Eberechi Eze (£6.9m) owners were the big winners from Monday’s match as Crystal Palace and Nottingham Forest played out a 1-1 draw.
While both clean sheets were spoiled and the other widely owned attackers blanked, Eze walked off with a 10-point haul.
Two of Forest’s defenders did emerge with returns, at least, although one of them is now an injury concern.
PALACE PENALTY JOBSHARE CONTINUES
Eze’s goal came from 12 yards as the Palace penalty jobshare continued.
The midfielder had missed the Eagles’ last Premier League spot-kick in Gameweek 32, while Jean-Philippe Mateta (£7.7m) had hit the post from the spot at Wembley in the FA Cup semi-final.
Oliver Glasner had said after Eze’s last miss that the two takers “decide on the pitch” who will be responsible for the next one, and it was the England international who won the argument this time.
Even though it was ‘just’ a penalty, Eze merited his goal. Gliding around the pitch and in one of his better moods (which hasn’t always been the case in 2024/25), he also struck the bar from just outside the box late on. Had Eddie Nketiah (£5.9m) held his run by half a second, Eze might also have had a lucky assist: the substitute striker prodded in Eze’s 90th-minute off-target attempt but was flagged offside.
Contrast that with Ismaila Sarr‘s (£5.7m) evening. Having seen the Senegal international irritatingly deliver what would have been a 19-point haul in the FA Cup semi-final, Sarr’s owners were left frustrated again.
Sarr would have grabbed an assist had Tyrick Mitchell (£4.8m) been allowed to score and not been felled for Palace’s penalty. Matz Sels (£5.2m), who chopped down Mitchell, had spoiled more fun earlier, rushing out to save Sarr’s 49th-minute big chance.
At least Sarr was in the thick of the action. It was another quiet evening from Mateta, whose only shot came from outside the area. Nketiah actually posed more of a threat when he came on. Bar his goal off the bench at the Emirates, Mateta hasn’t really hit his pre-injury heights.
He’s only registered five shots in the box in his last seven Premier League outings, indeed.
LACROIX + WILLIAMS TOP THE SHOT COUNT
It’s not often you get two defenders leading the shot count table in a Premier League game but that was the case on Monday.
Maxence Lacroix (£4.5m) and Neco Williams (£4.5m) both had four efforts apiece, with one of Williams’ shots diverted into the net by Murillo (£4.8m).
Lacroix’s threat from set pieces is often lost in the talk about Daniel Munoz (£5.3m). And the Colombian is, rightly, seen as the better Fantasy pick from Palace’s defence. A constant threat from open play, Munoz very nearly made it five goals for the season when seeing a back-post volley saved by Sels.
Lacroix, though, is the Premier League’s leading defender for set-play attempts (26). Three of his efforts here came from inside the six-yard box, taking him to 10 for the campaign. Like Munoz last season, the French stopper needs to work on the finishing touch: just one of his efforts has found the net in 2024/25.
As for Williams, his minutes-per-chance average of 63.8 is bettered by few FPL defenders. There’s a Munoz-Lacroix dynamic at Forest, too, with Williams the open-play menace and Nikola Milenkovic (£5.2m) the towering presence from corners.
MURILLO INJURY UPDATE
It was Murillo, not Milenkovic, who was on the scoresheet on Monday.
Elation turned to concern for owners of the Brazilian, who was to limp off with what looked like a hamstring issue – although the hope will be that it is just cramp. He was hobbling around the field after the game, rather than straight down the tunnel, so there’s a bit of optimism there.
“Let’s assess him. I don’t know exactly what he has done. Hopefully, it is nothing. He is a big, big important player for us.” – Nuno Espirito Santo on Murillo
Callum Hudson-Odoi (£5.1m) was absent at Selhurst Park with a hamstring injury of his own. Nuno Espirito Santo said ahead of kick-off that he expects him to miss out in Gameweek 36, too.
Palace had their own injury scare in Adam Wharton (£4.7m), who hobbled off with an ankle issue. Oliver Glasner thinks “it’s not that serious”.
NO CUP DISTRACTIONS FOR PALACE
A tepid first half gave way to what was quite an enjoyable game, with a draw perhaps fair. If there was to be a winner, it looked likely to be Palace.
Certainly, there was no indication of minds being on a visit to Wembley in just under a fortnight’s time.
With much talk of players lacking motivation or being ‘on the beach’ at this time of the season, there were encouraging signs ahead of Gameweek 36, when the Eagles take on a Tottenham Hotspur side who very much are currently distracted by cup commitments elsewhere.
“What I loved is that everybody was asking me if the players were focused on the league or if their minds were already at Wembley for the FA Cup.
“The players showed today and proved that they are 100 per cent at Selhurst and wanted to win the game. This gives me confidence for the last three weeks of the season.” – Oliver Glasner, via South London Press
TWO EASIER TESTS FOR FOREST
As for Forest, they continue to stutter. Ranked 18th for both expected goals (xG) and xG conceded (xGC) in the last six matches, they’re not the high-functioning unit of earlier in the season.
Above: Palace dominated on the xG in Gameweek 35
This performance was definitely better than Gameweek 34’s, at least.
There were some excellent counter-attacks, with Chris Wood (£7.0m) and Anthony Elanga (£5.4m) going very close to scoring on the break and only denied by superb blocks/saves. Wood had legitimate calls for a penalty turned away, too.
The next two fixtures also give Forest plenty of hope in their pursuit of a top-five spot:
SIGN UP HERE FOR ALL THE TOOLS YOU NEED TO WIN AT FPL!
