernandinho, Gundogan, Grealish, Mahrez (De Bruyne 79), Sterling (Jesus 70), Torres.