The Gameweek 25 Scout Notes continue with Bournemouth 1-1 Aston Villa and Burnley 0-2 West Ham United.
- READ MORE: FPL Gameweek 25: Saturday’s goals, assists, bonus + DefCon points
- READ MORE: FPL notes: Trossard concern, Gyokeres brace + Rice bags DefCon
- READ MORE: FPL notes: James latest, Palmer “still not there” + Enzo’s role
- READ MORE: FPL notes: Romero’s ban length, Cunha up top + Bruno’s stats
RAYAN SCORES ON FIRST START
Rayan (£5.5m) scored on his first start for Bournemouth on Saturday.
In a fully deserved point, the Brazilian, who impressed as a substitute with an assist at Wolverhampton Wanderers last week, looked a real threat.
Rayan was unlucky in the first half when his header struck the crossbar, but he later found the net with an impressive solo effort after some shambolic Villa defending.
“He is an amazing player. He can go inside and outside when there’s space, and he can go one to one against the defender and it is very difficult for the defender. He’s finished it really well. He’s still a young player who needs to improve some things.” – Andoni Iraola on Rayan
Away from Rayan, only an inspired display from Emiliano Martinez (£5.0m), who racked up seven saves and should bank an extra bonus point in the next update, denied Bournemouth the three points.
On another day, Eli Kroupi Jr (£4.7) could have hauled: he had a goal ruled out for offside, and another cleared off the line, before his usual withdrawal shortly after the hour mark.
ANOTHER HILL SEVEN-POINTER
James Hill (£3.9m), meanwhile, continued his fine form at centre-back.
He provided the assist for Rayan’s equaliser (which was, to be fair, a simple pass into the Brazilian) and banked defensive contribution (DefCon) points.
Marcos Senesi (£4.8m) is the Premier League’s leading defender for those of course, but missed out on Saturday (six), whereas Hill has now produced DefCon in six of his seven matches since his recall to the side.
He was also unlucky not to claim DefCon points in Gameweek 22; Opta updated his total to 10 after the FPL cut-off.
Given Bournemouth’s upcoming fixtures, Hill is clearly one of the stand-out sub-£4.0m picks in FPL right now.
“FANTASTIC” ROGERS
Morgan Rogers (£7.6m) scored the opener at the Vitaly Stadium with a lovely driven effort into the roof of the net, having been slipped in by Jadon Sancho (£5.8m).
He claimed the maximum bonus for a 10-point haul and only narrowly missed out on DefCon, with 11.
“Fantastic. He’s doing a fantastic season. He was always pushing, helping. Everyone was feeling good playing with him.” – Unai Emery on Morgan Rogers
But just 0.79 expected goals (xG) for Villa underlines their recent lack of attacking threat.
Indeed, Unai Emery’s men have netted only three times in their last five matches, having created just nine Opta ‘big chances’ during that period.
£4.2M GOALKEEPER STARTS
Nuno Espirito Santo made three changes to his starting XI for Saturday’s trip to Burnley.
Mads Hermansen (£4.2m) took the place of Alphonse Areola (£4.3m) in goal, Axel Disasi (£4.5m) made his debut at centre-back, while the third alteration arrived in attack, where Callum Wilson (£5.8m) replaced Pablo Felipe (£5.5m).
On the pitch, it looked like this:
Hermansen and Disasi helped provide a bit of solidity at the back, albeit only against Burnley, which helped West Ham produce their first clean sheet since Gameweek 3.
£4.2m shot-stopper Hermansen was notably in goal for both of them.
Elsewhere at the back, El Hadji Malick Diouf (£4.0m) provided a first-half assist, while fellow defenders Aaron Wan-Bissaka (£4.1m) and Konstantinos Mavropanos (£4.4m) both banked DefCon.
SUMMERVILLE SCORES AGAIN, FERNANDES IMPRESSES
Crysencio Summerville (£5.5m) scored for the fifth consecutive game in all competitions on Saturday.
The in-form winger dinked the ball over Burnley’s Martin Dubravka (£4.0m) early in the first half, before Taty Castellanos (£5.5m) doubled West Ham’s lead shortly after.
Summerville will likely lose his DefCon points in the next update, having dropped to 11 overnight (see image below). However, even factoring that in, he’s still produced 36 points over the last four Gameweeks, the second-most of any player.
Mateus Fernandes (£5.5m) was superb at Turf Moor, too.
The midfield controller produced the assist for the opener, his third attacking return in four Gameweeks, and banked DefCon, with his on-pitch relationship with Summerville clearly going from strength to strength.
“I know how dangerous we can be on the counter attack, and me and Matty [Fernandes] are clicking a lot now. He knows how to feed me, and it worked well today.” – Crysencio Summerville
As for Jarrod Bowen (£7.7m), it was a disappointing afternoon, with only one shot and zero chances created. But with others stepping up, the Hammers have now won three out of their last four matches, thereby keeping the relegation battle alive.
In contrast, the situation for Burnley is much less favourable, as they look as fragile as ever ahead of Tuesday’s trip to Selhurst Park.
Zian Flemming (£5.3m) came as close as any teammate to scoring, with seven shots, but Burnley have now failed to win in 16 consecutive Premier League matches.
Axel Tuanzebe (£3.9m) missed out due to injury for the hosts, while James Ward-Prowse (£5.6m) was ineligible to face his parent club.
