Fantasy Premier League (FPL) confirmed on Sunday that Antoine Semenyo (ยฃ8.0m) would not get an assist for Bournemouth’s first goal in Gameweek 8.
We’ve seen a few people confused about the reasoning for this, so we thought we’d clarify – to the best we can! – in this article.
FPL’S REASONING
After the initial ‘TBC’ on Eli Junior Kroupi‘s (ยฃ4.5m) first goal, FPL came to a final decision some 24 hours later.
Their message was as follows:
WHAT IS AN ‘INADVERTENT TOUCH’?
In Opta-speak (for it is the data collectors who make the calls on each match event), an inadvertent touch is when the ball bounces off a player and there is no intentional pass or shot.
‘INADVERTENT TOUCH’ – THE CONFUSION
But, you may be thinking, don’t the FPL rules say that an ‘inadvertent touch’ can still lead to an assist?
They sure do:
However, further down the same page, there’s this message:
By ‘directly’, it means not touching an opponent en route to the goalscorer.
APPLYING THE RULE IN SEMENYO’S CASE
In this case, Justin Kluivert‘s (ยฃ7.0m) corner is whipped in, comes off Semenyo’s back, hits a Palace defender, and loops up to Kroupi to nod in on the goalline:
To sum it all up, Opta were not counting Semenyo’s touch as a shot or attempted pass. Therefore, it goes down as an inadvertent touch.
And because it hits a Palace defender before reaching Kroupi, the rules say no assist.
FPL’s relaxation of the assist rules before the start of 2025/26 means we’ve had far fewer contentious calls this season – but Saturday’s example just goes to show that where there’s any subjectivity left in a decision (the subjectivity here being Opta deeming Semenyo not shooting/passing), there’ll always be room for dispute.
