West Ham’s defence, Antonio’s creativity, Lage on rotation: FPL notes

We round up the key Fantasy Premier League (FPL) talking points from West Ham United v Wolverhampton Wanderers in our latest Scout Notes.

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RESILIENT HAMMERS

After two draws in a row, West Ham came out on top against Wolves in Gameweek 27, with a narrow 1-0 victory that maintains their challenge for fourth place.

As a result, it’s now three clean sheets in their last seven league matches, all of which have arrived at the London Stadium.

However, with a trip to Anfield up next, followed by Aston Villa and Tottenham Hotspur, it’s unlikely their defenders will receive much attention, especially with so many other sides involved in Double Gameweeks, plus the fact their European campaign recommences next month.

Further forward, having scored today via Tomas Soucek (£5.7m), the Hammers have now found the back of the net in each of their 14 top-flight home games this season, while overall, only Liverpool, Manchester City and Chelsea have netted more.

CREATIVE ANTONIO

Michail Antonio (£7.6m) registered his eighth assist of the campaign against Wolves, more than any other forward in FPL.

Despite scoring just two goals since Gameweek 9, the Jamaican has turned creator on four occasions, and across the season, ranks first for chances created amongst forwards, with 39.

Above: forwards ranked by chances created 2021/22

However, that lack of goals has seen his ownership drop to just 7.35% in the top 10k, with his form, plus the fact West Ham aren’t involved in any doubles, the key reasons behind FPL managers looking elsewhere.

“He had his best 80 minutes for a while. Worked brilliantly for the team, got an assist, forced the keeper into a good save. I was pleased with him.” – David Moyes on Michail Antonio

Elsewhere, budget defender Ben Johnson (£3.9m) started at right-back, and was almost playing as a winger at times, as he regularly surged down the line into the final-third.

Above: Ben Johnson’s touch heatmap v Wolverhampton Wanderers

“I thought he did well, he has a lot to do and potential but he got forward and crossed it, had some good tackles too. He did a really good job, especially in the first-half. He made a good run for the free-kick as well. Ben has a lot of potential and we want him to keep improving.” – David Moyes on Ben Johnson

LAGE RINGS THE CHANGES

After playing on Thursday, while their opponents had a full week off to prepare, Bruno Lage made five changes to his starting XI for his teams’ trip to West Ham, with Raul Jimenez (£7.5m) amongst those who were benched.

However, without their Mexican forward leading the line, they struggled in the final-third, ending the match with just one shot on target and 0.95 expected goals (xG).

That suggests Jimenez will come back into the reckoning for Double Gameweek 28, which sees Wolves take on Crystal Palace and Watford at Molineux, followed by appealing fixtures against Everton, Leeds United, Aston Villa and Newcastle United.

“We played Thursday night and today we come here with a big energy. I don’t see any difference with that. I don’t give chances to anyone. I believe in all the squad and I chose the best 11 that I think could come here and win the game.

It was a good game, an emotional game, both teams tried to play with the ball, and that’s the main thing.

When you have a squad, you need to have this because here in the Premier League you only have two or three days to recover and every time you need fit players to be able to do a performance like we did today.” – Bruno Lage on making five changes

“After these two games, we can see we do not have a big distance between the top teams, but it’s about the little details, the experience in the little details, and for sure, we will have time to grow up.

I’m proud of the boys because they’re doing fantastic work and every time we need to improve, every time we need to continue doing the good things we are doing in the game, and now we move on.

The next three months we need to continue to play the way we play against these teams. The next game is at our home and with our pack and we need to produce another top performance.” – Bruno Lage on the areas to improve

West Ham United XI: Fabianski, Johnson, Dawson, Zouma, Cresswell, Soucek, Rice, Bowen, Lanzini, Fornals (Diop 90+3), Antonio (Vlasic 90+1)

Wolverhampton Wanderers XI: Sa, Kilman, Coady, Saiss, Hoever, Neves, Dendoncker, Marcal (Neto 76), Trincao (Podence 60), Hwang (Jimenez 81), Silva