We finish Gameweek 14’s Scout Notes by summarising the key Fantasy Premier League (FPL) talking points from two matches: Fulham v Brighton and Hove Albion, plus Bournemouth v Tottenham Hotspur.
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The numbers and graphics you see in this article come from our Premium Members Area. Here, you can access Opta player and team data from every single Premier League fixture.
PEDRO ASSISTS, WELBECK INJURY
The carnage of Wednesday night’s rests and rotations preceded even more here. For example, over 2.1 million Danny Welbeck (£5.9m) owners are turning to their bench for autosubs – if any remain – because he wasn’t part of Brighton’s squad.
“It is a small issue that he got after conceding a foul against Southampton. We have to take care of him and hopefully he will be back on Sunday.” – Fabian Hurzeler to Amazon Prime, pre-match
Consequently, the much-owned Joao Pedro (£5.8m) played their centre-forward role and was a menace to Fulham’s backline. A couple of shots inside the box included one on target from a tight angle but, just as worries of a second successive blank began to form, the Brazilian controlled a long pass with a gorgeous touch, into the path of Carlos Baleba’s (£5.0m) left-footed, long-range equaliser.
Having narrowly missed out on bonuses, Pedro ended on five points. Perhaps the bigger concern is whether – after registering 79 minutes here – the Sunday trip to Leicester City will be his turn to begin on the sidelines.
Of the other notable Brighton assets, Kaoru Mitoma (£6.5m) was unable to make it three goals in three matches. But he set up promising Matt O’Riley (£5.5m) and Simon Adingra (£5.3m) efforts that failed to reach the net.
Defender Jan Paul van Hecke (£4.5m) received a yellow card, as did centre-back partner Lewis Dunk (£4.4m) on his comeback from injury.
REST FOR RAUL JIMENEZ
As for goalkeeper Bart Verbruggen (£4.5m), an error led to one of two Alex Iwobi (£5.6m) strikes, taking the Fulham man to four goals and a couple of assists in six matches. He’s being far more productive than midfield colleague Emile Smith Rowe (£5.6m), whose latest three outings have accumulated 0.12 expected goal involvement (xGI).
Marco Silva’s main decision concerned forward Raul Jimenez (£5.6m). The Mexican international entered with a five-game goalless streak and, during such a hectic period, a start was handed to Rodrigo Muniz (£5.5m) instead. And autosubs were prevented when Raul came on for a late cameo. Whether he returns to the line-up against Arsenal remains to be seen but sales are likely to increase beforehand.
Fulham went 2-1 ahead when Andreas Pereira’s (£5.1m) corner went in off the back of Brighton’s O’Riley. Then, Iwobi’s beautiful edge-of-the-box turn allowed him to curl a low shot into the far corner for three. Those still with Antonee Robinson (£4.7m) will be delighted to pick up an assist for it.
AWFUL SPURS BENCH PORRO + SON
Meanwhile, Spurs lived up to their ‘Jekyll and Hyde’ label by miserably losing at Bournemouth. It was one of the most dominant 1-0 wins you’ll ever see, with the Cherries having far more attempts inside the box (17 v 7), big chances (5 v 0) and expected goals (3.31 v 0.58).
Back in the starting XI after illness kept him out of last weekend’s proceedings, Dominic Solanke’s (£7.5m) main moment came early on when defender Dean Huijsen (£4.3m) mistakenly misjudged the ball’s bounce and let him in, though Solanke blazed over the bar. Still, this was more than anything Brennan Johnson (£6.7m) could muster. The Welshman had zero attempts and just 0.01 xGI.
Head coach Ange Postecoglou tried to replicate Gameweek 15 opponents Chelsea by strategically managing the minutes of star players ahead of Sunday’s big clash. He disappointed over 3.3 million managers by benching Pedro Porro (£5.6m), placing him alongside FPL legend Son Heung-min (£9.8m).
“Just rotation, mate. We’ve got so many games. Kulusevski had a rest at the weekend, it’s Sonny’s turn today. We’ve just got to be really careful, we’re kind of thin on numbers and we’ve got to look after our players.” – Ange Postecoglou on his team selection, speaking ahead of kick-off
The duo came on around the hour mark and almost made an impact. Son’s rebound tap-in was rightly flagged offside, while Porro zipped a fast shot at Kepa Arrizabalaga (£4.5m) following a corner.
But ultimately, it was all for nothing and they’re still missing important defender Cristian Romero (£5.0m).
WHICH CHERRIES ATTACKER?
Furthermore, it has to be said how great Bournemouth were. They recently picked up seven points from a spell against Arsenal, Aston Villa and Manchester City, making Spurs their newest victims.
Only one team has racked up more overall shots (219) and none have hit the woodwork on more occasions (eight). Combine all this with their place on top of our Season Ticker for the next six Gameweeks and it feels almost necessary to own one of their attackers.
However, ahead of meetings with Ipswich Town, West Ham United, Crystal Palace and Everton in this period, which one?
Antoine Semenyo (£5.7m) is the popular option amongst active FPL managers because he’s second throughout the league for goal attempts (54). By such standards, this was a quiet night of only two, coming to 0.11 expected goals (xG). But he could’ve assisted a couple of Marcus Tavernier (£5.5m) chances near the end.
The latter constantly threatened, possessing the highest xGI (0.74) and whipping in the corner that set up Huijsen’s winner. A close-range header from Milos Kerkez’s (£4.5m) cross forced a big save from Fraser Forster (£4.3m).
Beyond those, last Saturday gave us three times where Justin Kluivert (£5.4m) scored a penalty and three times where Evanilson (£6.1m) registered an assist. August’s big-money arrival is the centre-forward at the epicentre of all this, scoring a few goals along the way. Here, he pounced on a second-half error but was deemed offside, shortly after creating Ryan Christie’s (£4.9m) shot that hit the post.
So maybe it’s not as straightforward as grabbing Semenyo for these brilliant-looking fixtures.
