Antoine Semenyo (£7.5m) shot to the top of the Fantasy Premier League (FPL) points table with a 13-point haul on Saturday.
The winger teed up Alex Scott (£5.0m) for the Cherries’ opener in their victory over Brighton and Hove Albion before netting the winner himself from the spot.
Looking back on the action at the Vitality Stadium, it’s our latest Scout Notes.
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SEMENYO ON PENS
An unexpected boost for Semenyo owners is penalty-taking duties – or at least some place in the pecking order.
The Ghana international had only ever taken one spot-kick before in his career; that came last season in the FA Cup. Evanilson (£7.0m) and Justin Kluivert (£7.0m), who Andoni Iraola had previously confirmed were his two takers, were off the field at the time.
And indeed, Kluivert was on the bench on Saturday when Bournemouth won their 61st-minute penalty. Evanilson was (and indeed won the penalty) present, however, suggesting Semenyo has at least overtaken the Brazilian striker to be Kluivert’s deputy.
The post-match interviews that we’ve seen failed to elicit any quotes on where exactly Semenyo stands in the running order from 12 yards.
DE CUYPER INJURY
The 4.0%-owned Maxim De Cuyper (£4.5m) was one of two Brighton players forced off in the first half of Saturday’s game.
De Cuyper was encouraged into the advertising hoardings by a Semenyo barge, the left-back exiting the field soon after. The hope will be a mere impact injury, then, but we await further news.
Jack Hinshelwood (£5.3m) also departed with what looked like an ankle issue.
“Now we have to cross our fingers that it’s not so bad for both of them.” – Fabian Hurzeler
DIAKITE INJURY + MILOSAVLJEVIC GETS CHANCE
While Marcos Senesi (£4.6m) was collecting defensive contribution (DefCon) points for the fourth successive Gameweek, his usual centre-half partner Bafode Diakite (£4.5m) was absent.
And while fellow absentee Ryan Christie (£5.0m) should be fit for Gameweek 5, there is ongoing doubt about whether Diakite recovers.
“Ryan Christie probably is the one that I feel more confident that he will be ready next week.
“He had a big knock two days ago training yesterday. He could train and he trained but he was limping and it didn’t make any sense to take risks, especially so early in the season.
“And Bafo a little bit the same. I think he finished with some soreness against Spurs. Has been training, not training, resting a little bit, dealing with the situation in the international break. But he was not still feeling fully confident.
“And I hope he can be available also next week. But I don’t know. The same way that Ryan, I’m almost quite optimistic. With Bafo, we have to see how the week goes.” – Andoni Iraola to the Bournemouth Echo
Given his debut in Diakite’s stead was Veljko Milosavljevic (£4.5m), another summer signing. There are parallels that can be drawn with Dean Huijsen, perhaps, in that they’re both teenage centre-backs who the Cherries have plucked from relative obscurity and thrown straight into the deep end.
The undaunted Milosavljevic walked away with the Man of the Match award and collected two DefCon points for his efforts, too.
FINE MARGINS AS MINTEH IMPRESSES
This was a tough match to call before kick-off and so it proved to be a game of tight margins.
The Statsbomb non-penalty xG was 0.80-0.38 in Bournemouth’s favour and a much closer 0.67-0.62 with Opta, hinting at a game of few big chances and two well-matched teams.
Ultimately, a loose Lewis Dunk (£4.5m) pass and a trailing Jan Paul van Hecke (£4.5m) leg proved the difference: the two Brighton centre-halves gifting Bournemouth the winning penalty.
Yankuba Minteh (£5.9m) caught the eye for the visitors. It wasn’t just his crossed assist for Kaoru Mitoma‘s (£6.4m) leveller; he tormented the otherwise impressive Adrien Truffert (£4.5m) with some wing wizardry and twice went close to scoring himself from narrow angles.
The all-action Truffert got forward to supply a couple of opportunities. He’s now joint-fourth among defenders for chances created (five) this season and joint-second for crosses.
