We finish our Scout Notes from Saturday with some key takeaways from Nottingham Forest 3-0 West Ham United and Wolverhampton Wanderers 2-2 Crystal Palace.
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£4.0m FABIANSKI STARTS AGAIN, AREOLA ABSENT
The only starting £4.0m goalkeeper of 2024/25 kept his place in West Ham United’s team at the weekend.
Lukasz Fabianski (£4.0m) would likely have retained the goalkeeping jersey anyway after a fine performance in Gameweek 9 but his spot was sealed by the unavailability of Alphonse Areola (£4.4m).
We’ve not seen any quotes from Julen Lopetegui explaining the Frenchman’s absence but the usually very reliable ‘ExWHUEmployee’ reported that Areola had suffered an injury in training that kept him out.
Fabianski made two excellent stops from Nikola Milenkovic (£4.5m) and Ramon Sosa (£5.5m) to keep the scoreline down on Saturday and was one of the few West Ham players to emerge with any credit from the City Ground.
West Ham were abject. Match reports may mention the numerical disadvantage but they posed such little threat before Edson Alvarez‘s (£5.0m) red card in first-half stoppage time. Their first shot of the game, in fact, had come only seconds before that dismissal.
Last Sunday’s win over Manchester United was fortunate, and they got what they deserved here. It’s almost Jarrod Bowen (£7.5m) and nine other outfield passengers at present, the England international trying his best to drag his team out of the mire. Lopetegui’s team selections would lead to a fair assumption that he doesn’t know what his best XI is or how to arrest the substandard showings.
What you would say, however, is that the Hammers have had a fairly tough start, fixture-wise. They’ve only faced two of the six teams below them – and they won both of those matches comfortably.
It may be that, like the Red Devils, they are mere flat-track bullies. Everton at home in Gameweek 11 will be a good test of that theory.
FOREST UP TO THIRD
It’s much rosier in Nottingham. Nuno Espirito Santo’s side are, incredibly, now up to third.
They didn’t carve out too many gilt-edged openings before Alvarez’s dismissal, save for yet another Chris Wood (£6.5m) goal.
What Forest did do, however, was remain incredibly solid. A fourth clean sheet of the season looked probable even before Alvarez was given his marching orders.
Things are clicking at the back. Matz Sels (£4.6m), who looked like a weak link last season, has played himself into some good form. Nuno has also been able to name the same back four for seven matches now. Familiarity helps build understanding. Then there’s the safety-first approach from the manager himself, who has also seemingly fixed the set-piece weakness of 2023/24.
“We must continue. This is the priority, this can never, never change. Our approach must be always from behind, being solid, realising that all opponents has qualities. We cannot isolate the players and ignore their abilities, there has always to be a help. Always has to be a cover.” – Nuno Espirito Santo on defending
Only Liverpool rank better than Forest for clean sheets, goals conceded and expected goals conceded (xGC) this season.
Ola Aina (£4.6m) quietly moved up to third in the FPL defenders’ points table, a thumping strike from distance supplementing his clean sheet. Sels leads the goalkeeper standings, meanwhile. A first goal is surely coming for Milenkovic, too, who went agonisingly close with two efforts here.
It may be that a future injury here or suspension there upsets the apple cart. For now, though, enjoy the fruits of their defensive labours.
As for Wood, there’s not much left to say. Every week we bring you his incredible numbers: now it’s 19 goals in 28 appearances under Nuno. What we thought was unsustainable has now been sustained for the equivalent of three-quarters of a season.
The caveat is the upcoming fixtures, which leaves Forest somewhere near the bottom of our ticker.
Just two of Wood’s 19 Nuno-era goals have come against the current top seven.
WOLVES GET LUCKY
An entertaining affair at Molineux saw the spoils shared.
Crystal Palace will feel the more aggrieved not to have taken all three points. The Eagles had 17 shots in the box to Wolves’ seven, and led the StatsBomb xG by 2.38-1.45.
Ismaila Sarr (£5.7m) missed some excellent openings. Will Hughes (£4.9m) should have scored in the fifth minute. Jean-Philippe Mateta (£7.3m) saw a goalbound shot comically blocked by teammate Trevoh Chalobah (£4.4m), who had contrived to miss himself in the first place.
Gary O’Neil was being booed even before Chalobah had lashed Palace in front, and Wolves’ equaliser only came about from a Chalobah error. Matheus Cunha (£6.6m) capitalised to set up Jorgen Strand Larsen (£5.5m).
Joao Gomes (£4.9m) added a well-worked second but other than two excellent chances for Pablo Sarabia (£5.1m) in which Dean Henderson (£4.4m) stood up well, there was little quality created by the hosts.
The space that the division’s joint-lowest scorers got, without arch-creator Eberechi Eze (£6.7m), is also a worry.
Not the most encouraging start for FPL managers who flocked to Wolves for their favourable fixture run, then, but at least the two forwards avoided blanks.
Rayan Ait-Nouri (£4.6m), the most-bought defender of Gameweek 10, was also really advanced – as usual. Starting at wing-back, he popped off a couple of early shots before later moving to an orthodox full-back role.
ANOTHER MIDFIELD LOSS FOR PALACE
Palace had their own galivanting wing-back in the form of Daniel Munoz (£4.8m), who had more final-third touches than any of the Wolves squad. He went close with a header and assisted Marc Guehi‘s (£4.4m) equaliser with a flick-on.
The problem for the Eagles is that, just when they’re starting to look a bit better, the fixtures stiffen. Few FPL managers will be interested in the following run:
One other line of note for owners of Fulham attackers. Hughes’ fifth booking of the season means Palace will be down three central midfielders (Messrs Hughes, Wharton and Lerma) in Gameweek 11. A fourth, Cheick Doucoure (£4.9m), is only just back from a seven-week lay-off.
The Cottagers – and namely Emile Smith Rowe (£5.7m) – could get some joy from central positions next weekend, then.
