Crystal Palace’s comfortable 2-0 victory over Doncaster Rovers on Sunday afternoon means that the Eagles will join at least ten other Premier League sides in having one (or more) Double Gameweek in the months ahead.
Five top-flight matches originally pencilled in for Gameweek 31 will have to be rescheduled as a consequence of this weekend’s FA Cup fifth-round ties, while Chelsea are guaranteed a Double Gameweek regardless of their result against Manchester United on Monday evening as their Gameweek 27 fixture against Brighton and Hove Albion remains outstanding.
Just when these postponed Premier League games will be rearranged for remains unconfirmed but Gameweek 32 looks the obvious candidate at this stage.
The 11 sides who will definitely enjoy a Double Gameweek are:
Arsenal
Brighton
Cardiff
Chelsea
Crystal Palace
Manchester City
Manchester United
Southampton
Spurs
Watford
Wolves
Everton will join that contingent if Chelsea beat Manchester United on Monday night, as the Toffees are scheduled to face Maurizio Sarri’s troops in Gameweek 31.
We discussed the Blank Gameweek 31 picture in greater detail in our Scout Notes for Wolves’ victory over Bristol City, while we will analyse possible chip strategies in the coming days ahead.
The remainder of this article will instead focus on Palace’s success at the Keepmoat Stadium.
Doncaster Rovers 0-2 Crystal Palace
- Goals: Jeffrey Schlupp (£4.4m), Max Meyer (£5.6m)
- Assists: Luka Milivojevic (£6.2m), Andros Townsend (£5.9m)
Wilfried Zaha (£6.7m) will be free to feature in Gameweek 27 after serving a one-match suspension for improper conduct in Sunday’s victory over Doncaster Rovers.
Crystal Palace’s initial appeal had left Zaha free to play against West Ham United in Gameweek 26 but the Football Association’s subsequent rejection of that appeal left the Ivorian sidelined for the Eagles’ FA Cup fifth-round tie in South Yorkshire.
Zaha has two goals and as many assists in his last five Premier League starts.
Palace didn’t particularly miss their talismanic winger on Sunday as they coasted to a 2-0 win over their League One opponents but, by the same token, the likes of Michy Batshuayi (£6.5m) and Jordan Ayew (£5.7m) failed to impress in his stead.
Ayew struggled in an unfamiliar role on the left of Roy Hodgson’s 4-3-3, while Batshuayi looked rusty on his first start in a Palace shirt.
The Chelsea loanee had a free header blocked in the first half before his heavy touch ruined a one-on-one chance on 72 minutes and there was little evidence to suggest he might oust Christian Benteke (£6.3m) from the Palace starting XI in Gameweek 27, let alone enter the mid-price FPL forward debate this week.
Luka Milivojevic (£6.2m) was perhaps the best Palace player on show at the Keepmoat, setting Jeffrey Schlupp (£4.4m) on his way for the Eagles’ opening goal before “assisting the assister” for his side’s second strike: Max Meyer (£5.6m) nodding in from close range after Andros Townsend (£5.9m) had headed Milivojevic’s excellent chipped pass back across goal.
Milivojevic and Townsend aren’t the most exciting of midfield picks but for those Fantasy bosses looking for security of starts when, for example, compiling a Double Gameweek free-hit side, the pair are reliable sorts: the Palace duo are two of just five FPL midfielders – team-mate James McArthur (£4.8m) being another – who have started in each of the 26 Gameweeks contested this season.
Again thanks mostly to his penalty-taking duties, Milivojevic is well on his way to matching his ten-goal haul of 2017/18 – the Serbia international has seven Premier League strikes to his name already this season.
The Palace set-piece specialist (who it should be said is already on eight yellow cards this season) was again his side’s arch-creator at Doncaster, registering more key passes (five) than anyone on show.
Townsend has a modest seven attacking returns to his name this season (four goals, three assists) but his role on the right-hand side of Hodgson’s 4-3-3 is seemingly his to lose: the former Spurs and Newcastle winger has featured in every single one of Palace’s competitive matches this season, with the EFL Cup second-round tie at Swansea the only game in which he hasn’t started.
Elsewhere on Palace-watch, FPL defender Schlupp scored for the second successive match while playing “out of position” in central midfield.
The return to fitness of Cheikhou Kouyate (£4.7m), who emerged as a second-half substitute on Sunday, may threaten his security of starts, however.
Patrick van Aanholt (£5.4m) was the only one of Palace’s regular back four to be given a run-out, meanwhile, with Aaron Wan-Bissaka (£4.6m) rested and James Tomkins (£4.3m) returning from a calf injury on the bench.
Wayne Hennessey (£4.5m) started ahead of Vicente Guaita (£4.2m) in the Palace goal, with Hodgson suggesting after the match that he will continue to use the Welsh custodian in cup matches – though the budget FPL goalkeeper still faces an FA hearing for an alleged gesture in January.
Hodgson said:
I had no doubts about him playing. He deserves to play and was very good today. He’s played in all the cup matches so far and whatever the draw is I would expect him to play in the next one too.
The charge is what it is. We’ve spoken about that at great length. We are both hoping and confident that charge won’t lead to any particular sanctions.
Hodgson added on the game itself:
I thought both teams tried to play good football. There were some good moves from both sides and we were able, not just us but Doncaster too, to get the ball down and under some control.
They [the Palace players] worked very, very hard. Even the players who didn’t have the best of games worked very, very hard to make certain that we gave nothing away. But I’m fortunate that I’ve come to a club where it’s par for the course that players are like that.
Our priority and our focus still remains the same, that we would like to do well in the cup but we would like even more to stay in the Premier League. That always remains the priority.
Crystal Palace XI (4-3-3): Hennessey; Ward, Kelly, Dann, Van Aanholt; Milivojevic, Schlupp, Meyer; Ayew (Kouyate 60′), Batshuayi (Benteke 75′),
Townsend (McArthur 80′).
5 years, 2 months agoGuys do you think we ll find out the dgw32 fixtures before gw30 or no chance ?