What a return to the Premier League for Sunderland, who marked their top-flight homecoming with a 3-0 thumping of West Ham United.
So, which Fantasy picks caught the eye for the Black Cats – and should we be worried about players from West Ham United?
We take a look in our Scout Notes.
- READ MORE: FPL notes: O’Riley on pens, Wieffer’s DefCons + £4.5m King
- READ MORE: FPL notes: How many matches Konsa will miss + Gordon up top
- READ MORE: FPL Gameweek 1: Saturday’s goals, assists, bonus + ‘DefCon’ points
BALLARD’S PERFECT GAME
Centre-halves from promoted clubs are nearly always £4.0m. Leeds United’s Pascal Struijk (£4.5m) is an exception this season, as he’s got a shot at penalties.
Sunderland’s Dan Ballard (£4.5m) is another anomaly – and FPL have clearly done their research.
There are two reasons he’s a little bit more expensive: goal threat and defensive contribution (DC) potential.
He scored three goals in the Championship last season, despite only starting 15 games of an injury-affected campaign.
Ballard also averaged over 10 clearances, blocks, interceptions and tackles (CBITs) per 90 minutes in the second tier – and imagine how much more defensive work he’ll have to do in the Premier League.
It all came together in a perfect performance on Saturday. Ballard scored, snaffled DC points, scooped maximum bonus and kept a clean sheet to emerge from the Stadium of Light with a 17-pointer.
Such was his menace from set plays against the Hammers that he’s had more shots from the six-yard box (three) than any other Premier League player in Gameweek 1 so far.
SEELT INJURY GIVES ALDERETE A CHANCE
Poor Jensen Seelt (£4.0m) didn’t manage any of what Ballard did. Limping off after 53 minutes, he was marooned on one point as his side went on to bag a clean sheet.
Seelt was on borrowed time anyway, with new signing Omar Alderete (£4.0m) expected to replace him as the left-sided centre-half sooner rather than later. That came as soon as the second half of Gameweek 1.
Alderete even claimed an assist upon his introduction, whipping in a ball for Eliezer Mayenda (£5.5m) to nod in.
“I don’t think it’s really serious. He played well the first part of the game and after that Omar came in and he showed that now we probably have a bit more depth for our centre-backs. So it’s positive.” – Regis Le Bris on Jensen Seelt’s injury
With Burnley up next, there’s every chance that the Black Cats make it two clean sheets from two – that’d be as many as Ipswich Town managed in the whole of 2024/25!
Certainly, with their low block and combative midfield three in front of the defence, they look – at a very early glance – a darned sight more defensively competent than last year’s rabble.
“I think we showed today that the team worked well and the team was really hard to beat with a mid to low block.” – Regis Le Bris
GUIU UNUSED – AND FACING A BATTLE
Let’s get one thing straight before we begin: Marc Guiu (£4.5m) is, still, the best bet for minutes among £4.5m forwards in the medium term.
But the Chelsea loanee, like his owners in FPL, may have to be patient.
He was at least on the bench on Saturday, despite a limited pre-season.
But it was not just Mayenda who started but also Wilson Isidor (£5.5m) who came on ahead of Guiu against the Hammers, with £4.5m forward remaining unused.
To make things worse, Mayenda and Isidor both scored. Both goals should have been stopped, if we’re being party-poopers, with Mayenda’s header one of the slowest you’ll ever see and Isidor’s shot creeping under Mads Hermansen (£4.5m).
Regis Le Bris, however, remains a fan of both of Guiu’s positional rivals.
“Last season they showed how good they were and for me it was obvious that they have the quality because we’ll have strong opponents in front of us and we’ll have to defend as a team. They work well and they have this quality to attack the space in behind.” – Regis Le Bris on Eliezer Mayenda and Wilson Isidor
While Sunderland’s xG of 0.68 shows that there’s still a question mark over goalscoring, Habib Diarra (£5.5m) caught the eye from midfield with his bursts into the box. Wingers Simon Adingra (£5.5m) and Chemdsine Talbi (£5.0m) bagged assists, too.
HAMMER BLOW
Graham Potter is the new favourite in the sack race! So say the bookies off the back of this miserable loss.
It could have been different in the first half, with Jarrod Bowen (£8.0m) looking lively and twice going close. As ever, he’s the one dragging the team up by their bootstraps.
El Hadji Malick Diouf (£4.5m) also exhibited his undoubted attacking threat, seeing his goalbound shot cleared at the last moment by the superb Ballard. Diouf had three shots in all, also creating two chances.
Above: Diouf was West Ham’s leading player for expected goal involvement (xGI) in Gameweek 1
After the break, though, nothing much of note. Chance creating was a problem under Potter at the back-end of last season and so it was again on Saturday, with the visitors mustering just 0.56 xG.
It was also an inglorious debut from Hermansen, preferred over Alphonse Areola (£4.5m) straight away, but we’ll maybe chalk it up to rustiness and nerves. His distribution was good and he also made a top stop from Diarra.
