There were mixed fortunes for Fantasy Premier League (FPL) managers on Saturday, with Burnley, Norwich City and Newcastle United proving to be Gameweek 11 party-poopers but Manchester City and Crystal Palace delivering the goods with wins to nil.
Our usual, more detailed Scout Notes will follow for all of the day’s games but in the meantime, our resurrected Scoreboard series rounds up the key goings-on from the day’s Gameweek 11 fixtures.
The graphics below are taken from LiveFPL, Ragabolly’s excellent and ever-expanding website, and our own Premium Members Area.
GOALS, ASSISTS, PROJECTED BONUS
INJURIES AND BANS
Robert Sanchez (£4.6m) will be suspended in Gameweek 12 after being sent off for the denial of a goalscoring opportunity in Brighton’s draw with Newcastle. Jason Steele (£4.0m) will presumably step up to replace the Spaniard against Aston Villa, although didn’t get to take to the pitch at the Amex as Albion had used all three substitutes by the time of Sanchez’s dismissal.
There wasn’t a great deal to report on the injury front from Saturday’s matches.
Luke Shaw (£5.2m) was substituted with a head injury in the Manchester derby but the concussion protocol will be served long before the international break comes to a close in a fortnight’s time.
Edinson Cavani (£8.4m) missed United’s defeat to City with a tendon problem but Kyle Walker (£5.6m) and Victor Lindelof (£4.8m) shook off minor issues to feature.
Mason Mount (£7.5m) was only a late substitute in Chelsea’s draw with Burnley, meanwhile, as he continues to struggle with dental problems and an infection.
Already without the sidelined Kristoffer Ajer (£4.5m), Brentford lost another centre-half to injury on Saturday in the form of Zanka (£4.5m). The playing budget defender klaxon was sounded with the introduction of Charlie Goode (£3.9m), although the Bees’ current defensive woes does make investment in their backline less appealing than it did earlier in the campaign.
GAMEWEEK 11 TAKEAWAYS
LAMPTEY RETURNS
Isaac Hayden‘s (£4.5m) second-half strike ensured that Brighton’s clean sheet went up in smoke in a flat display against bottom-of-the-table Newcastle but there was a positive to take with the first Premier League start of the season for Tariq Lamptey (£4.4m).
Deployed “out of position” on the right flank for the hosts, the former Chelsea defender was a bright spark and got into some threatening positions, narrowly failing to divert a cross home before the break before racing onto a Sanchez punt to produce a tame shot from inside the visitors’ area.
Any FPL managers who have missed the Valentino Livramento (£4.5m) bus may want to keep an eye on the cut-price Lamptey given his similarly attacking mindset. Having said that, his injury history coupled with the congested Christmas schedule may well see Graham Potter use him sensibly and sparingly over the coming two months.
Above: Lamptey’s touch heatmap in Gameweek 11
A GOOD TIME TO PLAY BRENTFORD?
Newcastle will likely be under the stewardship of Eddie Howe by the time Gameweek 12 comes around, as the former Bournemouth man was in the director’s box at the Amex for the evening kick-off.
Howe will have a decent first four matches to look forward to, three of which are at home.
The Magpies will also be encountering a Brentford side without a clean sheet in six matches and who have conceded five goals to the might of Burnley and Norwich in the last two Gameweeks alone.
David Raya‘s (£4.5m) absence is one mitigating factor; the suggestion that the defence in front of him are missing the Spaniard’s communication skills is one theory but whatever the reason, their concession of six big chances to two likely relegation rivals in Gameweeks 9 and 10 is a joint-high and encouragement for the likes of Callum Wilson (£7.3m).
As for Ivan Toney (£6.7m) and Bryan Mbeumo (£5.6m), the ‘all fart and no poo’ strike pair managed to conjure up another couple of blanks despite facing the division’s worst defence for goals conceded. The two combined for an offside goal in the second half but, other than an early chance for Toney, didn’t really trouble the opposition goal.
The fixtures – and those cursed, tempting underlying stats – remain decent over the next five Gameweeks but another blank against a Newcastle side who haven’t kept a clean sheet in 2021/22 will see many of us getting itchy fingers.
FARKE OFF
Despite registering their first win of the campaign, Norwich City parted ways with Daniel Farke on Saturday night.
Whoever takes charge of the Canaries will have three half-decent fixtures to look forward to upon their appointment but there’ll be understandable trepidation about Delia’s basement-dwellers, even allowing for the victory over Brentford and the fabled new manager bounce.
NO CLEAN SHEET? NO PROBLEM FOR JAMES
Despite picking up a booking and losing his clean sheet, an assist for Reece James (£5.9m) helped him collect another maximum bonus haul to take him up to 10 bonus points for the season – that’s more than any other FPL defender has managed.
Burnley’s late, out-of-the-blue equaliser was a sickener for FPL managers with Chelsea defenders in their teams but there was plenty of encouragement of owners of James and Ben Chilwell (£6.0m) in particular: the pair racked up a combined 95 final-third touches, 15 penalty box touches, six chances created and five shots in a typically gung-ho attacking display.
PALACE CONTINUE TO IMPRESS
While Mbeumo and Toney continue to flatter to deceive, an in-form Crystal Palace – who also enjoy some very decent fixtures between now and Gameweek 20 – have two FPL assets of their own in similar price rungs who are actually delivering the goods.
Conor Gallagher (£5.7m) moved up to second in the midfielders’ points table with his goal in Saturday’s win over Wolves, while Wilfried Zaha (£6.8m) made it five attacking returns in his last six starts with a strike of his own.
And defensively, despite their tough start, they remain the second-best team in the division for expected goals conceded (xGC) in 2021/22, restricting a hitherto buzzing Wolves side to just four shots on Saturday.
CANCELO CULTURE
Joao Cancelo (£6.4m) is the highest-scoring player of Gameweek 11 so far and now the top-scoring defender of 2021/22, supplementing his clean sheet in the Manchester derby with two assists and maximum bonus points. Rather frighteningly for those of us who don’t own him, he’s arguably capable of even more: he’s yet to score in the league this season but has registered more shots (26) than any other FPL defender this season, adding another four attempts at Old Trafford.
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