Scout Notes
18 January 2026 37 comments
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Sunderland’s impressive home form continued with a victory over Crystal Palace on Saturday.

Here are our Scout Notes from the Stadium of Light.

SUNDERLAND’S EXCELLENT HOME FORM

Sunderland extended their unbeaten record at the Stadium of Light to 11 matches, as they triumphed 2-1 over Crystal Palace.

The Black Cats now sit fifth in the home table, having racked up six wins and five draws:

They’ll have a fine chance to extend that impressive home record when they play host to Burnley in Gameweek 24, too.

Regis Le Bris’ side came from behind to beat a beleaguered Palace outfit 2-1 on Saturday, thanks to goals from Enzo Le Fee (£4.9m) and Brian Brobbey (£5.5m).

The budget duo have now delivered a couple of attacking returns apiece in the last three Gameweeks, with Le Fee bouncing back from his Panenka penalty miss at Brentford in style.

As for Brobbey, he put in a hell of a shift up front and caused all sorts of problems for Palace’s backline, with his superb second-half finish the highlight.

“Brian is getting better game after game; you can feel it. His teammates are really comfortable playing through him when he is in the box. When he is in the box, he is a massive threat, and he has built some strong understanding with them. Now we are seeing the best version of Brian.” – Regis Le Bris on Brian Brobbey

MUKIELE SUPERB

Defensively sound, particularly after the break, Sunderland restricted Palace to just 0.69 expected goals (xG).

Nordi Mukiele (£4.4m) once again excelled for Sunderland in Gameweek 22. He provided the assist for Le Fee’s equaliser, marking his fourth attacking return of the season, and banked defensive contribution (DefCon) points.

His DefCon success rate now stands at 55%, ranking him eighth among defenders with a minimum of 500 minutes played.

And with plenty of quality driving up the right flank on Saturday, Mukiele is now the seventh top-scoring defender in FPL, with 98 points.

Elsewhere, the out-of-position Trai Hume (£4.5m) produced a match-high four shots and played very well, almost finding the net late on.

Reinildo Mandava (£3.8m), meanwhile, made his first start for the Black Cats since returning from the Africa Cup of Nations (AFCON).

GLASNER “FEELS ABANDONED”

This defeat capped off a miserable week for Palace, who are set to lose club captain Marc Guehi (£5.3m) to Manchester City in the coming days.

Oliver Glasner might be off sooner than the summer, too, in light of his post-match outburst.

“I feel we are being abandoned completely. I can’t blame any player. They did everything they could and this has been going on for weeks and months now. We have 12, 13 players from the squad available and we feel no support. The worst thing is selling our captain one day before playing a Premier League game. We are preparing, it’s the first [full] week we are training since September, and then we are selling our captain one day before a game. So, I have no understanding of this. I have always kept my mouth [shut], but I can’t because I have to defend these players, because it was the 35th game today. Yes, we get under pressure here and we are unlucky. But again, you can’t react, we can’t help them, it makes it really tough.

“If you get your heart torn out twice this season, one day before a game, it was with Eze in the summer, it was with Guehi now… what should I tell the players all the time? What should I tell them? And then I see the performance today for 50, 60 minutes – it was not easy with all the circumstances going on here with 12 players from the squad. I look at the bench, I can’t react, just kids on the bench, and this has not happened yesterday, this is weeks ago. That’s why I’m really frustrated today.” – Oliver Glasner

Palace are now 10 matches without a win in all competitions, with Chelsea up next in Gameweek 23.

On Saturday, Yeremy Pino (£5.8m) added to his FA Cup goal with another impressive strike, lifting the ball over Robin Roefs (£5.0m) to put Palace ahead.

But they failed to build on that lead, with two big misses from Jean-Philippe Mateta (£7.5m), who has also been linked with a move away from the club this month. The Frenchman also had the ball in the net, but the linesman’s flag went up.

Elsewhere, Maxence Lacroix (£5.1m) remained in the middle of the back three, with Jefferson Lerma (£4.9m) lining up in Guehi’s position to his left.

But only Chris Richards (£4.4m) banked DefCons, achieving this for the fourth time in his last five matches. On the other occasion, he fell just one short of the defender threshold, finishing with nine.


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  1. Captain Mal
    • 1 Year
    1 hour, 6 mins ago

    Haaland to Barry for a hit?

    1. DannyD
      • 11 Years
      26 mins ago

      Do it!!

    2. Easy move.

      1. Barry has 3 goals in the last 4 games. Haaland scored one lucky pen during that time. As easy a move as they come.

    3. FantasyTony
      • 8 Years
      just now

      Did it last week

  2. djman102
    • 16 Years
    49 mins ago

    Been listening to the games, but just now checking my score.

    No complaints, but can anyone tell me how Thiaw managed 3 bonus without hitting defcon?

