The football world has been brought to a standstill by the tragic events at the King Power Stadium on Saturday evening.
Leicester City owner Vichai Srivaddhanaprabha, two members of his staff, a pilot and his partner all died in a helicopter crash after the Foxes’ 1-1 draw with West Ham.
The condolences of the Fantasy Football Scout team go out to the Srivaddhanaprabha family and everyone connected with Leicester City.
Out of respect to those involved in this terrible incident, we have decided to reduce our focus on the match itself.
Instead, we would like to pay tribute to what Leicester’s philanthropic chairman brought to the Fantasy Premier League community.
No football fan will ever forget how he inspired the Foxes to an against all odds Premier League title win in 2016.
The impact that had on FPL managers will always be remembered fondly. Riyad Mahrez and Jamie Vardy, in particular, were exciting mid-price Fantasy options to own that season as they combined for 41 goals and 17 assists.
Beginning the campaign priced at £5.5m and £6.0m respectively the pair offered exceptional value never seen before in FPL.
Defensive assets such as Wes Morgan and Christian Fuchs also helped Fantasy managers capitalise on 15 clean sheets.
As Leicester comes to terms with their devastating loss, their midweek EFL Cup tie with Southampton has been understandably postponed.
While nothing has been confirmed one way or another, there have already been suggestions that the Foxes’ Gameweek 11 trip to Cardiff City may also be re-arranged to a later date.
If that were to happen it would be the first blank Gameweek of the 2018/19 season.
Leicester City 1-1 West Ham United
Goals: Wilfried Ndidi (£4.9m) | Fabian Balbuena (£4.4m)
Assists: Demarai Gray (£5.4m)
Jamie Vardy (£9.0m) started this particular match on the bench amid stories in the media of a rift between him and manager Claude Puel. The player himself had posted on social media that he was “back to full strength” following an illness but his boss clearly had a different view.
“He could not train earlier this week. I want a player who is at 100% to start. He will have a good opportunity to come in the second half and show his energy.” – Claude Puel
With Wes Morgan (£4.5m) serving the last of his two-match suspension, Caglar Söyüncü (£4.9m) made his first start. He does appear to have the potential to stake a claim in the side but will have to do some work to rough his edges.
West Ham’s team news saw Marko Arnautovic (£7.0m) miss out altogether with an illness. The suggestion is that he should have recovered from that in time for Gameweek 11.
Javier ‘Chicharito’ Hernandez (£6.2m) started up front in the 4-2-3-1 system favoured by Manuel Pellegrini in the absence of the injured Pedro Obiang (£4.4m). With Andriy Yarmolenko (£6.8m) possibly out for the season, Robert Snodgrass (£5.3m) looks likely to retain his place in the side. He was deployed as the number 10 role behind Chicharito and, as was the case in pre-season, was in charge of set pieces.
Felipe Anderson (£6.8m) and youngster Grady Diangana (£4.5m) were utilised in wide areas.
Fabian Balbuena (£4.4m) finally delivered on the set-piece goal threat he had promised in recent weeks. He gave West Ham the lead in the first half after latching onto the end of a free-kick. Balbuena’s header hit the post and he turned in the rebound.
West Ham handed the advantage back to the hosts soon after as Mark Noble (£4.9m) was sent off for a high tackle. His three-match ban sees him miss one EFL Cup tie, Gamweek 11 and Gameweek 12.
Lukasz Fabianski (£4.5m) was close to another massive away-day haul with his string of saves but was beaten by a deflected Wilfried Ndidi (£4.9m) shot late on. It was a deserved goal for Leicester who piled on the pressure in the second half. Nevertheless, Fabianski still managed to record a ‘fake clean sheet’, scoring six points from his seven saves and two bonus.
There was a serious injury to Daniel Amartey (£4.4m) in the closing stages as he appeared to break his ankle. With much attention naturally on the passing of Vichai Srivaddhanaprabha, it has not actually yet been confirmed as a fracture. However, it has been at least established that he has had surgery on his ankle.
Leicester City XI (4-2-3-1): Schmeichel; Chilwell, Maguire, Söyüncü (Okazaki 80′), Amartey; Iborra, Ndidi; Albrighton, Maddison, Ghezzal (Vardy 45′); Iheanacho (Gray 61′).
West Ham United XI (4-2-3-1): Fabianski; Masuaku, Diop, Balbuena, Zabaleta; Rice, Noble; Anderson (Ogbonna 81′), Snodgrass, Diangana (Cresswell 75′); Chicharito (Antonio 61′).
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