Scout Notes

Zaha in hot form ahead of second GW32 match

Eight Crystal Palace players registered FPL returns of six points or more on Saturday afternoon as the Eagles condemned Huddersfield Town to the drop.

While the end result of a Palace victory to nil was a largely anticipated one, Roy Hodgson’s side made heavy work of beating their Championship-bound visitors and spurned a succession of gilt-edged chances en route to a 2-0 win.

The hard-earned victory at least sets owners of Crystal Palace assets up for their forthcoming away matches against Tottenham Hotspur and Newcastle United on Wednesday and Saturday; the Eagles have been better on the road this season and have scored almost twice as many league goals on their travels as they have at Selhurst Park.

We recap the events of what was only Palace’s fourth home win of the season in our Scout Notes article below.

Crystal Palace 2-0 Huddersfield Town

  • Goals: Luka Milivojevic (£6.3m), Patrick van Aanholt (£5.5m)
  • Assists: Wilfried Zaha (£6.9m) x2

Wilfried Zaha (£6.9m) now has nine attacking returns in his last ten Premier League starts after a brace of assists in his side’s win over Huddersfield Town on Saturday.

Sergio Aguero (£11.9m) and – as of last night – Alexandre Lacazette (£9.3m) are the only FPL forwards who have been directly involved in more of their club’s goals in 2019.

The Ivory Coast international, who shook off a hamstring injury to play the full 90 minutes at Selhurst Park, won a 75th-minute penalty that Luka Milivojevic (£6.3m) subsequently converted and then set up Patrick van Aanholt (£5.5m) for the Eagles’ second goal close to full-time.

No Fantasy forward has registered more penalty box touches than Zaha this season and the former Manchester United winger was pushed up front alongside Michy Batshuayi (£6.5m) in the second half after starting the match on the left of a front three.

Roy Hodgson said after full-time:

At half-time, things were looking bleak. So I must give our team an awful lot of credit for the way they came out in the second half. We made a couple of slight adjustments and in the second half, we were much more like ourselves.

I was very pleased that the players’ determination shone through. We pulled ourselves together. I thought pushing Wilf up front, and bringing McArthur in, made a difference to our play.

League goals at Selhurst Park continue to elude Zaha and indeed he has only scored once in south London this season.

The positive news for Zaha’s owners is that Palace’s next two fixtures are away from home, where the lively winger has been much more productive in 2018/19.

Zaha wasted two glorious chances to double his home tally for the season, failing to get a shot away when rounding Ben Hamer (£3.9m) and then firing wide when through on goal again in the 86th minute.

The Ivory Coast international also teed up Andros Townsend (£5.9m) for a big chance in the second half, one of several spurned by the hosts as frustration mounted.

Hodgson said after the match:

We created some really, really good goal chances. At one stage, I was worried it was going to be one of those games when I’d be sitting here and you would be telling me about the incredible misses you thought we’d been guilty of and it would have cost us points.

Luckily, I can laugh the misses off, as we got two goals to win the game. I’m hoping that if we create have as many chances against Tottenham Hotspur on Wednesday night, we won’t miss them.

Townsend was one of the chief culprits, spoiling that potential Zaha assist by screwing wide from eight yards and then slicing off-target shortly after.

Batshuayi also saw a first-effort blocked, before Jeffrey Schlupp (£4.5m) shanked an effort wide of Hamer’s goal – both chances set up by the increasingly involved van Aanholt.

The Dutch left-back had forced Hamer into a flying save before latching onto Zaha’s pass to score his first league goal in almost exactly six months.

Van Aanholt hasn’t failed to score five or more Premier League goals in a single season since 2014/15 and it was, coincidentally, starting in March 2018 when the former Chelsea and Sunderland defender embarked on a run of five goals in ten Gameweeks.

Marcos Alonso (£6.4m) is the only FPL defender to attempt more shots than van Aanholt this season.

For a player who poses little threat from open play, Milivojevic is once again having a stellar season in FPL.

Saturday’s strike was his tenth of the season (as many as he managed in 2017/18), nine of which have come from the penalty spot.

Of the ten penalties that the Serbian midfielder has taken this season (he missed from 12 yards against Everton in Gameweek 9), Zaha has been fouled for half of them – emphasising just how important the Ivorian’s trickery is to Milivojevic’s own appeal as a Fantasy asset.

Zaha, who also won four spot-kicks in 2017/18, is perhaps unsurprisingly the most-fouled FPL forward of this season by quite some margin.

