Harry Kane and Dele Alli both score twice as Tottenham run riot at the Britannia. The north London side rack up their fourth clean sheet in five to close the gap on Leicester at the top of the table.
Kane and Alli at the double
Tottenham Hotspur closed the gap to five points at the summit of the Premier League with a thumping 4-0 win over Stoke City.
Harry Kane punished over 200,000 Fantasy managers that shipped him out across the previous fortnight, bagging his third brace in five outings. The Lilywhites’ talismanic frontman has amassed five more shots on target (18) than any forward in his last six starts and is leading an attack that’s bagged 13 goals in five matches. With some tempting fixtures to follow (WBA, che, SOU, new), many will now be looking to re-acquire Kane for the run-in.
Similarly, Dele Alli had nearly 100,000 managers lamenting their decision to cash in on a midfielder that delivered attacking returns (three goals, four assists) in five of his last six fixtures. The 6.2-priced England international currently ranks joint-third among all midfielders for total score (162) this campaign, underlining his immense value.
Mousa Dembele and Erik Lamela grabbed assists, while Christian Eriksen turned provider for two of the visitors’ strikes. The latter’s Fantasy value is well-documented, but Lamela is also worthy of consideration, given that he’s upped his output (one goal and two assists in two) and has fired seven shots inside the box in his last four starts.
Investors in Spurs’ rearguard profited from their fourth clean sheet in five match-ups. Tottenham next host a West Bromwich Albion outfit that posted three blanks in their past quartet of fixtures, so Mauricio Pochettino’s troops will fancy their chances of securing another shut-out.
Potters battered at the Britannia
Stoke City lay claim to a solitary win in six matches following their second successive heavy defeat.
The Potters shipped 10 goals in their last trio of outings and have mustered one clean sheet in 12, negating the appeal of their defensive assets. At the other end of the pitch, Marko Arnautovic (10 goals five assists) harbours some promise, yet Stoke’s mixed schedule (mci, SUN, cry, WHU) and absence of a double Gameweek diverts attention away from the Austria international. Xherdan Shaqiri is an early doubt for the weekend after he was forced off at the break with a hamstring complaint.
Hibbert steps up Toffees recovery
Tony Hibbert clocked 45 minutes for Everton’s U21 outfit as they ran out 1-0 victors over Manchester City.
With Jagielka and Seamus Coleman both likely to sit out the Merseyside derby, there’s a possibility that Hibbert – at a price of just 3.9 in FPL –could receive a call to action at Anfield. Alternatively, Roberto Martinez might opt to reinstate Leighton Baines (if fit) at left-back and swap Bryan Oviedo onto the opposite flank. Nonetheless, given that Everton have home clashes against Bournemouth and Norwich on either side of their double Gameweek 37, Hibbert could be worth monitoring if the Toffees injury worries in defence fail to improve.
Wilshere scores for Gunners reserves
Jack Wilshere continued his recovery from injury by finding the net in a 2-1 reserve loss to West Brom.
Wilshere could be on course for a return to top-flight at some point before the end of the season, then, after Arsene Wenger confirmed he will need “three or four games” at this level before being considered for the first-team squad. Whilst the upcoming clashes against West Brom and Sunderland look likely to come too soon, the Gunners’ final two home matches, against Norwich and Villa in Gameweeks 36 and 38 respectively, could allow Wenger the chance to hand him some minutes in the centre of the park.
