Ings and Murray proving excellent value for money as FPL forwards

The final match of Gameweek 5 delivered a better spectacle than was perhaps expected, with four goals shared between Southampton and Brighton at St. Mary’s on Monday evening.

Danny Ings (£5.7m) scored his third goal in four starts, while Glenn Murray (£6.5m) – owned by only 2.1% of Fantasy Premier League managers – notched his fourth league strike of the season.

Budget midfielder Pierre-Emile Hojbjerg (£4.4m) scored his second goal in as many matches, while Shane Duffy (£4.5m) – who had more shots last season than any other FPL defender who failed to score – delivered a goal and an assist as Brighton fought back from 2-0 down to salvage a point.

Our final Scout Notes article of Gameweek 5 rounds up the main Fantasy talking points from the south coast.

Southampton 2-2 Brighton and Hove Albion

• Goals: Pierre-Emile Hojbjerg (£4.4m), Danny Ings (£5.7m) | Shane Duffy (£4.5m), Glenn Murray (£6.5m)
• Assists: Anthony Knockaert (£5.5m), Shane Duffy

Ineligible to face his parent club Liverpool next weekend, Danny Ings signed off from the Premier League for a fortnight with a goal and a bonus point to keep the 7.7% of FPL managers who own the Saints forward relatively happy.

It could easily have been more, though. Ings was denied by Brighton blocks twice in the space of a minute during the first half and could, perhaps should, have collected an assist when strike partner Shane Long (£4.8m) poked Ings’ glorious through-ball wide of the goal later in the match.

Ings had more penalty box touches, efforts in the box and big chances than any other player on show at St. Mary’s and now trails only Callum Wilson (£6.3m) among FPL forwards for shots in the opposition area this season.

As mentioned, Ings will now be unavailable in Gameweek 6 and his new employers sit bottom of our Season Ticker for the next six matches, with encounters against Chelsea and Manchester City to come not long after the trip to Anfield next weekend.

Ings is proving difficult to beat for value, however. Wilson and Aleksandar Mitrovic (£6.8m) are the only forwards who are returning more points per million spent (Ings is averaging 4.39 points per million) in FPL and he is one of only two strikers in the sub-£6.0m bracket – the other being Raul Jimenez (£5.5m) – who currently provides security of starts as well as a genuine goal threat.

The first half at St. Mary’s was an unremarkable affair lit up by a superb long-distance strike from Pierre-Emile Hojbjerg (£4.4m), the budget midfielder scoring in his second successive league match and rewarding some of the 70,000+ FPL managers who drafted him in for Gameweek 5.

Brighton came into this fixture without a league win on the road in ten months and having lost both away matches this season to nil.

The Seagulls’ dismal showing in the first 45 minutes seemed to suggest that they were venturing down a well-worn path in submitting to a meek defeat, with Nathan Redmond (£5.4m) perhaps the stand-out player for the hosts in the opening exchanges: the former Norwich City winger created as many chances as the rest of his team-mates combined in this match.

Brighton came out of the traps quickest in the second 45 minutes though, with the match developing into an enjoyable end-to-end affair.

Ings’ spot-kick just after the hour-mark (a penalty the Saints’ striker won himself) seemed to have put the game to bed, but a Shane Duffy (£4.5m) header just two minutes later ensured a grandstand finish.

Duffy had 28 efforts on goal last season without scoring, and his erstwhile owners will have been left cursing their luck as the Irish centre-back registered his second strike of the season last night – those two goals having come from just three attempts.

Anthony Knockaert (£5.5m) provided the set-piece delivery for Duffy’s goal to record his third assist of the season: no FPL midfielder has more. Knockaert almost registered another assist when his low cross was turned onto the post by substitute Alireza Jahanbakhsh (£6.8m).

While Knockaert has already trebled the number of assists he picked up last year, his underlying figures haven’t dramatically improved: the former Leicester winger is creating a chance only once every 70 minutes.

Knockaert is, however, the beneficiary at set plays in the absence of Pascal Gross (£6.8m), who missed out with an ankle knock.

Chris Hughton provided an update on the injured German in his post-match press conference:

He’s okay. He got a kick in the last game, which has ended up a little bit more troublesome than what we thought.

It’s certainly nothing that’s going to be longer term. We’ll look over the next week what progress he makes. Certainly, it’s not one that’s going to keep him out for a number of games.

Yves Bissouma (£4.9m) in for Gross was the only line-up change made by either manager for this encounter, with Hughton sending his troops out in a 4-3-3/4-5-1.

Bissouma was sacrificed for Jurgen Locadia (£5.4m) in the final 15 minutes as Hughton switched to a 4-4-2 in a bid to rescue a point, and the pressure told in the final minute of normal time when Duffy was flattened by James Ward-Prowse (£5.3m) in the area.

With Gross sidelined, Murray resumed spot-kick duties and despatched the subsequent penalty for his fourth goal of the season: no FPL forward has scored more.

With Gross having missed from the spot a fortnight ago and Murray scoring from 12 yards in successive matches, the 35-year-old forward may well have wrestled penalty-taking duties back from the German schemer for the time being.

Speaking of Murray after the match, Hughton said:

We changed the penalty taker last season when Glenn missed a couple, and that’s the competition you want.

You’d like to think it’s not only two players that want to step up and take penalties. Being away from home and 2-1 down, you’re not going to get a cooler head than Glenn Murray.

We’re delighted he got us back in the game. It was the type of game where if Glenn gets the one good chance in front of goal, you’re confident he’ll put it away.

With Murray possibly back on penalties and Brighton sitting top of our Season Ticker from Gameweek 8 onwards, the veteran striker could come back into our thoughts as a mid-price forward option.

While he has only been presented with nine chances this season (half the number Ings has had), Murray’s goal conversion of 44.4% is the best among FPL forwards.

A small concern would be the imminent return to fitness of Florin Andone (£5.0m), who could eat into Murray’s minutes this season.

Hughton gave an update on Andone after the match:

He’s fit. It’s just managing him the best way we can. He’s done a fair bit of training of late, we just need to make sure he’s up to speed before he plays.

Hughton also revealed that Jose Izquierdo (£5.9m) was “close” to a return for the under-23’s this Thursday.

Neither defence looked particularly worthy of Fantasy investment last night: Southampton allowed Brighton three clear-cut opportunities, while the Seagulls conceded four big chances to their hosts – that’s as many as Wolves and Bournemouth, both of whom can offer defensive options in the £4.5m bracket, have conceded all season.

Southampton XI (4-4-2): McCarthy; Soares, Vestergaard, Hoedt, Bertrand; Elyounoussi (Ward-Prowse 76′), Hojbjerg, Lemina, Redmond; Long (Gabbiadini 76′) Ings (Davis 84′)

Brighton XI (4-5-1): Ryan; Montoya, Duffy, Dunk, Bong; Knockaert, Stephens, Propper, March (Jahanbakhsh 71′), Bissouma (Locadia 76′); Murray

READ MORE GAMEWEEK 5 SCOUT NOTES

• Spurs 1-2 Liverpool
• Bournemouth 4-2 Leicester
• Chelsea 4-1 Cardiff
• Huddersfield 0-1 Crystal Palace
• Man City 3-0 Fulham
• Newcastle 1-2 Arsenal
• Watford 1-2 Man United
• Wolves 1-0 Burnley
• Everton 1-3 West Ham

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