Aaron Wan-Bissaka (£4.5m) also recovered from injury to bank a clean sheet for his owners but it wasn’t all plain sailing for Palace, with out-of-position FPL defender Chris Lowe (£4.4m) twice forcing good saves out of Vicente Guaita (£4.2m) and striker Karlan Grant (£5.0m) spurning an excellent opportunity just before half-time.

The fact that Guaita picked up a save point, two bonus points and the Palace fans’ man of the match award was a tribute to the Terriers’ display but this was the 17th league match of the season (and eighth of 2019) that Huddersfield have failed to score in.

Owners of Leicester City defenders will be therefore optimistic of a clean sheet when the Foxes face Jan Siewert’s side in Gameweek 33.

The Huddersfield boss said after full-time:

I think we did very well in the first half. We encountered tactical situations very well and had offensive possibilities against a team which has the quality of Wilfried Zaha, for example. It was really great to see the lads fighting for each other.

When you see this group on the pitch today, they made the home audience give them a round of applause after the game, even at half-time we were impressed. It was great for us to see that we did so many things right.

Crystal Palace XI (4-3-3): Guaita; Wan-Bissaka; Tomkins, Dann, van Aanholt; Schlupp, Milivojevic, Meyer (McArthur 46′); Townsend (Kouyate 80′), Batshuayi (Benteke 73′), Zaha.

Huddersfield Town XI (4-4-1-1): Hamer; Smith, Schindler, Kongolo, Durm; Mooy, Bacuna (Williams 80′), Hogg, Lowe (Kachunga 80′); Pritchard (Stankovic 90′); Grant.

1,071 Comments Post a Comment
  1. THFC4LIFE
    • Fantasy Football Scout Member
    • 7 Years
    4 years, 12 months ago

    Who should I bring in for Anderson?

    A. Fraser
    B. Maddison
    C. Richarlison

    1. Maddamotha
      • 7 Years
      4 years, 12 months ago

      A

    2. VanDijksToWatchOutFor
      • 6 Years
      4 years, 12 months ago

      Tielemans?

      A

      1. THFC4LIFE
        • Fantasy Football Scout Member
        • 7 Years
        4 years, 12 months ago

        Could option aswel cheers

  2. Christina.
    • 14 Years
    4 years, 12 months ago

    what's this story about Lindelof being out now?

      1. VanDijksToWatchOutFor
        • 6 Years
        4 years, 12 months ago

        Isn't this "in"?

        1. g40steve
          • 6 Years
          4 years, 12 months ago

          Yes, that line up has Pogba missing?

          1. The Ejiptian King
            • 5 Years
            4 years, 12 months ago

            He was missing against Watford too.

  3. HamezMace
    • 9 Years
    4 years, 12 months ago

    Other would you rather;

    A. Son vs HUD, mcy, BRI
    or
    B. Mane vs CHE, car

    1. AuFeld
      • 7 Years
      4 years, 12 months ago

      Mane.

      1. HamezMace
        • 9 Years
        4 years, 12 months ago

        Thank you.

    2. Amey
      • 5 Years
      4 years, 12 months ago

      Son if nailed on with his spot in the team.
      But Moura goal this gw may cause some rotation 😮

      Mane safe option.

      1. HamezMace
        • 9 Years
        4 years, 12 months ago

        Thanks Ames

  4. Amey
    • 5 Years
    4 years, 12 months ago

    Any Liverpool fan knows when Gomez is coming back ??
    Could do with a 4.8 pool defender

    Thank you !!

    1. HamezMace
      • 9 Years
      4 years, 12 months ago

      Believe he's been back in training for a couple of weeks now, but not sure how close he is to returning to the first team.]
      Lots of Liverpool fans on here probably know better.

      1. Amey
        • 5 Years
        4 years, 12 months ago

        Cheers
        Taa & Gomez could be great on WC imo.

        1. HamezMace
          • 9 Years
          4 years, 12 months ago

          I'm currently going for a full WC of DGWers for my BB.
          With a plan to bring in TAA after 35.

          Currently
          Ryan/Gunn
          Duffy/Bednarek/Kola/Bennett/Holebas

          Then Holebas to TAA before HUD at home.

          Not sure CHE + SGW is worth it for WC, although plans always break down somehow.

