How Kane fared on return as Barnes’ form continues

Like a spanner in the works, Harry Kane (£12.4m) made an earlier than expected return for Spurs in Blank Gameweek 27.

Not only did he play the full game, but the England international also found the net, potentially changing the plans of Fantasy managers in the coming weeks.

Meanwhile, Ashley Barnes (£5.6m) continues to offer excellent value as he extended his scoring run on Saturday afternoon.

We will assess the impact these two players should have on our FPL squads in this latest Scout Notes article.

Burnley 2-1 Spurs

Goals: Chris Wood (£6.2m), Ashley Barnes (£5.6m) | Harry Kane (£12.4m)

Assists: Dwight McNeil (£4.4m), Johann Berg Gudmundsson (£5.5m) | Danny Rose (£5.8m)

No player had more shots on target at Turf Moor on Saturday than Kane, who scored immediately after returning from injury. He could have added to his tally with a spectacular swerving effort in the first half, which forced an equally impressive save from Tom Heaton (£4.8m). Either way, it was a display that could represent the beginnings of Kane shaking up the Fantasy landscape once again. His involvement against Burnley was his first start since picking up an ankle problem in Gameweek 22, making a mockery of his original estimated return date. Tottenham originally revealed that he would not be back in training until March, but Kane had been working with his team-mates in the last few days and clearly showed enough to get back into the starting XI.

Thankfully, Spurs’ fixtures in the next few Gameweeks are probably enough to put the masses off for now, with Chelsea (away) and Arsenal (home) the next two opponents. That gives Kane plenty of time to audition for a place in Fantasy squads perhaps from Gameweek 34 onwards. That’s when Spurs face Huddersfield (home), before West Ham (home), Bournemouth (away) and Everton (home) complete the campaign for them.

“Harry scored and I’m so happy that he’s back. He’s going to help the team, but nobody is more important than the team. In the day that we understand that maybe we are going to cross the line and improve like a club and team and maybe we are going to be a real contender. Until that it’s going to be really difficult.” – Mauricio Pochettino

Kane’s return looks to have all but ended Fernando Llorente‘s (£5.7m) time as a Fantasy asset. The Spaniard dropped to the bench but was used as a second-half substitute. He did come on for Harry Winks (£5.5m) in the 72nd minute when Spurs were chasing goals but he was unable to register a single effort on goal. With Kane and Son Heung-min (£9.0m) both on the pitch at the same time as Llorente may not have worked in the former Swansea man’s favour.

As had been hinted at in recent matches, Son’s scoring run did indeed come to an end against Burnley. Having been arguably fortunate to get attacking returns in Gameweeks 25 and 26, the South Korean was particularly anonymous at Turf Moor. It had been hoped that Kane’s return might help him find the energetic form from a few weeks ago but in the end, Son managed just one effort on goal. With those tougher fixtures coming up for Spurs and no fixture in Blank Gameweek 31, it will be interesting to see what happens to his ownership.

Pochettino opted for a three-man defence for the Saturday lunchtime kick-off, handing a recall to Juan Foyth (£5.0m) for a first start since Gameweek 19. Jan Vertonghen (£5.9m) and Toby Alderweireld (£6.0m) joined him in the back-line, with Danny Rose (£5.8m) and Serge Aurier (£5.8m) as wing-backs. There was no involvement for Kieran Trippier (£6.2m) or Davinson Sánchez (£5.8m) but it is believed Pochettino was simply resting them rather than missing either player through injury.

The three-man defence was sacrificed once it became clear that Spurs needed to throw more men forward. Having been booked, Foyth was replaced by Erik Lamela (£6.0m) for his first minutes since Gameweek 25 after missing the Newcastle game with a minor problem.

Despite seeing less of the ball and shooting less often, Burnley found a way to win, in a performance reminiscent of last season. Against Spurs, the Clarets were more active in the right areas, with eight goal attempts to the visitors’ seven, as well as a superior shot accuracy (40%) and goal conversion rate (20%).

“They didn’t have control in the way they often do, with their style, and that was part of our thinking, to make it feel different, and I thought we did that well, we set up from the keeper to press, and behind that, we asked so many questions of their back five and then back four, that eventually you think you’re going to find something, and we did. It’s hard for us, we’ve not made bold statements about rolling it around the back, 600 passes – you’ve got to find a way to win and that’s what it’s like in the Premier League when you’re Burnley. We’re finding ways to win once again and there’s a lot to be really pleased about. There’s some really good stuff and the little in between things that we’re doing really well, that we weren’t doing as well early season.” – Sean Dyche

Crucial to Burnley’s recent success has been striker Barnes, whose goal against Spurs was his fourth in as many Premier League matches. That should have been no surprise considering that only Sergio Aguero (£11.5m) had managed more shots on target than Barnes in the four Gameweeks prior to this one. At Turf Moor, no player registered as many efforts in the penalty area as him as he continues to prove he cannot be ignored. Now with goals against Manchester United and Spurs in recent weeks, Barnes is very much an advocate for the ‘form over fixture’ argument. Upcoming matches against Newcastle (away), Crystal Palace (home) and Leicester (home) offer the potential for more returns, the latter of those their Blank Gameweek 31 opponents.

Dwight McNeil (£4.4m) still offers great value as a fifth midfielder as he registered a third assist of the campaign. It was a second in as many matches for the young midfielder, who created more chances than any of his team-mates against Spurs. He has recently been keeping Johann Berg Gudmundsson (£5.5m) and Robbie Brady (£5.4m) out of the team while they slowly recover from injury but both of them did appear in the second half in Gameweek 27. In fact, it was the Icelandic international who played the ball in for Barnes to stab home an 82nd-minute winner.

Burnley continue to go from strength-to-strength defensively too. That was demonstrated by how difficult Spurs found it to break the Clarets down on Saturday. Before Gameweek 27, Pochettino’s men averaged 2.3 goals per away game this season but managed just the one at Turf Moor, thanks to some excellent organisation.

Burnley XI (4-4-2): Heaton; Taylor, Mee, Tarkowski, Bardsley; McNeil (Gudmundsson 80′), Cork, Westwood, Hendrick (Brady 80′); Wood, Barnes.

Tottenham Hotspur XI (3-4-1-2): Lloris; Vertonghen, Alderweireld, Foyth (Lamela 76′); Rose, Winks (Llorente 62′), Sissoko, Aurier; Eriksen; Son (Moura 88′), Kane.