We round up the key Fantasy Premier League (FPL) talking points from West Ham United v Bournemouth in our Scout Notes summary.
The graphics below are taken from LiveFPL and our own Premium Members Area, where you can access Opta player and team data for every single Premier League fixture.
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Dominic Solanke (£5.8m) hobbled off in Bournemouth’s defeat to West Ham on Monday, lasting only 45 minutes of the Cherries’ 2-0 loss after picking up an ankle injury.
The forward was seen leaving the London Stadium in a protective boot, with further assessment to follow.
“Dom Solanke had some pain in his ankle having rolled it. I don’t know the seriousness of it. I think on leaving in a boot that is normal for an ankle injury. That doesn’t mean it’s serious or not – it’s very, very early to know what it is and what it isn’t. Obviously, we will be desperate for it to be as short as possible.” – Gary O’Neil
To add to the visitor’s woes, they also lost first-choice‘ keeper Neto (£4.5m) at the break, having hurt himself while clearing the ball in the first half. He was replaced by Mark Travers (£4.3m), who started the season as number one but hasn’t played since the 9-0 Liverpool defeat.
As for West Ham, Kurt Zouma (£4.5m) netted the opener, with VAR in the spotlight after the ball bounced off Thilo Kehrer’s (£4.5m) arms in the build-up. The Frenchman has now taken eight shots inside the box this season, more than any other FPL defender bar Virgil van Dijk (£6.5m) and Ryan Sessegnon (£4.5m).
There was further controversy late on, when a penalty was awarded after Vladimir Coufal’s (£4.3m) cross hit the arm of Jordan Zemura (£4.4m), who was sliding with his arms raised.
However, Jarrod Bowen (£8.2m) – who missed West Ham’s last penalty at Anfield in Gameweek 12 – had been withdrawn just moments before after a quiet night, which meant Said Benrahma (£5.6m) was the man to step up and covert.
Bowen then later confirmed in his post-match interview that he wouldn’t have taken the penalty even if he was still on the pitch.
“No chance of me taking the penalty, I’m off them after my miss last week! But it was a great pen from Said [Benrahma] and he has that quality. I see it in training every day. He was great tonight.” – Jarrod Bowen on whether he would have taken the penalty
For Benrahma, the winger had impressed in cameos off the bench against Southampton and Liverpool recently, with David Moyes challenging him in the build-up to “show a bit more” and “make things happen”. Upon his return to the starting XI, he certainly did that, with his converted penalty his eighth shot of the match.
“Really pleased because he’s so important for us. We need him. He’s a dribbler, you don’t get many dribblers any more, he wants to take people on but as you know, people who watch West Ham regularly and come to the game, it is his final product. Whether it is a cross, a pass or his finish, so we’ve been trying to get him continually on to it. I’ll tell you what he does do, every year he always supplies us goals, I think last year he probably got six or seven and probably six or seven assists as well. He plays a big part, but his form has been in and out and we’re trying to get a little bit more consistency from him. I have to say, he played really well tonight, we felt it was a game at home like this under the lights and we thought it was a night where maybe he would have a chance to take people on and dribble and I thought he did really well.” – David Moyes on Said Benrahma
Elsewhere, Aaron Cresswell (£4.8m) produced his biggest return of the season so far with eight points. The full-back put in some good crosses and with another four chances created for his teammates in Gameweek 13, is now up to 24 overall – more than any other FPL defender bar Kieran Trippier (£5.8m).
Above: Defenders sorted by chances created in 2022/23
West Ham have only scored 11 Premier League goals in 12 games this season, with their success built on their ability to keep things tight: their 98.4 minutes per expected goal conceded (xGC) figure is the third-best in the division, only behind Manchester City and Arsenal.
Moyes’ troops now visit Old Trafford this weekend, with home fixtures against Crystal Palace and Leicester City to follow, at which point we break for the winter World Cup.
Prior to tonight, Bournemouth had been travelling well under Gary O’Neil: since losing 9-0 to Liverpool in Gameweek 4 they were unbeaten in three Premier League away games. However, two VAR calls went against them on Monday, which means they have now lost back-to-back league matches.
Up next for the Cherries is Tottenham Hotspur on Saturday, before they meet Leeds United and Everton in Gameweeks 15 and 16 respectively.
West Ham United XI: Fabianski; Johnson, Zouma, Kehrer, Cresswell; Soucek, Rice; Bowen (Coufal 88), Downes (Fornals 88), Benrahma; Scamacca (Antonio 74)
Bournemouth XI: Neto (Travers 45); Fredericks (Zemura 57), Mepham, Senesi, Smith; Christie (Anthony 57), Cook, Lerma, Tavernier; Billing, Solanke (Moore 45)
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