Brighton and Hove Albion v Fulham mightn’t have been the most pulse-setting game of the day but there was plenty to interest Fantasy managers at the Amex.
Here is what we saw – and what we’ve picked out of the masses of match data in our Members Area.
- 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
O’RILEY ON PENS – OR IS HE?
On Friday, Fabian Hurzeler was asked about who will take Brighton’s penalties now that Joao Pedro (£7.5m) has gone.
He didn’t tell us then but we got an answer on Saturday – sort of.
Matt O’Riley (£5.5m) stepped up to take Albion’s spot-kick on Saturday and scored.
It wasn’t actually his first penalty for the Seagulls: he also took one in Gameweek 38 of last season. But back then, and as was the case on Saturday, Danny Welbeck (£6.5m) wasn’t on the pitch.
Both O’Riley and Hurzeler namechecked Welbeck after the game.
“I knew beforehand [I was taking it]. We’ve got a few takers. Obviously, when Danny [Welbeck] is on the pitch as well. I was there, I was ready to go. We practised in training to be ready for these moments. Fortunately, it went in.”
“I think when Danny [Welbeck] will be on the pitch, he also will be a candidate to shoot the penalties. But I trust Yannick [Euvrard], our set-piece analyst, he makes the decisions together with the players. Therefore, today was the right decision. I’m happy for Matt O’Riley.” – Fabian Hurzeler on penalties
RUTTER ‘OOP’ AS EXPECTED
Welbeck wasn’t starting because, as signposted in the final two pre-season friendlies, Hurzeler went with Georginio Rutter (£6.0m) up front. O’Riley played off the Dutchman, as he did in those aforementioned warm-up games.
And it was Rutter, indeed, who won the penalty for his teammate.
It wasn’t vintage, free-flowing attacking play from either side but Brighton definitely shaded it. O’Riley crossed for Kaoru Mitoma (£6.5m) to head over a good chance, while Lewis Dunk (£4.5m) nodded into the side-netting from a corner and both Yankuba Minteh (£6.0m) and Brajan Gruda (£5.5m) wasted excellent opportunities to wrap the game up.
Maxim De Cuyper (£4.5m) offered glimpses of his attacking potential. The left-back set Rutter on his way for the penalty, while he also crossed from a free-kick for Mats Wieffer (£5.0m).
DEFCON KING WIEFFER
Speaking of Wieffer, we namechecked him in pre-season as a potential defensive contributions (DC/DefCon) machine.
He made six starts at right-back in the run-in of 2024/25, delivering DC points in four of those and, had he not been subbed off early in Gameweek 35, he likely would have made it five.
Wieffer was at it again against Fulham, reaching the required 12 clearances, blocks, interceptions, recoveries and tackles (CBIRTs) early in the second half. He went on to hit 18, the highest of any Premier League player on Saturday:
£4.5M MIDFIELDER IMPRESSES
Fulham were pretty timid, unable to exploit a Brighton defence that had looked ropey in pre-season. No surprise that the return from injury of Carlos Baleba (£5.0m) shored the Seagulls up here.
Harry Wilson (£5.5m) nodded over a decent first-half chance, while two of the seven Fulham shots that Opta counted didn’t even look like proper attempts: Josh King (£4.5m) delivering a low cross-shot and then Raul Jimenez (£6.5m) taking a heavy touch.
It was left to Rodrigo Muniz (£5.5m) to salvage a point, the substitute lashing in an equaliser from a corner. Wilson, after his fine pre-season, claimed the assist.
Emerging with a great deal of credit was King, the only starting £4.5m midfielder of Gameweek 1 (so far).
Playing in the ’10’ and keeping Emile Smith Rowe (£5.5m) out of the side, the young midfielder drove with the ball beautifully and was Fulham’s only real spark for most of the game. He nearly rounded Bart Verbruggen (£4.5m) in the first half, also racking up more penalty box touches than anyone on show:
A real talent.
