We begin our more detailed Scout Notes of the weekend’s matches with a look at the main talking points from Crystal Palace’s excellent 3-0 win over Tottenham Hotspur.
For a recap of all of Saturday’s action, check out our Scoreboard summary here.
Crystal Palace 3-0 Tottenham Hotspur
- Goals: Wilfried Zaha (£6.9m) pen, Odsonne Edouard (£6.5m) x2
- Assists: Conor Gallagher (£5.5m) x2, Zaha
- Bonus: Edouard x3, Zaha x2, Joachim Andersen (£4.5m) x1
- Red cards: Japhet Tanganga (£4.5m)
SON INJURY LATEST
Son Heung-min (£10.0m) and Steven Bergwijn (£6.0m) were absent from Spurs’ defeat at Crystal Palace, while Eric Dier (£4.6m) was forced off after just 11 minutes of the loss at Selhurst Park.
Nuno Espirito Santo was, as ever, a bit thin on details after the game:
“I don’t know. [Son] doesn’t look well. Stevie, let’s wait and see this week. Hopefully, they will improve and be available for the next game, let’s see.
“Let’s wait and see [on Dier].” – Nuno Espirito Santo
With Dier potentially missing, Japhet Tanganga (£4.5m) suspended, and Cristian Romero (£4.9m) and Davinson Sanchez (£4.5m) only returning from quarantine the day before Spurs take on Chelsea next weekend, owners of Romelu Lukaku (£11.5m) will be eyeing up the Lilywhites’ centre-half crisis with interest.
SPURS CREATE LITTLE
Son and Bergwijn have been two of Spurs’ better performers this season and the north Londoners were abject in their absence, with Santo’s decision to opt for a diamond formation looking like a misstep.
Their unavailability, Dier’s early injury and Tanganga’s 58th-minute red card were all mitigating factors for this off-day but in truth, the visitors were barely in this contest even at 11 v 11: they managed only two shots in the whole of this clash (none in the first half) and have the worst expected goals tally (0.09) in Gameweek 4 so far.
“It is a big concern, we had enough quality and talent to play better. We didn’t do it, credit to Palace they were aggressive and they didn’t allow too much time on the ball. We lost duels, many, many situations that I think we should do much better. In terms of offensive, much improvement is required.” – Nuno Espirito Santo
The positive start to the campaign has masked some disappointing underlying attacking numbers, and it’s perhaps no surprise that a side led by the pragmatic Santo looked more at home when counter-attacking against Manchester City in Gameweek 1 than when the onus was on them to break down the likes of Palace and Watford.
SPURS’ ATTACKING NUMBERS IN 2021/22
GALLAGHER WILL GET “LOTS OF GOALS”
Conor Gallagher (£5.5m) delivered two attacking returns for the second Gameweek in a row.
On direct free-kicks, indirect free-kicks and corners, he was involved in nine of the 18 shots that Palace had on Saturday.
And six of those attempts came directly from him, with some wild efforts from distance mixed with some excellent close-range chances: Hugo Lloris (£5.6m) denied him from point-blank range in the first half before a goalbound effort from 10 yards was blocked by a Spurs defender.
“He’s full of energy. He likes to get inside the box, he’s working hard with and without the ball. He loves to get round this area.
“I believe he’s one of the players who can get a lot of goals for us. He’s a lovely kid, his work ethic is fantastic, he comes in everyday with a smile on his face and he want to improve himself. He’s a positive player.” – Patrick Vieira on Conor Gallagher
Gallagher’s ability to ghost into the box has really caught the eye in the last three Gameweeks, with right-sided forward Jordan Ayew (£5.9m) generally staying wider to allow inside space for the Chelsea loanee to occupy.
Above: Palace’s average positions in Gameweek 4; Ayew (9), Gallagher (23).
ZAHA ON PENS
Wilfried Zaha (£6.9m) seemingly consolidated his position as Palace’s first-choice penalty taker, stepping up to take the Eagles’ spot-kick with Luka Milivojevic (£5.4m) on the field.
“I just told myself that I feel like I hold myself back a lot. It’s not even I tell myself I can’t do stuff, I just don’t do it. One day I just thought: ‘Why am I not taking penalties?’ You’ll be seeing me take corners, free-kicks soon enough! Why am I limiting myself? So today I see a penalty came and, yeah, it’s me taking it… as long as I keep scoring them you’ll see more of me, don’t worry.” – Wilfried Zaha
Zaha also hailed his new manager’s more front-foot approach, while perhaps aiming a slightly dig at Roy Hodgson; Palace average over 50% of possession this season, having had less than 40% of the ball in 2020/21.
“The way we’re playing, we’re bound to get a chance. I feel like it’s not just counter-attacks and hoofing the ball around, when it’s properly planned the way we’re playing the goals are going to come eventually.
“It just shows we’re not just a counter-attacking team, we can actually play out the back and play through teams. Obviously today we showed we’re definitely improving.” – Wilfried Zaha
EDOUARD ENTERS MID-PRICE FORWARD MIX
83rd-minute substitute Odsonne Edouard (£6.5m) announced his Premier League arrival in style, taking mere seconds to open his Palace account before doubling his tally in injury time.
“For him to come on and score those two goals is really good for him. It will give him the belief and more confidence to do well for the team. I’m really happy for him because it will help the team in the future.
“We are a team though and again I will mention Christian because of his work ethic. When Edouard came on he had more space in the line and more time in the box and that allowed him to score those two goals.
“I don’t want to take away from those two chances that he took because he did really well, but I want to give Christian credit as well because of the way he worked in the first 70 minutes.” – Patrick Vieira
While the circumstances – Spurs down to ten men, under-strength at centre-half, chasing an equaliser etc – were perfect for a goalscoring debut, he’s one for the watchlist in the ‘Ivan Toney (£6.4m) replacement’ bracket.
The problem with Palace assets is that, if they’re not available at a ‘benchable’ price like perhaps Gallagher is, they haven’t really got a sustained run of good fixtures coming up.
There are some decent home matches littered among their upcoming run of games but some trickier tests in between, which does make FPL investment that little bit more problematic.
Palace XI: Guaita, Ward, Guéhi, Andersen, Mitchell, Kouyaté (Milivojevic 67), McArthur, Gallagher, Ayew (Olise 87), Zaha, Benteke (Edouard 83).
Spurs XI: Lloris, Reguilón, Højbjerg, Dier (Rodon 12), Tanganga, Winks (Davies 60), Royal, Alli, Skipp, Moura, Kane.
NOMINATED FOR ‘BEST IN FANTASY FOOTBALL’ AT THE FOOTBALL CONTENT AWARDS 2021
