Cork scores again as Hart keeps third successive clean sheet

Burnley progressed in the Europa League once again on Thursday night as they dispatched Istanbul Basaksehir after extra-time.

The Clarets now have a Gameweek 2 fixture against Watford on Sunday afternoon, a trend that may continue if they stay in the continental competition.

We’ve gone over the match in detail to assess the impact it should have on our Fantasy Premier League squads.

BURNLEY 1-0 ISTANBUL BASAKSEHIR

• Goals: Jack Cork (£5.0m)
• Assists: Jeff Hendrick (£5.5m)

Jack Cork (£5.0m) scored his second Europa League goal of the season as Burnley booked a meeting with Olympiakos in the third qualifying round of the competition. The former Swansea City man’s form on the continent this summer may start to put him on the radars of Fantasy managers, as goal-scoring £5.0m midfielders proved popular between Gameweek 1 and 2. Cork’s first strike was a header against Aberdeen while his latest goal was a beautifully struck shot from range curled into the top corner after a neat piece of skill. Manager Sean Dyche is clearly a fan of Cork, who should still be available to face Watford on Sunday having played just 38 minutes.

“Fantastic goals, both of them. Sublime goal (tonight). That’s something we maybe don’t get enough credit for because that’s a fantastic goal. If that’s a more trendy name than Jack Cork in the Premier League, it would be raved about. And he meant it.”

Cork led a group of six Burnley players who started against Southampton in Gameweek 1 to drop out of the starting line-up on Thursday night. That also included Matt Lowton (£5.0m), James Tarkowski (£5.0m), Ben Mee (£5.0m), Johann Berg Gudmundsson (£6.0m) and Chris Wood (£6.5m). Cork, Tarkowski, Gudmundsson and Wood were all used as substitutes at various stages in the match while starters Aaron Lennon (£5.0m) and Ashley Westwood (£4.5m) had their minutes managed, so all of these names are unlikely to be considered too tired to keep their places for Gameweek 2. The only outfield players to have registered 90 minutes against Southampton and 120 on Thursday were Stephen Ward (£5.0m) and Jeff Hendrick (£5.5m), the latter seemingly possessing plenty of stamina having played more pre-season football than any of his colleagues this summer (512 minutes).

Also of note from a Fantasy perspective was that Joe Hart (£4.5m) started in goal once again, and kept a third clean sheet on the bounce. His most recent performance was the best of the lot as he made a string of impressive saves to keep Istanbul out. After a troubled few years on various loans from Manchester City, the former England number one looks as if he can offer value in FPL once again. While Nick Pope (£5.0m) and Tom Heaton (£5.0m) are out with injury and the starting defenders are all in the same price bracket as the pair, Hart seems to be providing a reliable route into the Burnley defence for £0.5m cheaper. Fantasy managers were disappointed to see Dyche’s organised backline receive price hikes across the board for 2018/19 but the developing goalkeeping situation appears to have created a nice little loophole within those changes. However, it’s worth mentioning that Dyche seems to be frustrated with the media spotlight being trained on Hart…

“I’m surprised you’re not fed up, we’ve been talking about him for two weeks. I made a lot of the display of the team. There were a lot of really good performances – Ashley Barnes had an interrupted pre-season but gets stronger and stronger as the game went on, Ashley Westwood was excellent and certainly I thought the two centre halves were absolutely top class. They deserve just as many mentions. Jeff Hendrick as well, and sometimes the fans can question him but I thought he was absolutely tremendous. But Joe definitely played his part, just so you’re happy.”

Fantasy managers should monitor the situation surrounding Charlie Taylor (£4.5m). He came on as a substitute for Gudmundsson at St Mary’s on Sunday and started in his left-wing position on Thursday night at Turf Moor. The former Leeds United defender spent the entire 120 minutes in that position and was one of the better performers for the Clarets. Taylor provided the assist for Cork’s headed goal against Aberdeen in the previous round so has delivery to offer from wide areas. Should any injuries or suspensions strike particularly strongly in this area of the pitch, it is worth knowing there is a potential out-of-position defender ready to step into the breach.

BURNLEY XI (4-4-1-1): Hart; Ward, Gibson, Long, Bardsley; Taylor, Westwood (Cork 82’), Hendrick, Lennon (Gudmundsson 58’); Barnes (Tarkowski 120’); Vokes (Wood 82’).

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