Gameweek 31’s swansong didn’t disappoint, serving up six goals in a frenzied clash between two sides battling to beat the drop. Christian Benteke stole the headlines with a hat-trick for the Villains, while Matthew Phillips and Charlie Austin vindicated those managers that invested in QPR coverage for their double.
Benteke hat trick salvages point for Villains
Christian Beneteke’s dramatic upturn in form continued against QPR last night he bagged a hat trick for Aston Villa in a 3-3 thriller. After restoring parity with a deflected shot three minutes after Matthew Phillips’ opener, Benteke showed calmness to outfox Robert Green in a one-on-one situation before drawing the hosts level with a pinpoint curling free kick seven minutes from time.
Among all the league’s forwards, only Olivier Giroud in his last match managed more attempts on target (four) than the Belgian marksman (three), while only Andrej Kramaric and Romelulu Lukaku (four) created more chances for their team-mates than Benteke (three). Furthermore, no striker recorded more touches in the opposition‘s half (67) than the former Genk hitman this Gameweek, underlining how central he was to Villa’s attacking threat.
Having scored just three goals in 16 league appearances prior to Tim Sherwood’s arrival at Villa Park, Benteke has now notched seven times in his last five starts for the Villains. Remarkably, he’s now just one strike shy of his 10-goal haul last term with six fixtures to play, despite experiencing such a wretched first two-thirds of the season.
Working counter to Benteke’s pursuit of further attacking returns is the West Midlanders’ short-term schedule. A trip to White Hart Lane this weekend is followed by a blank Gameweek 33 and a visit to Stamford Bridge, though bearing in mind that Spurs have failed to keep a clean sheet in their previous six home clashes, the big Belgian will fancy his chances as Sherwood looks to get one over his former side. Villa then finish the season with three home clashes which will prove decisive in their bid to beat the drop, with Everton, West Ham and Burnley all paying visit from Gameweek 35 onwards.
Sherwood named five changes to the side that succumbed to a 3-1 defeat at Old Trafford last time out. Jack Grealish and Leandro Bacuna were drafted in for the injured Scott Sinclair and Alan Hutton, while Andreas Weimann and Charles N’Zogbia made way for Jack Grealish and Tom Cleverly, with the former Tottenham head coach reverting to a 4-3-3 set-up. In defence, Ron Vlaar took up his post in central defence for the first time since sustaining a calf muscle strain in Gameweek 26.
Gabriel Agbonlahor, N’Zogbia, and Fabian Delph grabbed an assist apiece on the night, offering the former’s 32,000 new owners something to cheer about having watched his strike partner chalk up four goals in Villa’s double.
Phillips and Austin deliver again
Matthew Phillips put a smile on the faces of the 22,000 managers that took a punt on the Scottish winger for the R’s double, complementing his assist against the Baggies with a goal and a further two assists. The 4.6-priced midfielder has profited immensely from Chris Ramsey’s installation as the Hoops manager, notching two goals and seven assists in eight starts.
Phillips continues to be the primary creative force in QPR’s midfield, as evidenced by the fact only Eden Hazard (seven), Jesus Navas (six) and Steven Davis (five) engineered more chances than he did (four) in each player’s last match-up. Accounting for both fixtures in QPR’s double, Phillips tops the midfielder rankings with regards to chances created (eight) and sits second (16) behind Navas (17) in terms of attempted crosses.
Not to be outdone, Charlie Austin finished from close range in the 78th minute to give the visitors a short-lived 3-2 lead, boosting his points tally to 21 for the Gameweek – second only to Benteke’s 23. Austin’s exploits in QPR’s double have put him within five points of (161) of the league’s highest-performing forward, Harry Kane (166), this campaign, yet his 22% ownership still lags behind the likes of Sergio Aguero – who’s drawn blanks in his last five outings.
QPR now embark on a perilous run of four fixtures (CHE, WHU, liv, mci) that would appear, at first glance, to diminish Austin’s appeal. However, it’s worth noting that the former Burnley frontman scored in the reverse ties against Chelsea and Manchester City, and also netted in both ties against the likes of Arsenal – illustrating his potential for strong returns beyond the London club’s blank Gameweek 33.
Ramsey made two alterations to the XI that thrashed West Brom 4-1 on the weekend, calling up Niko Kranjcar and Clint Hill for the injured Eduardo Vargas and Suk-Young Yun. Hill marked his first 90-minute stint for the R’s since Gameweek 24 with a headed goal from a Phillips corner early in the second half. Bobby Zamora rounded off a productive double with an assist to partner his goal at The Hawthorns.
