FPL notes: £4.0m defender starts again + McNeil in form

We round off Saturday’s Scout Notes by summarising the key Fantasy Premier League (FPL) takeaways from three more matches.

This time it’s Brentford 1-1 West Ham United, Everton 2-1 Crystal Palace and Nottingham Forest 0-1 Fulham.

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BRANTHWAITE BOOST, MCNEIL’S FORM

There was no clean sheet for Everton on Saturday but the return of Jarrad Branthwaite (£4.8m) from injury was a huge boost – and it could bode well for future defensive returns from the ticker-topping run ahead:

After a bit of early rust, Branthwaite was good on his starting XI comeback after recovering from injury. No surprise that James Tarkowski (£4.8m) also looked a lot better with last season’s partner alongside him.

Palace mustered just 0.22 xG from open play, with their only real threat – including their goal – coming from set pieces.

Vitalli Mykolenko (£4.3m) also returned to the side, so Everton were able to field a back four they used for much of 2023/24 – albeit one still containing a weak link in Ashley Young (£4.5m).

“I don’t know the exact stat but that back five played together quite a lot last season and obviously had 13 clean sheets in a tough season – so that’s a pretty good measure of a back five that works well. I thought it was I thought it worked well for the most part today.” – Sean Dyche

Further forward, Everton weren’t that much better. Their open-play xG was even lower than Palace’s, at just 0.19.

Dominic Calvert-Lewin (£6.0m) relied on scraps, although there were several ‘nearly moments’ (a cross narrowly evading him here, an off-target header there).

Most of those deliveries came courtesy of Dwight McNeil (£5.5m), who is still the division’s leading chance creator.

But it was he who was scoring goals this week, not assisting them. One howitzer of a strike from distance was followed up by a tidy volley, taking him to five attacking returns in six games.

Despite the brace, the breakdown of his season stats does suggest that assists will arrive with more regularity than goals:

Above: Dwight McNeil’s expected assists (xA) and expected goals (xG) tallies this season

Still, the number 10 role is clearly suiting him at present.

“We know he’s got quality. The stats and facts from the first season we had here were very strong. He was working hard but couldn’t quite find the same moments. Me and the staff spoke about it and could we get him inside?

“Ili [Ndiaye] has done well in the wide area to allow us more freedom to move Dwight and you’ve got to find a result and a win. We needed that slightly better opening quality – as in finding a pass, a finish and delivery – and being in the centre of the pitch, in theory anyway, brings him to life more than being wide. I think he can do both well and will mature into the role as he plays there more.” – Sean Dyche on Dwight McNeil

AN EZE SELL?

Palace fell into the bottom three after the weekend’s loss. The form is even more of a worry considering that they were ranked high on the Season Ticker in Gameweeks 1-6.

Liverpool and Tottenham Hotspur are now to come in the next three Gameweeks, as well as a Nottingham Forest side ranked third for lowest expected goals conceded (xGC). Liverpool and Spurs are also in the top five for that stat.

After another blank, Eberechi Eze (£6.8m) is the most-sold midfielder of Gameweek 7 as things stand. He remains the leading midfielder for shots taken in 2024/25 but here his five attempts were mostly speculative efforts from range. Despite last weekend’s brace of big chances, his average xG per shot this season is a low 0.09.

There is clearly a very good FPL asset in there, and someone – given his 90-minute man status and set-piece duties – who may come into their own over, say, the busy festive period.

For now, owners can be forgiven for looking elsewhere.

All is not well at Palace. The balance of the attack doesn’t look right, nor does Daichi Kamada (£5.2m) in central midfield.

An ever-changing defence isn’t helping: injuries, exits and new arrivals have meant the back three has been altered in every single Gameweek. As we said a week ago, the Gameweek 5 clean sheet papered over cracks.

Oliver Glasner tried to issue a reality check after full-time.

“I mentioned this before, but I think everybody forgot because of the last seven games at the end of the season, but we’ve been in the same situation seven rounds before the end of the season.” – Oliver Glasner

ANOTHER START FOR £4.0M DEFENDER

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