While much of the Fantasy Premier League (FPL) focus on Saturday was on the matches at Manchester City and Liverpool, three other top-flight fixtures took place.
We’ve got the main talking points covered for you in this Scout Notes article.
PORRO SHINES AS MASON TWEAKS TACTICS
Ryan Mason hinted that he was thinking of a system change in Friday’s pre-match presser and he duly delivered in Saturday’s clash with Crystal Palace, although it was more evolution than revolution.
Instead of Antonio Conte’s rigid 3-4-3, this was more of a hybrid system, with Ben Davies (£4.7m) dropping into a back four when Spurs were out of possession.
With the fit-again Emerson Royal (£4.8m) operating as the right-sided centre-half/right-back, that meant more attacking freedom for Pedro Porro (£4.8m).
The Spanish defender duly responded with a fine offensive display, topping many of the underlying stats tables at the Tottenham Hotspur Stadium:
| Total (rank v other players in game) | |
| Final-third touches | 33 (1st) |
| Crosses | 12 (1st) |
| Chances created | 4 (1st) |
| Big chances created | 2 (1st) |
| Shots | 2 (1st=) |
| Shots in the box | 1 (3rd=) |
| Expected goal involvement (xGI) | 0.51 (1st) |
Porro was also on every single set piece, teeing up Cristian Romero (£4.9m) from s corner for a headed effort against the woodwork. The Spaniard was eventually rewarded when his open-play cross was headed in by Harry Kane (£11.4m) for the superlative striker’s 26th league goal of 2022/23.
“Pedro has been quite effective for us, even in the previous system. He’s scored goals, he’s created chances. He’s a good guy, he works hard, he fights for the team and I thought we saw that today.
“He’s affected the game today with and without the ball. That was the job and the task that we set him. I’m very pleased. Very pleased with his performance for the team because we saw a desire to help his team-mate from a defensive point of view but also not losing that attacking threat that we wanted him to give us and he’s been part of a clean sheet for the group but also got the assist for Harry, which is good for him.” – Ryan Mason
Ivan Perisic (£5.3m) was the loser from the formation change, remaining an unused substitute.
While the new tactics got the best of out Porro and stiffened up a previously leaky defence, there wasn’t a great deal of excitement going forward: an expected goals (xG) score of 0.88-0.36 telling the tale.
Kane’s goal was his only effort of the match as he went deep in search of the ball (nothing new there), while Son Heung-min (£11.5m) had to wait until the 75th minute for his one and only, very decent, chance.
“I thought our performance throughout was very satisfying. I thought we controlled the game for large periods. They defended their box well. I think on another day we would have come away with something.” – Roy Hodgson
HOMERS WOLVES, WATKINS BLANKS
Wolverhampton Wanderers’ Jekyll-and-Hyde performances continued with a 1-0 victory over Aston Villa: this was their fourth successive win-to-nil at Molineux, while their last six away fixtures have seen them pick up only two points and concede 14 goals.
Budget defender Toti Gomes (£3.8m) was back in the side here, one of only two changes that Julen Lopetegui made from the 6-0 defeat at Brighton, and scored the game’s only goal. Hugo Bueno (£3.8m) made way, with Lopetegui confirming that his omission from the squad was purely tactical.
Wolves’ dire away form will be enough encouragement to Manchester United assets ahead of Gameweek 36 but even here in victory, there were some heartening signs for Messrs Rashford and Fernandes as Tyrone Mings (£4.8m) and Ollie Watkins (£7.6m) wasted glaring opportunities.
Emi Buendia (£5.7m) had more penalty touches of his own than Wolves managed as a team (14 v 8), although the early Toti goal did rather dictate the path of the game thereafter.
This was Watkins’ fourth successive blank, and the Spurs defence he’ll face in Gameweek 36 might be a darn sight less shambolic than the one he may have encountered a week or two ago.
“In the first half, we had three very good chances to score but we didn’t do it. In the second half, the match was slower than the first half with time being wasted and it was difficult to have the rhythm we had in the first half. We had a big chance to score with Tyrone Mings but in the end we didn’t get something.” – Unai Emery
CHILWELL INJURY, MADUEKE BRIGHT
Anyone hanging onto Ben Chilwell (£5.7m) for Chelsea’s Double Gameweek 37 could well be left disappointed, as the left-back now faces assessment on a hamstring injury picked up in the Blues’ 3-1 win over Bournemouth.
“Hamstring. We don’t know [if it’s serious]. But with a hamstring at this stage of the season it will clearly be a worry for the remaining games.” – Frank Lampard on Ben Chilwell
Tongue-in-cheek chants of “we are staying up” from the away support shows how far Chelsea have fallen, and while this was a welcome first win under Frank Lampard, the game could have swung either way: it ended 1.29-1.35 on the xG count, for those interested.
Charlie Daniels 2.0 Matias Vina (£4.5m) superbly cancelled out Conor Gallagher’s (£5.6m) opener before late goals from Benoit Badiashile (£5.0m) and Joao Felix (£7.1m) secured the points but star of the show was arguably Noni Madueke (£5.4m). There were no attacking returns for the winger but he was eye-catchingly lively, registering three shots and more penalty-box touches (12) than anyone on show.
A maverick pick for late-season differential-seekers, then, ahead of Chelsea’s fierce-looking double.
“Today you saw individual performances in Badiashile, in Conor Gallagher, in Noni Madueke and other players in the team, so that’s a big step forward because these are individuals who will be part of the team going forward probably. That’s a good sign.” – Frank Lampard
