We continue our Fantasy Premier League (FPL) Gameweek 6 write-ups with analysis of Everton v Norwich City.
For a summary of all seven of Saturday’s games, click here, while the footer at the bottom of this piece will direct you to our detailed Scout Notes on the other Gameweek 6 action.
EVERTON 2-0 NORWICH CITY
- Goals: Andros Townsend (£5.5m) pen, Abdoulaye Doucoure (£5.6m)
- Assists: Allan (£4.6m), Demarai Gray (£5.8m)
- Bonus: Doucoure x3, Townsend x2, Michael Keane (£5.0m)
TOWNSEND ON PENALTIES – FOR NOW
In the absence of Dominic Calvert-Lewin (£8.0m) and Richarlison (£7.4m), it was Andros Townsend (£5.5m) and not Demarai Gray (£5.8m) who was given the responsibility to score from 12 yards when Everton were awarded a penalty against Norwich on Saturday.
Gray had taken a spot-kick in pre-season when Everton’s two forwards had last been absent, although Townsend was also off the pitch at the point.
With Calvert-Lewin and Richarlison expected to be nearing a return after the October international break, Townsend will probably only have one more game on penalty-taking duties before at least one or both of the strike pair return.
Rafael Benitez said the following after Gameweek 3:
“We had this conversation before and I told him if we have two penalties, the first one is Dominic’s and the second one is his. Obviously he wants to score goals, which is normal. I am pleased because Dominic scored, we played well and we won, so everyone has to be happy with that. Richy will understand that.” – Rafael Benitez on Richarlison
TOWNSEND v GRAY v DOUCOURE
Abdoulaye Doucoure (£5.6m), Gray, Townsend and even Allan (£4.6m) all delivered attacking returns in Gameweek 6, with the first three of those all now among the top 10 highest-scoring FPL midfielders.
Townsend is level with Bruno Fernandes (£11.9m) for points, with Gray and Doucoure ahead of the Portuguese playmaker.
“It is not easy with these games and not too many players, we are missing two or three who played every game last year and scored a lot of goals.
“Hopefully, they can be with us soon and make the difference helping the rest of the team.
“The others are working a bit more, so are a little bit tired but, hopefully, they have time to recover and we can have a good game [at United] and get a good result.” – Rafael Benitez
Unsurprisingly, Townsend, Doucoure and Gray are among the 10 most-bought midfielders of Gameweek 7.
Gray is level with or narrowly ahead of his two teammates for some of the key goal threat metrics (shots, penalty box touches), with Townsend on top for creativity (chances created, big chances created, crosses).
But there is precious little between the three of them, and the fact that Doucoure is right up there for a number of key stats – his total of 10 shots is just one fewer than Gray and one more than Townsend has managed – shows how different a player he is from the double-pivot midfield shield of the last few seasons.
His tally of seven shots in the box after six Gameweeks, for example, is only three fewer than he managed in the whole of 2020/21.
One thing we should note is their ‘overachievement’ so far, at least compared to Opta’s divisive expected goals (xG) metrics.
All three are among the top five overachieving midfielders based on expected goal involvement (xGI).
The better players can and often do exceed their xGIs, sometimes by quite a margin, given their superior finishing abilities and those of the teammates on the end of their chances created.
But these aren’t three historically clinical finishers we’re talking about here:
| Season | Doucoure | Gray | Townsend |
| 2021/22 | 20% | 27.3% | 22.2% |
| 2020/21 | 11.1% | 6.3% | 2.8% |
| 2019/20 | 6.6% | 8.7% | 8.3% |
| 2018/19 | 9.6% | 8.5% | 9.5% |
| 2017/18 | 14.9% | 8.3% | 3.2% |
Above: Shot-to-goal conversion rates of Doucoure, Gray and Townsend
Of course, Benitez’s general idea for all three (certainly Doucoure) is that they’re now closer to goal and getting better-quality chances where they’ve been taking wild potshots from distance in the past.
But the current rate of returns is very unlikely to continue: even just among sub-£6.0m midfielders, Townsend, Gray and Doucoure are only 8th, 9th and 21st respectively for xGI – and Townsend’s number was inflated by the Gameweek 6 spot-kick.
NORWICH “SOLID”
Daniel Farke set his side up in a 3-5-2 formation and the struggling Canaries were largely successful in stymying Everton, with both goals stemming from Norwich errors.
Townsend’s penalty, Doucoure’s breakaway goal and Ben Godfrey‘s (£4.8m) late effort from a set play accounted for 1.65 of Everton’s 2.00 expected goals, with Benitez’s troops creating little else of note.
“It was a tight game and our game plan more or less worked. We wanted to be more compact today and rock solid. We were solid from the first second and didn’t allow them one chance in the first half apart from the penalty.
“We needed 25 minutes to find higher pressing areas, be more brave and be better in our possession, but from then we had periods when we dominated and controlled the game. We definitely weren’t the worst side and had the better chances.” – Daniel Farke
Budget FPL defender Brandon Williams (£4.0m) got forward plenty in his advanced wing-back role (see Norwich’s average position map above), registering more final-third touches than any of his teammates, but continues to look suspect defensively.
It’s difficult to champion any player from the point-less Norwich, indeed, despite the Canaries sitting third on our Season Ticker over the coming eight Gameweeks.
Everton XI: Pickford, Godfrey, Mina, Keane, Digne, Townsend (Gordon 76), Doucoure, Allan, Iwobi (Dobbin 89), Gray (Davies 83′), Rondon.
Norwich City XI: Krul; Aarons, Kabak (Rashica 69), Hanley, Gibson, Williams (Giannoulis 86), Normann (Tzolis 70), Lees-Melou, McLean, Sargent, Pukki.
