FPL notes: Why Mbeumo didn’t get an assist + Evanilson praise

Two hat-tricks were scored as Bournemouth and Brentford earned four-goal wins over relegation-threatened sides on Saturday.

Picking the bones out of the matches at Molineux and the Gtech Community Stadium, we continue with our Gameweek 13 Scout Notes.

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TWO TREBLES AT MOLINEUX

Justin Kluivert (£5.3m) stole the headlines with a history-making three spot-kicks in one game on Saturday. That was the first time it’s happened since the inception of the Premier League.

But Evanilson (£6.0m) deserves just as much credit, winning all three penalties for his Dutch teammate. There were certainly Matthews/Mortensen vibes about Andoni Iraola’s post-match comments.

“I think today, it will not appear on the scoresheet, but Evanilson made the difference. Absolute difference. He has already [won] five penalties in [12] games.

“It’s not easy after to score the three penalties but I would like to recognise especially Eva because today I think he was the difference maker.” – Andoni Iraola

Evanilson was almost Luis Suarez-like, a tireless, harrying nuisance for the Wolves backline. Brought down for the three penalties, he also – as he did last week – had a clear-cut chance of his own to add to the goals he scored in Gameweeks 9-11.

With eight attacking returns in as many games, he should get plenty of chances to extend that run in the coming month:

Antoine Semenyo (£5.7m) returns in Gameweek 14, too, following his one-match ban this weekend.

I CAN’T DEFEND – WHO CARES?

There are superficial similarities between the two teams that met at Molineux, even though the league table would – correctly – imply that Bournemouth are the more competent, less chaotic of the two.

Both clubs are better going forward than defending. They’ve kept just one clean sheet each, indeed, in 2024/25. Neither looked like adding to that tally in the Saturday shambles.

Both have attack-minded left-backs in the shape of Milos Kerkez (£4.4m) and Rayan Ait-Nouri (£4.9m). Kerkez got forward to lash in Bournemouth’s second goal of the afternoon, his third return in four Gameweeks. While Ait-Nouri blanked, he still advanced plenty and even popped up as a right winger in the second half. Each of them has more attacking returns than shut-outs in 2024/25.

Then there’s the talented Brazilians up top. Evanilson was excellent, while Matheus Cunha (£7.1m) was sporadically dangerous despite the blank.

Both of Cunha’s shots came from outside the box on Saturday but then low-xG efforts are his speciality: he’s scored more goals from outside the area (three) than anyone else in the Premier League this season.

Close-range proximity finally won out this time, however, as Jorgen Strand Larsen (£5.6m) pounced with two goals from about 10 yards out. Goals five and six for the campaign for Strand Larsen, who has had almost three times as many big chances as Cunha in the current season.

MBEUMO BLANKS… ACCORDING TO FPL

Four goals for Brentford at the Gtech and not a single return for Bryan Mbeumo (£7.8m). He briefly did have one, for the Bees’ second goal, only for FPL to overturn the initial assist award.

Here’s the goal, scored by eventual hat-trick hero Kevin Schade (£5.1m):

Schade getting started yesterday pic.twitter.com/908xvd7GRu

— Brentford FC (@BrentfordFC) December 1, 2024

And here’s the reasoning for no assist, from FPL themselves:

SCOUT: After review, there is no assist for Brentford’s second goal. The pass from Mbeumo was intended for Wissa but was diverted to Schade after a touch from Soumare#FPL #BRELEI https://t.co/W20U9SRLh1

— Fantasy Premier League (@OfficialFPL) November 30, 2024

It likely was a pass intended for Yoane Wissa (£6.1m), in fairness, although you’d need to be a mind-reader to know for sure.

The irritation for Mbeumo owners is that, if the ball doesn’t clip Boubakary Soumaré‘s (£4.4m) heel, the pass from Mbeumo possibly/probably reaches Schade anyway as Wout Faes (£4.1m) would struggle to readjust.

As soon as there is a touch from Soumare, however, the ‘deflection’ rules kick in:

“If an opposing player deflects the ball after the final pass before a goal is scored, significantly altering the intended destination of the ball, then no assist in Fantasy is awarded.” – Official FPL rules

GIVE MY LOVE TO KEVIN

We’ll not delve too much deeper into Mbeumo’s blank as we have a dedicated article coming up on Monday looking at the Cameroon international.

Suffice to say, there were no shots from the winger for the third time in four Gameweeks.

Mbeumo saw a lot of the ball: his tally of 50 final-third touches was almost twice as many as any other player. Unfortunately, only two of those were inside the Leicester area and most of his work was done very wide on the right flank.

Fellow winger Schade, by contrast, was much narrower alongside Wissa, with Keane Lewis-Potter (£5.0m) instead offering width on the left from full-back.

All five of his shots, three of which found the net, came from very central positions:

Two of them came courtesy of excellent through-balls from Mikkel Damsgaard (£5.0m) and Nathan Collins (£4.5m), the former in the form of his Brentford life. In tangible FPL terms, it’s five attacking returns in seven matches for the budget midfielder.

Even he got in on the shooting action, registering four efforts, as Mbeumo was on the periphery.

Wissa, meanwhile, was again front and centre for his goal. A tap-in, supplied by that man Schade, took him to seven goals from nine starts.

FOXES PREPARE FOR RUUD AWAKENING

Incoming Leicester manager Ruud van Nistelrooy was present for this match, albeit only in a watching capacity as caretaker boss Ben Dawson took charge.

The scale of the task facing him would soon become apparent, particularly at the rear where a change to a wing-back system failed to stem the flow of chances and goals.

Conor Coady (£4.0m) and Luke Thomas (£3.9m) were also brought in from the cold for their first starts.

This did seem to be very much a Dawson selection in terms of formation and personnel (van Nistelrooy was only appointed on Friday night), so there’s probably little to read into it going forward.

“I don’t think when changes happen people think there is a specific reason, it’s just what myself and the staff have discussed this week and thought would be the best way to go in terms of shape and personnel to get a result.” – Ben Dawson

Van Nistelrooy will surely want to make Jamie Vardy (£5.5m) and Facundo Buonanotte (£5.0m) central to his plans. What little goal threat the Foxes have posed this season has come from those two. They combined for the game’s opener here, Vardy doing brilliantly to square for his Argentinean teammate. Both players are now on six attacking returns for 2024/25.

In Harry Winks (£4.5m) watch, Dawson did make it sound like the absent midfielder wasn’t too badly injured and could return soon.