  3. The Bandit
    • 15 Years
    48 mins ago

    I posted that I was thinking about playing BB, but decided against it because it meant including Dub v Liverpool. Needless to say Dub got 5pts and my other subs got 21pts. It’s becoming comical now 😆

    1. Captain Mal
      • 1 Year
      38 mins ago

      Wild gameweek, many surprises. 24pts on the bench for me, but never really considered it if I'm being honest.

      1. Gubby-Allen
        • 4 Years
        just now

        Yes I have 8 from O'Brien and 5 Dubravka 4 Garner the latter two I was going to get rid of.

        Although my only two players to get more than 2 points were Chalobah and Gabriel so defenders were not the problem.

    2. djman102
      • 16 Years
      38 mins ago

      Had the exact same thought on BB this week. Only Leeds' last minute winner saved me from a similar fate (Andersen 3rd sub)

    3. Punned It
        30 mins ago

        6 points on my bench with Senesi to go! Not that my actual XI are doing much damage.

    4. Will need a van Hecke hattie to save my GW

      1. Sloopy
        • Fantasy Football Scout Member
        • 13 Years
        just now

        Haha, same here!

    5. The 12th Man
      • 12 Years
      41 mins ago

      Give Foden and Cherki the Wolves game or move one or both?

      A) keep both for Wolves
      B) Cherki or Foden > Enzo
      C) Cherki and Foden > Enzo,Bruno F -4

      1. I'm giving Foden and O'Reilly one last hurrah. Then out they fking go.

      2. Punned It
          34 mins ago

          C is sound, but not for a hit. B, then get Fruno next week. Maybe Cherki out first, Foden could surprise us yet.

        • Gubby-Allen
          • 4 Years
          just now

          I would keep them for that but no guarantee they play. Same problem with Man City although Guehi will surely start every one.

      3. Was an obvious GW to BB. I have 26 with Minteh to go on the bench, but couldn't as the dog stole the phone just before deadline as a prank, hence taking away my moment to press the button. But that's a story for another day!

      4. Punned It
          41 mins ago

          It's just silly to hope for anything from Palmer or JP, right? I think I need Enzo v. Palace falling apart.

        • Atimis
          • 9 Years
          40 mins ago

          Not sure what to do with VVD, actually if Dorgu keeps his place, I have an issue only in GW23. Thoughts on these options?

          1) 23: VVD to Chalo, 24: Saka to Palmer or -4 to sell Ekitike, benching Dorgu

          2) 23: Keeping FT, 24: Saka Potts Ekitike to Palmer Rice 4.5fwd -4, playing Dorgu and benching VVD

          1. Punned It
              2 mins ago

              VVD to Chalobah, then Saka to Enzo or Rice.

            • Atimis
              • 9 Years
              1 min ago

              Or maybe just forget about Palmer, then question of Chalo vs FT anyway?

              1. Punned It
                  just now

                  Yes, forget Palmer. Chalobah's a top pick!

            • Gazzpfc
              • 9 Years
              37 mins ago

              Wildcard last week

              Roefs (Dubravka)

              Timber Gabriel Chalobah (Frimpong Alderete)

              Enzo Wirtz Rice WIlson (Taverner)

              Haaland Thiago Ekitika

              Next week Wirtz to Bruno

              Anything to change

              ???

              1. Stick to the plan. Maybe play Frimpong over Timber

            • Which one?

              A) Rogers -> Bruno G
              B) Rogers-> Semenyo
              C) Watkins -> Thiago
              D) Watkins -> Ekitike

            • Nightcrawler
              • 6 Years
              24 mins ago

              season going to dogs...4th red arrow in 5 weeks including my first 8 digit gw rank

              Real life quality is poor enough to watch, fpl now following its lead.

              down to 20k OR. will be 100k in a few weeks at this rate

              1. HAKUNA MATETA
                • Fantasy Football Scout Member
                • 1 Year
                16 mins ago

                Might aswell quit now.

            • PartyTime
              • 4 Years
              20 mins ago

              Decided not to be a sheep so I captained Watkins. Pain knows no end 🙁 at least, I was courageous!!

              1. Sheep, jackal, emu. Everyone got fked equally this GW.

            • TorresMagic™
              • Fantasy Football Scout Member
              • Has Moderation Rights
              • 16 Years
              17 mins ago

              Last Man Standing Update (380 teams)

              Current safety score = 29
              Top score = 66

              https://plan.livefpl.net//LMS

            • Manani
              • 14 Years
              11 mins ago

              bench 1:

              A. Timber
              B. Chalobah
              C. OReilly
              D. DCL
              E. Wilson

              1. Punned It
                  5 mins ago

                  C

                • C is the correct answer

                  He will either be subbed on at HT or subbed off pre 60.

              2. Played Van De Ven over Tarko. What a champ I am...

              3. FantasyTony
                • 8 Years
                4 mins ago

                Do people judge quality by whether Liverpool are winning or not.

                1. Yeah, safe to assume the quality is poor if Liverpool are winning.