Is now the time to sell Everton’s value-for-money FPL midfielders?

We continue our Fantasy Premier League (FPL) Gameweek 9 Scout Notes with analysis of Everton v Watford.

For a briefer summary of all six 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 9 action.

EVERTON 2-5 WATFORD

• Goals: Tom Davies (£4.9m), Richarlison (£7.4m) | Joshua King (£5.5m) x3, Juraj Kucka (£5.5m), Emmanuel Dennis (£5.2m)
• Assists: Demarai Gray (£5.8m), Michael Keane (£5.0m) | Craig Cathcart (£4.4m), Cucho Hernandez (£5.0m), Dennis x2, Joao Pedro (£5.4m)
• Bonus: King x3, Dennis x2, Keane x1

BENITEZ’S HONEYMOON OVER?

Everton’s attacking assets have offered us some excellent value for money this season but we might be reaching the jumping-off point for Andros Townsend (£5.7m) and co, not just because of Saturday’s freak 5-2 loss to Watford.

Depending on your view of the backlines of Wolverhampton Wanderers and Tottenham Hotspur, the Toffees’ favourable fixture run has, or soon will, come to an end.

Rafael Benitez’s troops sit bottom of our Season Ticker for fixture difficulty from Gameweeks 10-18, meeting all bar Manchester United of the ‘big six’ plus Leicester City and Brentford.

Demarai Gray (£5.8m) still found a way to deliver his fifth attacking return of the season with his assist for Everton’s opener but it was a largely lethargic offensive display for the third home match running, with injuries perhaps finally catching up with the blue half of Merseyside.

Salomon Rondon (£6.0m) yet again flattered to deceive in the absence of Dominic Calvert-Lewin (£8.0m), while Abdoulaye Doucoure‘s (£5.8m) first no-show of 2021/22 was felt at both ends of the pitch.

Yerry Mina (£4.9m) was arguably the biggest loss, as the out-of-sorts Michael Keane (£5.0m) and Ben Godfrey (£4.8m) served up a horror show at the back.

“Today was not about [the injured players], we had enough quality on the pitch to win – and we were winning. It is up to us to manage the situation and improve that. Some players were a little bit tired but it doesn’t matter, it is not an excuse. We have to be better – especially when you are in control of the game. You can’t make the mistakes we made.” – Rafael Benitez

While Gray, Townsend and Doucoure have been success stories in Benitez’s traditionally strong start at a new club, Lucas Digne (£5.3m) has arguably been the biggest FPL flop of the campaign: the France international averages under 1.9 points per match after a ticker-topping opening nine Gameweeks.

A positive was the goalscoring return of substitute Richarlison (£7.4m), at least, with the Brazilian’s comeback presumably now meaning that Townsend’s stint as penalty-taker has come to an end.

KING LEADS THE LINE FOR NEW-LOOK WATFORD

After seeing his new charges thrashed by Liverpool last weekend, Claudio Ranieri had a full week of training with his Watford squad and set his side up in a 4-3-3, following the disastrous wing-back experiment of Gameweek 8.

Ismaila Sarr (£6.3m) was back in the right-wing role that seems to suit him best but somehow he missed out on any attacking return after a rare off-day and early substitution, leaving a quartet of sub-£6.0m forwards to do the damage.

Emmanuel Dennis (£5.2m) hadn’t even started the game but replaced Sarr to bank three attacking returns and move up to sixth in the FPL forwards’ points table, while the corner-taking Cucho Hernandez (£5.0m) – again preferred on the left flank – and substitute Joao Pedro (£5.4m) each chipped in with an assist apiece.

Star of the show, though, was Joshua King (£5.5m).

Deployed in the middle of the front three, King racked up a total of four big chances and an expected goal involvement (xGI) figure of 2.13, totals beaten by only Christian Benteke (£6.3m) in the Gameweek just gone.

“For a striker it is confidence. I had a horrible season last season. Any striker when you start scoring gets confidence.” – Joshua King

The Norwegian has now quietly amassed six attacking returns in his last four appearances for the Hornets, although like Everton, King and his teammates languish at the wrong end of the Season Ticker over the next six matches: they’re probably a ‘hold but don’t buy’ for Gameweek 10, after which comes a particularly nasty set of five games:

The good news for owners of Armando Broja (£5.0m) et al ahead of next Saturday was that, despite an improved defensive showing, the Watford backline still managed to concede twice to a below-par Everton; that makes it nine Premier League matches without a clean sheet for the Hornets.

Dennis will miss that match against the Saints, meanwhile, having collected his fifth booking of the campaign.

Everton XI (4-4-1-1): Pickford, Coleman, Keane, Godfrey, Digne, Townsend, Davies, Allan, Gordon (Richarlison 60). Gray (Iwobi 77), Rondon.

Watford XI (4-3-3): Foster, Ngakia (Nkoulou 76), Troost-Ekong, Cathcart, Masina, Tufan (Pedro 64), Sissoko, Kucka, Sarr (Dennis 64), King, Hernandez.