Rounding off our Gameweek 11 write-ups, we look back on Crystal Palace 0-2 Fulham and Brentford 3-2 Bournemouth.
- READ MORE: FPL Gameweek 11: Saturday’s goals, assists, bonus points + stats
- READ MORE: FPL Gameweek 11: Sunday’s goals, assists, bonus points + stats
- READ MORE: FPL notes: Alexander-Arnold injury + Salah’s upcoming rest
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- READ MORE: FPL notes: Bruno haul, Vardy + Solanke injury latest, erratic Spurs
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FULHAM IMPRESS AGAIN
The Premier League is full of ifs, ands and buts but had Fulham even won just one of their matches against West Ham United or Everton, games in which they utterly dominated before conceding a stoppage-time equaliser, they’d be sitting in third now.
They’ve been excellent this season, their only real poor display coming at home to Aston Villa. Even at the Etihad, Manchester City were fortunate to win.
From an FPL perspective, it’s form vs fixtures now to an extent. Four ‘big six’ clubs and a very decent Brighton and Hove Albion side are to come from Gameweeks 13-18.
Tottenham Hotspur aren’t consistent, however, while an unconvincing Wolverhampton Wanderers are up next. Perhaps the fixture swing only really starts in Gameweek 15.
BUDGET MIDFIELDERS DO THE BUSINESS
Emile Smith Rowe (£5.7m) will fancy his chances of adding to this goal tally before then. Scoring Fulham’s opener at Selhurst Park, he was denied a second by the tightest of offsides. Never one to dominate the shot tables (18 attempts in 2024/25 is a whopping 29 short of Antoine Semenyo (£5.7m)), he’s nevertheless got that uncanny, Lampard/Nolan-esque knack of being able to ghost into meaningful goalscoring positions.
Smith Rowe is now top of all sub-£6.0m midfielders for FPL points. Surprisingly sitting in third, ahead of Semenyo and Morgan Rogers (£5.4m), is Alex Iwobi (£5.5m). He set up Harry Wilson‘s (£5.2m) victory-sealing goal at Palace, also being denied an assist for Smith Rowe in that aforementioned VAR call.
History suggests he’s not going to be explosive. But Fulham’s Mr Versatile continues to tick along and is faring well in the open-play key passes table below:
Reiss Nelson (£5.0m) started for the second match running and was consistently looking to cut inside and shoot. Seven shots in the box over the last two Gameweeks is more than any other Fulham player has had. It’s also five more than Raul Jimenez (£5.8m) has registered in that time – perhaps he wouldn’t mind seeing old sparring partner Adama Traore (£5.0m) back on the flanks.
A much-deserved second clean sheet of 2024/25 arrived. Fulham are second for fewest big chances conceded and fourth for expected goals conceded (xGC) this season, so it was long overdue.
DECIMATED PALACE STRUGGLE
Jean-Philippe Mateta (£7.3m) almost nipped in to score with a header but Crystal Palace were mostly toothless. Daniel Munoz (£4.8m) also had a big chance but replays suggest he would have been flagged for offside.
In fairness to Palace, they were down seven players through injury and suspension. Another one, Cheick Doucoure (£4.9m), wasn’t fit enough to start. As a result, the Eagles had centre-half Marc Guehi (£4.5m) and rookie Justin Devenny (£4.5m) in midfield. Even Glasner admitted afterwards that it didn’t work.
The Palace boss isn’t expecting many back after the international break, either – it remains to be seen if the ‘one or two’ below includes Eberechi Eze (£6.6m).
“It could be that no one comes back. Maybe one, maximum two.” – Oliver Glasner on his injuries
The Eagles will be without Daichi Kamada (£5.1m) for three games, too, following his straight red card against the Cottagers.
A great opportunity for Aston Villa to bounce back to form, then, in Gameweek 12.
GOAL FEST IN WEST LONDON
There was a game of two halves, of sorts, in west London.
Bournemouth largely dominated Brentford for the first 50 minutes of their encounter at the Gtech Community Stadium. Up 10-4 on shots and 2-1 ahead, they had also seen Marcos Senesi (£4.8m) spurn a glorious chance from point-blank range and Antoine Semenyo (£5.7m) draw a fine save from Mark Flekken (£4.5m).
Back came Brentford. From minutes 50-93, the Cherries didn’t have a sniff – it was 8-1 to the hosts on the shot count – as the Bees overturned the deficit.
A final late flurry from the visitors saw Enes Unal (£5.4m) hit the bar; a draw probably would have been a fair result. Bournemouth will feel aggrieved to pick up nothing, having played worse at Everton and Nottingham Forest and picked up points.
Owners of Semenyo and Bryan Mbeumo (£7.9m) will also have been miffed not to emerge from this goal fest with more points. Mbeumo, again wider than ideal, at least bagged an assist for Brentford’s second goal but skied a good 66th-minute chance over.
Semenyo, as he often does, topped the shot count with five attempts. Remarkably, he’s now had over twice as many efforts (47) as the next-best sub-£6.0m FPL midfielder this season.
FLEKKEN CONCEDES AGAIN
This match summed up both teams’ seasons: better going forward than at the back.
There were some sensational goals, with Justin Kluivert (£5.3m) finishing a brilliantly worked set piece for the visitors. Yoane Wissa (£6.1m) also found the net after an excellent free-flowing Brentford attack.
There was also some questionable defending. Sepp van den Berg‘s (£4.1m) horrible back pass allowed Evanilson (£5.9m) in for the opener. Bournemouth had two stabs at clearing a throw-in and left the dangerous Wissa free to superbly nod in. Kepa Arrizabalaga (£4.5m), recalled for the unlucky Mark Travers (£4.4m), was beaten at his near post by Mikkel Damsgaard (£5.0m).
A total of 37 goals have been scored by these two sides. Only Spurs have netted on more occasions (23) than Brentford (22).
Unfortunately, a combined 37 goals have also flown in at the other end. The only clean sheet between them was Bournemouth’s Gameweek 8 shut-out against 10-man Arsenal.
Thomas Frank’s side, in fact, are the only team in the division without a clean sheet to their name.
The Cherries can at least point to some decent underlying defensive numbers (an xGC of 14.74 is eight-best). Not so Brentford:
| Brentford’s total (rank v other clubs) | |
| Goals scored | 22 (=2nd) |
| xG | 18.33 (6th) |
| Goals conceded | 22 (=18th) |
| xGC | 19.72 (16th) |
A final word on Wissa. He’s got as many goals as starts (seven) this season, one of which was of course belatedly awarded to him.
The DR Congo international is the leading forward for shot-to-goal conversion rate (a ludicrous 46.7%) in 2024/25. He’s certainly making the most of his opportunities, as 21 other forwards have a better rate of chances than Wissa’s one every 37.7 minutes.
“Very happy. I think he’s even better as a nine, so that’s why I’m playing him there.
“I think his overall play today, his link-up play, hold-up play, work ethic and two great goals was very good.” – Thomas Frank on Yoane Wissa, via the Hounslow Herald
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