  5. Wolfenix
    • 5 Years
    4 years, 12 months ago

    Looking to replace Pogba for a Leicester mid with their juicy fixture v Hudd GW33. Who should haul more points during the next three GWKs?

    a. Maddison
    b. Tielemans
    c. Barnes

    1. Ajax Hamsterdam
      • 9 Years
      4 years, 12 months ago

      B for me

    2. Amey
      • 5 Years
      4 years, 12 months ago

      A

      1. g40steve
        • 6 Years
        4 years, 12 months ago

        This, set pieces alone 😉

  6. The Head-Ake
    • 7 Years
    4 years, 12 months ago

    Boruc
    Luiz - Robbo - Daniels - Schindler
    Salah - Hazard - Mane - Brooks
    Higuain - Rondon

    Patricio - Pogba - Jiminez - Shaw. 0.2 ITB and 1 FT. What transfers look nice? What should I do with this team?

  7. DA Minnion (Former great)
    • 11 Years
    4 years, 12 months ago

    Damn you , you little glass man. It could have been amazing.

  8. DaisyDaisyDaisyDaisy
    • 10 Years
    4 years, 12 months ago

    Sane and Mahrez owners must be praying for starts tonight they could go very big...

    1. DaisyDaisyDaisyDaisy
      • 10 Years
      4 years, 12 months ago

      or even tomorrow

    2. Amey
      • 5 Years
      4 years, 12 months ago

      I've not seen a single team with Mahrej tbh.
      Make that Sane & Sterling 😉

  9. Pep's Money Laundry
    • 8 Years
    4 years, 12 months ago

    I just had my first attempt at GW34 WC (BB35), what do you guys think:

    Ryan, Foster
    Robbo, Trippier, Dufffy, Jonny, Valery
    Sterling, Mane, Martial, JWP, Deulofeu
    Kane, Laca, Jimi

    0.2 itb

    1. The Polymath
      • Fantasy Football Scout Member
      • 8 Years
      4 years, 12 months ago

      No bad

    2. Saint Steve-O (@EliteFPL)
      • 9 Years
      4 years, 12 months ago

      Barring Trippier, Ryan and couple others, pretty much 2hst I'm thinking lol

  10. The Polymath
    • Fantasy Football Scout Member
    • 8 Years
    4 years, 12 months ago

    What's all this talk about getting Gunn with Ryan? Have you seen Gunn's next 4 fixtures?

    Liverpool (H)
    Wolves (H)
    Newcastle (A)
    Watford (A)

    1. MTPockets
        4 years, 12 months ago

        rotation

        1. The Polymath
          • Fantasy Football Scout Member
          • 8 Years
          4 years, 12 months ago

          Rotation for which fixtures, they're all bad?

          1. MTPockets
              4 years, 12 months ago

              Then don't get him

              1. The Polymath
                • Fantasy Football Scout Member
                • 8 Years
                4 years, 12 months ago

                I'm not getting him, I'm trying to find out why others think it's a good move.

                1. dunas_dog
                  • Fantasy Football Scout Member
                  • 8 Years
                  4 years, 12 months ago

                  Because best rotation through to end of season- that’s why I am doing it.

                  BOU, CAR, new, wat, BOU (or NEW) , whu, HUDD

      • My heart goes Salalalalah
        • 7 Years
        4 years, 12 months ago

        Would you do Rondon to Vardy for a hit?

        1. MTPockets
            4 years, 12 months ago

            no

            1. Professor Abel X
              • Fantasy Football Scout Member
              • 11 Years
              4 years, 12 months ago

              No

        2. Professor Abel X
          • Fantasy Football Scout Member
          • 11 Years
          4 years, 12 months ago

          New post

        3. Eze Really?
          • 9 Years
          4 years, 12 months ago

          With all the chips and hits floating around, would you:
          Take a hit with a SGW player with a bad fixture to DGW player with 2 good fixtures?
          Extreme say " Pogba playing Citeh" to "Mane Playing Huddersfield"?
          In other words where do you draw the line on taking a hit?

        4. WVA
          • 7 Years
          4 years, 12 months ago

          Lindelof playing tonight?

        5. fantasyxprt11
          • 12 Years
          4 years, 12 months ago

          For the one of 3 people who WC this week, RMT

          Gunn

          TAA Azpi Kola

          Hazard(c) Salah Ozil Redmond JWP

          Auba Wilson

          Ryan Dunk Murray Doherty

          Tripled up on Arsenal Soton who play this week, tripled up on Brighton for their 2 dgw fixtures. Chelsea and Liverpool duo I plan to keep One of Hazard/Salah and one of Azpi/TAA for the DGW and BB then.

          Still unsure whether to keep 2 mids from Soton or get a defender for Doherty and get a midfielder to replace Redmond. (Like Jota) suggestions?

        6. InSaneMan-e
          • 10 Years
          4 years, 12 months ago

          Anyone know why no rashford?