Antonio blanks and Bowen maintains fine form: FPL notes from West Ham’s win

We continue our Fantasy Premier League (FPL) Gameweek 10 Scout Notes with analysis of Aston Villa v West Ham United.

For a briefer summary of Saturday’s Premier League action, click here, while you can read up on Norwich City v Leeds United via the link below.

READ MORE: Raphinha stars as Leeds win at Norwich in Gameweek 10

ASTON VILLA 1-4 WEST HAM UNITED

• Goals: Ollie Watkins (£7.3m) | Ben Johnson (£3.9m), Declan Rice (£5.0m), Pablo Fornals (£6.0m), Jarrod Bowen (£6.3m)
• Assists: Emiliano Buendia (£6.3m) | Rice, Said Benrahma (£6.5m), Bowen, Manuel Lanzini (£5.8m)
• Red cards: Ezri Konsa (£4.9m)
• Bonus: Rice x3, Bowen x2, Watkins x1

IN-FORM WEST HAM

West Ham moved up to fourth in the Premier League table on Sunday, as they comfortably beat 10-man Aston Villa 4-1.

As a result, they have maintained their unbeaten away record in 2021/22, while their impressive form throughout the year is captured on this annual Premier League table, via Transfermarkt:

The Hammers’ now host Liverpool in Gameweek 11, knowing a win would take them above the Reds in the table, before fixtures against Wolverhampton Wanderers (a), Manchester City (a), Brighton and Hove Albion (h) and Chelsea (h).

ANTONIO BLANKS

Despite scoring four goals at Villa Park, Michail Antonio (£8.2m) blanked for the third time in his last four matches.

However, he assisted the assister on a couple of occasions today and did register two goal attempts himself. Notably, his stats over the last four Gameweeks also suggest that he has perhaps been a little unfortunate not to return more.

Forwards ranked by non-penalty xG over the last four Gameweeks

BOWEN IMPRESSES AGAIN

In an excellent all-round display, Jarrow Bowen (£6.3m) produced a goal and assist, plus two bonus points, and posted match-leading totals for shots in the box, take-ons, crosses, final-third and penalty box touches.

After his first double-digit haul of the campaign, the 24-year-old has now returned either a goal or assist in five of his last six league appearances. During that time, amongst all midfielders in the game, only Mohamed Salah (£12.9m) has registered more shots in the box than Bowen.

Jarrod Bowen’s xG shot map Gameweeks 5-10

Bowen’s 11-point haul was trumped by Declan Rice (£5.0m), however, who notched a goal and assist to produce his third and fourth attacking returns of the season so far.

Meanwhile, budget defender Ben Johnson (£3.9m) made his third successive start, with Vladimir Coufal (£4.8m) interestingly benched, and repaid his manager’s faith with the opener. Said Benrahma (£6.5m) bagged a rather fortunate assist – his first attacking return since Gameweek 5 – while Pablo Fornals (£6.0m) and Manuel Lanzini (£5.8m) also supplied a goal and assist respectively.

ISSUES AT VILLA

As for Villa, they have now lost four consecutive Premier League matches, and conceded 12 goals during that run.

In an attempt to get back on track today, Dean Smith made four changes to his line-up, which included dropping captain Tyrone Mings (£5.0m) to the bench, while Douglas Luiz (£4.6m) and Danny Ings (£7.8m) were both missing from the matchday squad.

“We had to shuffle the pack a little bit. We’ve had some forced pull-outs as well, I won’t go into specifics but a few soft-tissue injuries and a couple of Covid related issues. We’ve had to adjust it somewhat” – Dean Smith

However, a switch to a back-four system failed to have the desired effect, despite Emiliano Buendia (£6.3m) bagging his first Villa assist and Ollie Watkins (£7.3m) registering his third attacking return in his last four appearances. 

Elsewhere, Villa will be without the suspended Ezri Konsa (£4.9m) in Gameweek 11 after his red card, while John McGinn (5.8m) picked up his fourth booking of the campaign, and is now just one further yellow card away from a ban.

Jacob Ramsey’s (£4.5m) return to the starting XI unfortunately lasted only 15 minutes, too, after he rolled his ankle. The 20-year-old was replaced by Ashley Young (£4.8m) and is surely now a doubt for Friday’s trip to Southampton.

“I’m concerned when we lose any game, so yes – concerned that we’ve lost four games in a row. But I have a great belief in the quality we have that we’ll turn it around.

Sometimes this happens, and things go against you. We’ve had a couple of shots which probably register 0.03 on xG that end up in the bottom corner, and a young kid gets injured after a few minutes, and a poor red card which is incorrect.” – Dean Smith

Aston Villa XI: Martinez, Cash, Konsa, Hause, Targett, Nakamba, McGinn, J Ramsey (Young 15), Buendia (Mings 52), Bailey (El Ghazi 72), Watkins

West Ham XI: Fabianski, Johnson, Zouma, Ogbonna, Cresswell, Soucek, Rice, Bowen (Vlasic 90+1), Fornals (Coufal 90+1), Benrahma (Lanzini 64), Antonio