FPL notes: Semenyo ‘injury’, £4.2m Anderson + Solanke wide

Rounding off the weekend Scout Notes, we look back on Fulham v Newcastle United and Luton Town v Bournemouth.

• READ MORE: FPL notes: Saka’s fitness, Pep on rotation + Gvardiol’s “problem”
• READ MORE: FPL notes: Palmer “tired” + why Gusto missed out
• READ MORE: FPL notes: Ait-Nouri and Bowen injury latest + why Toney was benched
• READ MORE: FPL notes: Ange’s goalscoring defenders + Everton’s key strength

BURN A TRANSFER?

With Martin Dubravka (£4.2m), Lewis Hall (£4.2m) and Emil Krafth (£4.4m) at risk as soon as Nick Pope (£5.3m), Tino Livramento (£4.0m) and Kieran Trippier (£6.6m) are fit (if that happens), Dan Burn (£4.5m) and Fabian Schar (£5.5m) are the only current secure routes into the Newcastle defence for Double Gameweek 37.

Burn has looked better at centre-half and will be needed there for the rest of the season. The same goes for Schar, who was denied a goal by the VAR at Fulham on Saturday. Had it stood, he would have notched his fourth strike of 2023/24 – no Fantasy defender has more.

Whether you want a Newcastle defender is another question, of course. This was only the Magpies’ second away clean sheet of the season, the first since Gameweek 6.

And it arrived more by luck than judgement. The Newcastle goal was battered in the first half, with Eddie Howe taking advantage of a Dubravka ‘injury’ to assemble his team for a touchline telling-off. Dubravka, unsurprisingly, finished the game.

“Martin was feeling something in his leg. We said he has to go down if he’s feeling something so that gave us a chance to get the group in and that was much needed in that moment of the game.” – Eddie Howe, transcribed by the Independent

A £4.2M MIDFIELDER TO MONITOR

Speaking of Double Gameweek 37, Elliot Anderson (£4.2m) is a name to monitor for anyone looking at budget Bench Boost options. There is no cheaper midfielder in FPL, indeed.

There’s still a long way till Gameweek 37, so Anderson is very much only a watchlist candidate right now. It would require all bar him and two other Newcastle central midfielders to be ruled out. That may happen, though. Lewis Miley (£4.5m) and Joelinton (£5.8m) could be sidelined for the season; the banned Sandro Tonali (£5.2m) definitely is. And on Saturday, Joe Willock (£5.3m) limped off with the recurrence of his Achilles injury. He’ll now be assessed and we wait to hear how long he’ll be out.

Anderson was bright upon his introduction. The ‘Geordie Maradona’ been sidelined for much of the campaign, hence his current managed minutes, but we saw what he was capable of in pre-season.

“It wasn’t a difficult decision, Harvey is just back from injury and he played 90 minutes and I wanted to protect him. And Elliot had a nasty injury and again it was a case of looking after him and trying to keep him fit for the long term.” – Eddie Howe on why he benched Harvey Barnes and Elliot Anderson, transcribed by the Evening Chronicle

KEY ATTACKERS MISFIRE

There were blanks for Anthony Gordon (£6.0m), Alexander Isak (£7.9m) and Rodrigo Muniz (£4.7m) at Craven Cottage but on another day, each of them could have returned.

Muniz wasted an excellent opening, firing straight at Dubravka in the 38th minute. He was one of several Fulham assets to spurn decent chances, with Willian (£5.3m), Joao Palhinha (£5.0m) and Andreas Pereira (£5.3m) all equally culpable.

Isak should have scored, too, missing a one-on-one in injury time. Earlier, he had failed to control a through-ball that would have resulted in another big chance.

Liveliest of the lot, at least after Howe’s dressing down, was Gordon. Two first-half shots crept inches wide, while he tested Bernd Leno (£4.8m) just after the interval. It was from Gordon’s cross that Schar scored his disallowed goal, too.

The winger later switched flanks to accommodate substitute Harvey Barnes (£6.2m) on the left, something we’re likely to see more of in the coming weeks.

Fine margins, then, but encouragement for future fixtures.

Fulham, incidentally, encounter West Ham in Gameweek 33. It might be a good time to play them, as the Hammers will be in the middle of a two-legged UEFA Europa League quarter-final.

TAVERNIER + SEMENYO INJURY NEWS, SOLANKE WIDE

Bournemouth have a Double Gameweek before Newcastle do. That comes in Gameweek 34, when the Cherries travel to Aston Villa and Wolverhampton Wanderers.

They look set to be without Marcus Tavernier (£5.2m) for that. There is also a small question mark over Antoine Semenyo (£4.5m), too, although his injury doesn’t sound too serious.

Tavernier, who hit the bar, scored the opener and was lively throughout, departed with a hamstring injury. Andoni Iraola also revealed that Semenyo requested to be taken off.

“Yeah I think it’s an injury [for Tavernier], it’s a hamstring. Probably he will be out for some time. Also, Ant asked for the sub. He has been kind of ill this week. He felt just tightness, I don’t think it’s a proper injury but we had to sub him also.” – Andoni Iraola

With the two wingers subbed and Luis Sinisterra (£5.5m) already sidelined, we saw Dominic Solanke (£7.3m) used on the left wing in the final quarter of the game. Substitute Enes Unal (£5.0m) went up front as a result.

Even if Semenyo and Tavenier are ruled out, there are other wide-midfield options for Iraola beyond Solanke. Ryan Christie (£5.0m) and Justin Kluivert (£4.6m) could play there, for instance, as well as Dango Ouatarra (£4.7m). It’s a situation to keep an eye on in Gameweek 33, anyway.

Beyond the late role change, Solanke was quite quiet again. He’s not really caught the eye since the international break, registering just four shots across three games.

There was one bit of good team news for the Cherries. Marcos Senesi (£4.4m) returned as a late substitute, so will be pushing for a start from Gameweek 33.

PLUCKY HATTERS

Luton have had three Double Gameweeks already but they’ll get no more now. The Fantasy love affair is likely over for the season, as teams with more fixtures will be targeted instead.

For anyone who doesn’t have the Double Gameweek blinkers on, the Hatters’ run-in is actually quite good. We know they’ll have ‘something to play for’, too, namely the battle to avoid relegation.

Before then, though, is the small matter of facing Manchester City. Luton will have to do it without as many as 10 players through injury, while loanee Issa Kabore (£4.0m) will be ineligible to feature. His use at centre-half was crucial on Saturday, as his pace helped combat Semenyo. You’d fear for Daiki Hashioka (£4.0m) against someone like Jeremy Doku (£6.4m), by contrast.

They are a plucky bunch, even under strength. Not since the opening few Gameweeks of the season have they really been comprehensively outplayed.

From Gameweek 4 onwards, only once have they been beaten by more than two goals. Even in that match, against Liverpool, they led until the 56th minute.

They do, of course, have a recent cup pasting by the Cityzens to have nightmares about.

On Saturday, they struggled with the movement of Bournemouth’s midfielders, Tavernier and Kluivert especially. But the never-say-die attitude and some rub of the green with the woodwork kept the Hatters in it, late goals from Jordan Clark (£4.8m) and Carlton Morris (£5.0m) turning it around.

You certainly wouldn’t bank on a Man City clean sheet: the undaunted Hatters have scored in 19 of their last 20 league games.

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