Goals from Jarrod Bowen (£7.1m) and Kurt Zouma (£4.5m) proved enough for West Ham United as they got the win over Luton Town at Kenilworth Road.
We look at the key Fantasy Premier League (FPL) talking points from this game in our Scout Notes summary.
BOWEN ON TARGET
Jarrod Bowen continued his fine start to the season at Kenilworth Road, nodding in the opener after a sumptuous cross from Lucas Paqueta (£6.0m).
The winger failed to score in 19 Premier League away appearances in 2022/23 but has now found the net in all three of West Ham’s matches on the road this season.
Overall, he’s on 30 points, making him the top-scoring player in FPL, at least for now.
Bowen has a couple of tough fixtures after the international break v Manchester City and Liverpool, but the Hammers sit top of the Season Ticker after, right through until Gameweek 17:
“It’s been a great start for me and the team, we are actually annoyed to be sitting here with 10 points and not 12.
It was a different game, we had more of the ball but we were under pressure. We had to defend a lot of long balls and then it was about winning the second ball. We managed the game well.
I headed straight at the keeper so I got away with that one. I don’t score many headers!” – Jarrod Bowen
Elsewhere, James Ward-Prowse (£6.0m) continued his inspired form after arriving from Southampton in the summer, whipping in a textbook corner for Zouma’s headed winner. It means he has scored once and assisted three in just three games in claret and blue.
Meanwhile, Emerson Palmieri (£4.5m) had the ball in the back of the net but a VAR review confirmed that Michail Antonio (£6.1m), who would have claimed the assist, had strayed offside.
The latter showed some good hold-up play but didn’t muster any chances of his own, before he was replaced by Danny Ings (£5.9m) late on.
“The first goal was a really good ball from Lucas Paqueta and it got us a good goal. We should have probably got a second one earlier, but we had one ruled out for offside and we also had three or four counter-attacks.
We were so slick with them last week but, this week, we just didn’t quite get them. I praise Luton for working hard to get back in, too.
But we were a threat in the second half and the moment we got the second goal then we thought the game was probably over. Obviously it wasn’t because Luton got their goal, so it was a bit scary for the last couple of minutes. But we had control and we deserved the victory.” – David Moyes
CLEAN SHEET FRUSTRATION
Alphonse Areola’s (£4.1m) owners suffered late heartbreak in Gameweek 4, as West Ham were denied a clean sheet deep into injury time when Mads Andersen (£4.0m) headed into the far corner.
The Frenchman, owned by 28.04% overall, dropped an early cross but looked fairly comfortable after, at least until conceding.
Prior to that, he was on for six points.
Defensively, Edson Alvarez (£5.0m) impressed and is settling into the Declan Rice (£5.4m) role nicely.
However, it’s worth noting West Ham did concede 16 goal attempts v Luton, including three big chances, whilst only attempting nine of their own, which carried a combined expected goals (xG) value of just 1.03.
It means they have allowed their opponents 72 shots in the first four Gameweeks, at an average of 18 per game, which is up on last year’s 13.1.
GILES IMPRESSES
Luton are still searching for their first Premier League point after Friday’s defeat.
It’s still very early days, but it means the promoted teams have lost all eight of their Premier League games so far this season by an aggregate score of 20-5.
Playing their first Premier League match at Kenilworth Road on Friday, they struggled to get on the ball for sustained periods, but Ryan Giles (£4.5m) was a bright spark on the left.
The Hatters’ biggest threat was when their wing-backs made runs down the outside and Giles was very good.
He attempted eight crosses v West Ham (all from open-play), which takes his tally to 32 overall this season, at least 10 more than any other FPL defender:
Notably, Luton’s next opponent in Gameweek 5, Fulham, rank in the bottom two for crosses conceded from their right zone.
Meanwhile, Issa Kabore (£4.0m), owned by 5.5% of managers, was benched but introduced on 71 minutes, while captain Tom Lockyer (£4.4m) missed out due to a thigh injury.
Further forward, Carlton Morris (£5.5m) claimed the assist for Andersen’s late goal and now has two attacking returns in three matches.
“I can’t keep saying the same things but the goals we conceded were disappointing. We kept pushing to the end but it was a tight game and we could have come away with something.
We know it’s a big task, we know it’s difficult but there was nothing in the game tonight. We can brush up, we can learn and we will. We’ll get back to basics but that’s an improvement in the three games.
There’s nothing to fear. I’m glad we’ve experienced that at home.” – Rob Edwards
Luton Town XI (3-5-2): Kaminski; Burke, Andersen, Bell; Doughty (Ogbene 78), Chong (Woodrow 84), Nakamba, Barkley (Mpanzu 71), Giles (Kabore 71); Adebayo (Brown 71), Morris
West Ham United XI (4-2-3-1): Areola; Coufal, Zouma, Aguerd, Emerson; Ward-Prowse, Alvarez; Bowen, Paqueta (Kudus 90+1), Benrahma (Fornals 71); Antonio (Ings 80)
