FPL notes: In-form Villa, Chilwell’s threat, James at centre-back

We continue our analysis of the Gameweek 29 Fantasy Premier League (FPL) action in our Scout Notes series.

The attention here is on Aston Villa’s 2-0 win over Chelsea at Stamford Bridge.

Any numbers you see in this article are taken from our Premium Members Area, where you can access Opta player and team data from every single Premier League fixture.

• READ MORE: Take advantage of our free Premium Membership trial
• READ MORE: FPL notes: Steele + Raya’s returns, De Zerbi on “tired” players
• READ MORE: FPL notes: Haaland injury latest, Salah scores, Grealish stars 
• READ MORE: Saturday’s goals, assists, bonus points + statistics

IN-FORM VILLA

Aston Villa climbed above Chelsea in the table after they claimed all three points at Stamford Bridge, courtesy of goals from Ollie Watkins (£7.5m) and John McGinn (£5.1m).

For the former, it was his fifth in as many away matches, as he capitalised on a Marc Cucurella (£5.0m) error to put the visitors ahead. He also dragged an earlier effort wide, with both of his shots Opta-defined ‘big chances’.

Since the restart, Watkins has eight goals and three assists in 13 starts, with his total of 11 attacking returns only two fewer than Erling Haaland (£12.0m):

The win for Villa was topped off by an unlikely clean sheet, the fourth in their last five matches, with Emiliano Martinez (£4.9m) and Tyrone Mings (£4.4m) both securing bonus. It means the latter has now racked up 58 points since the season resumed, more than any other FPL defender bar Kieran Trippier (£6.1m), Luke Shaw (£5.2m) and Ben White (£4.7m).

To help shore things up, Unai Emery opted to take off Boubacar Kamara (£4.8m), who had picked up an earlier booking, and replace him with Callum Chambers (£4.2m) at half-time, switching to a back-five formation in the process.

“It was amazing today defensively, the commitment from every player was amazing. We have to understand sometimes to play good we have to be brilliant defensively. I think we are improving, we are as well being consistent and competitive away.” – Unai Emery

It’s now 16 points from a possible 21 away from home under Emery, with Aston Villa scoring in all 15 Premier League games under their new manager.

They are unbeaten in five, winning four of those, ahead of Tuesday’s trip to Leicester City, who sacked their manager Brendan Rodgers earlier on Sunday. After that, it’s three home matches in the next four Gameweeks, with Nottingham Forest at Villa Park next weekend.

“It will be very, very difficult to challenge for Europe. Our objective is to be in the top 10, which we currently are. But from Tuesday onwards, we need to make sure we stay there.” – Unai Emery

CHELSEA’S MISFIRING ATTACK

Despite having 27 shots at goal compared to Aston Villa’s five, posting a total expected goals (xG) tally of 2.16, Chelsea failed to score as they slipped up again at Stamford Bridge.

It means the Blues have managed just 21 goals in 22 league games under Graham Potter. For context, Haaland has 17 in that same period.

On the day, Ben Chilwell (£6.0m) saw a goal ruled out after he impeded Ashley Young (£4.3m) in the process of scoring, while Mykhailo Mudryk (£6.5m) should have twice done better.

“In both boxes we were second best. The first goal for them is disappointing and we need to do better. There were a lot of good things in the game, a lot of attacking play, entries and a lot of shots. If you look at the stats, it was positive.

The boys gave everything in the game. Their intentions were there, they showed personality and tried. Ultimately, you need to defend better than we did. I am responsible for that, and we will look at it and do better.

We started well in the second half, but then one action sees the ball back up our end and then it is a great strike from McGinn. Ultimately, the most important stat is the defeat. We have to accept it and work hard to put things right.” – Graham Potter

JAMES AT CENTRE-BACK, CHILWELL’S THREAT

Graham Potter fielded a makeshift back-three on Saturday, with Reece James (£5.8m) and Cucurella lining up either side of Kalidou Koulibaly (£5.5m).

That meant Ruben Loftus-Cheek (£5.0m) was drafted in at right wing-back, which Potter explained after the match.

“We wanted to attack, we wanted to use Marc [Cucurella] and Reece [James] as two laterals, that’s where the space would be and they can construct attacks well.” – Graham Potter

The problem was it left Chelsea wide open defensively, especially in the early stages, with Watkins able to exploit the gaps in between the centre-backs.

For James, it was a position he regularly played under Thomas Tuchel in an attempt to maintain his fitness, which was potentially a consideration here after he pulled out of the England squad. However, in FPL terms, it does dent his appeal, with his 14 final-third touches against Aston Villa 18 fewer than wing-back Loftus-Cheek.

On the left, Chilwell was dangerous in attack as he almost won a penalty early on, hit the post and had a goal disallowed. He later moved into the back-three as Chelsea attempted to get a goal, but by that point, he had already racked up some impressive underlying numbers, including four shots and 16 attempted crosses, mostly from corners.

“I thought Ben did really well and he gave us absolutely everything down that left side. He was unlucky not to score today, he attacked the backline really well.” – Graham Potter on Ben Chilwell

Elsewhere, there was one piece of good news, as N’Golo Kante (£4.8m) made his long-awaited return in the second half, after recovering from his hamstring injury that kept him out since the second game of the season.

Chelsea are back in action on Tuesday night against Liverpool in the second match of their Double Gameweek 29.