Continuing the Gameweek 19 Scout Notes is a look at notable Fantasy Premier League (FPL) events from the City Ground and Turf Moor, where Michael Keane (£4.8m) missed out and Bruno Guimaraes (£7.0m) scored.
- READ MORE: FPL notes – Rice injury latest + why Gabriel was subbed off
- READ MORE: FPL Gameweek 19 – Tuesday’s goals, assists, bonus + ‘DefCon’ points
Burnley, Everton, Newcastle United and Nottingham Forest were in action.
No bookings ban for Guimaraes, Anderson or Tarkowski
It was turning into yet another away game where Newcastle showed they don’t know how to correctly respond to taking the lead.
Very early goals from Joelinton (£5.9m) – set up by some rare Anthony Gordon (£7.4m) magic – and Yoane Wissa (£7.3m) put the Magpies two ahead. It should have been a comfortable night.
However, Josh Laurent (£4.8m) halved the deficit and hinted that Eddie Howe’s side could again throw points away. It wasn’t until a late Martin Dubravka (£4.0m) error allowed Guimaraes to finally secure all three points.
The Brazilian’s sixth strike of the season followed three blanks and, in further good news, he avoided picking up a fifth yellow card before this Gameweek 19 threshold.
Also free from suspension worries are James Tarkowski (£5.5m), Elliot Anderson (£5.3m) and Nikola Milenkovic (£5.1m).
Pope back, Woltemade rested + others to return
This was the first league game when previously-injured Wissa got the nod over Nick Woltemade (£7.4m). Upon arrival, rotation was seemingly the plan, so the German being limited to a cameo wasn’t a complete shock.
Above: Yoane Wissa’s efforts, according to Statsbomb
Wissa racked up four penalty area shots, three of which were Opta-defined big chances.
“He’s done really well in the two starts that he’s had. I think he’s been outstanding, led the line really well today. He’s got that sharp movement, movement in behind but also in the box, he knows where the goal is.” – Eddie Howe on Yoane Wissa
Howe’s other three lineup changes brought in Joelinton, Harvey Barnes (£6.1m) and Nick Pope (£5.1m).
There were slight nerves when Lewis Hall (£5.3m) hurt his ankle, but the left-back recovered to play all 90 minutes. Plus, it sounds like some of Tino Livramento (£4.9m), Dan Burn (£5.1m), Sven Botman (£4.9m) and Kieran Trippier (£4.9m) will soon be available.
“I’m relieved to see him [Hall] get back up and play very well. Yeah, we’re hopeful that we can get a few back for the next game. We’ve got a group of three or four players that are quite close.” – Eddie Howe
Why didn’t Keane play?
In the other match, Forest outdid Everton for attempts (21-11) and shots on target (6-3) but, like on Saturday, the Toffees squeezed out an away clean sheet.
“Stats don’t win games, I’ve said it for years. The myth from 10 years ago said you have to have the ball to win games. It’s a myth, we all know that now. Everton didn’t but they defended very well and hit us with two good goals from their point, really poor goals from our point of view.
“We dominated the rest of the game with the ball, but it’s not good enough to dominate games, you have to find the edge to score goals.” – Sean Dyche
That’s six shutouts from nine occasions for David Moyes’ boys.
Great news for owners of Tarkowski and six-save Jordan Pickford (£5.5m), yet it’s unfortunate for the near 800,000 who bought Keane over this past week.
Keane, Carlos Alcaraz (£5.2m) and Beto (£5.0m) made way from Saturday’s XI, with the first two absent completely, but Moyes is being vague about the centre-back’s availability for Gameweek 20.
“I’m not giving any details on that, just now. I’ll see how it goes over the next few days.” – David Moyes on Michael Keane and Carlos Alcaraz
At least there was a cameo appearance from Jack Grealish (£6.5m).
Meanwhile, Tarkowski burst up to 10 defensive contribution (DefCon) actions by the half-hour mark. He ended on 19 of them, as seven teammates also received this two-point reward. As did Forest’s Anderson, of course!
Months out for Wood
Speaking afterwards, Sean Dyche confirmed that Chris Wood (£7.2m) isn’t anywhere close to a comeback.
“It’s months, not weeks.” – Sean Dyche on Chris Wood
Unseen since Gameweek 8, Wood’s knee surgery should now bring more FPL attention to low-priced forward Igor Jesus (£5.8m).
The Brazilian can now be seen as an alternative option to Dominic Calvert-Lewin (£5.9m). While the latter has scored seven times in his last six, Jesus boasts just one goal from 11 successive starts.
Above: Players rank by Gameweeks 10 to 19 penalty area shots, before Thursday night’s action
That’s despite a league-high 31 box shots since Gameweek 10 began. A mere five have been on target and one labelled as a huge opportunity.
Making things worse for Forest is that they face Aston Villa and Arsenal in their next three fixtures. Although, for those tired of Dubravka or wanting an ultra-cheap goalkeeping combo, it was interesting to see John Victor (£4.0m) start once more.
Esteve returns… and gets injured again
Until fairly recently, two goals, two assists and several DefCon rewards placed Josh Cullen (£5.0m) as FPL’s best midfielder up to £5.0m.
On a night where a 16-point haul gave James Garner (£5.0m) this honour, it was revealed that Cullen’s knee injury is a season-ender. Also, popular cheap defender Maxime Esteve (£3.9m) recovered, only to get hurt after 14 minutes.
“We felt that Maxi [Esteve] was alright and that wasn’t proven the case. Regarding Josh [Cullen], obviously it’s really disappointing for Josh because he’s got a significant injury on his knee, so he won’t be with us for the remainder of the season.” – Scott Parker
Zian Flemming (£5.3m) couldn’t make the squad, either. However, not content with an assist, we saw Armando Broja (£5.2m) then become this season’s second FPL forward to secure DefCon points.
