Leicester and Everton assets impress for Blank Gameweek

Leicester City options reminded Fantasy managers of their value for Blank Gameweek 33 in their latest win.

Bournemouth were the fourth team in five to taste defeat at the hands of the Foxes, as they lost yet another match on the road.

Meanwhile, Everton strung together a second successive 2-0 win and, like Leicester, now offer some interesting options for Blank Gameweek 33.

In direct contrast, West Ham appear to have outlived their usefulness to Fantasy managers.

We assess the credentials of these Blank Gameweek sides in this latest Scout Notes article.

Leicester City 2-0 Bournemouth

Goals: Wes Morgan (£4.5m), Jamie Vardy (£9.0m)

Assists: Ben Chilwell (£5.0m), Youri Tielemans (£6.1m)

Jamie Vardy (£9.0m) consolidated his case for inclusion in Blank Gameweek 33 squads with his sixth goal in seven Premier League matches against Bournemouth. No player had more shots in the match than the Englishman who also topped the charts at the King Power Stadium on Saturday for goal attempts in the box and accurate efforts. Up next for Vardy is a trip to already relegated Huddersfield, against whom he scored 11 points from a goal and an assist back in Gameweek 6.

Offering great value in the Leicester midfield right now is Youri Tielemans (£6.1m), who has impressed since arriving on loan from Monaco in January and will surely be considered for that trip to the John Smith’s Stadium in Blank Gameweek 33. The Belgian provided the assist for Vardy’s latest goal, which takes his tally to four in seven Premier League appearances for Leicester. It also means that Tielemans has an attacking return in each of his last five outings in the league. Brendan Rodgers will be hoping the 21-year-old can continue to focus on impressing for the Foxes as transfer interest in naturally steps up from week to week. Either way, he looks very nailed on in his central midfield position and was comfortably the best player on the pitch against Bournemouth according to the local press.

“I just enjoy working with the players and working with him. He’s a wonderful boy, 21, so he’s only going to get better, that’s the exciting part about him. He’s playing games now and he’s come back from two internationals to this so of course (signing him permanently) would be absolutely fantastic. But I’m quite relaxed about it. Of course, I want to work with good players and he’s a good player, but he’s not our player. He’s self-assured, and tactically he can anticipate things in the game, so he understands football – he’s not running about all over the place,” Rodgers explained. He understands the idea of how we play, and if you’re playing for one of the top nations in the world, in their first team, then you’re okay. But he understands the concept of the way we play and exudes confidence which grows with every game and training session. I can’t worry about that (other clubs bidding for Tielemans). He had arrived here just before I came and you can see he’s a top class young talent, but I always have to respect he’s a Monaco player.I’m sure there will be discussions between the two of us, and we’ll see where their intentions are. He’s certainly a player that I would love to continue working with.” – Brendan Rodgers

Tielemans’ understandable popularity should pull some transfer interest away from James Maddison (£6.8m). The England midfielder is hardly in bad form, with one goal and two assists since Gameweek 28, but cannot compare with his colleague’s one strike and the key pass for four goals – all at a cheaper price. Maddison did create more chances than Tielemans against Bournemouth but his role in set pieces appears to have accounted for a number of them; hence why the Belgian was responsible for fashioning more big chances in the game.

There were a number of options in Leicester’s defence that drew attention ahead of their appealing Blank Gameweek 33 fixture. Ironically, one of them was Ricardo Pereira (£5.4m) has done little more than punish those who signed him at the start of the Foxes’ appealing run of fixtures. He was joint-top for chances created among Leicester defenders in Gameweek 32 and tacked two bonus points onto his clean sheet as well. Unfortunately for a portion of his 13.6% ownership, he was removed on the Free Hit for the one week where he recorded eight points.

Ben Chilwell (£5.0m) may not have registered as many big chances created as Pereira, but it was him who got the assist for Wes Morgan‘s (£4.5m) opening goal. That was his fourth of the season which puts him just two behind Pereira now.

The real winner from Leicester’s defensive ranks was the skipper Morgan. He scored a third goal in his last four Premier League outings to increase interest in his services for those contemplating a Free Hit in Blank Gameweek 33 especially. Whether he keeps his place in the side when Harry Maguire (£5.4m) returns from suspension remains to be seen though. However, Morgan has started three of the last four and appears to be getting along very well with the new manager, who is pleased with the way he is adapting to his style.

“He probably won’t have scored too many back-heel goals in the box in his career. I’m very pleased for him. The big guy’s been brilliant,. He’s fit, he’s strong. We’re just trying to get them to think about football in a slightly different way. Try to build the game. You’ve seen him today (Saturday), he has comfort. He plays simple, 10, 15 metres and help the team build the game. We know he can defend, he’s a brilliant defender.” – Brendan Rodgers

“I think he has set his stall out from the very beginning. He has made it clear what he expects from us and how he expects us to play and imprint his identity on us. The boys have taken it on board and it is going to take time before we perfect it but sooner or later we will get it exactly how he wants it and I am sure we will be successful.” – Wes Morgan

It was back to the usual away-day woes for Bournemouth at the King Power Stadium. After winning at Huddersfield Town in Gameweek 30, the Cherries recorded their 10th defeat in 11 Premier League road trips against Leicester. That might reduce some interest in their assets for their Blank Gameweek 33 meeting with Burnley, but we have to remember that Eddie Howe’s men are traditionally better in front of their own fans. Their manager also believes there may have been some hangover from the latest international break.

“The players looked tired, the ones who went away with their international teams. I’m not trying to make excuses, Jefferson Lerma travelled across the world and naturally, they were tired. It’s not a new thing for Premier League teams and you have to deal with it, it’s a situation we’ll want to manage better in the future.” – Eddie Howe

Not surprisingly, Ryan Fraser (£6.2m) was the top creator for his side at Leicester. While he was unable to fashion more than two chances at the King Power Stadium, he is still top for big chances created in home matches of any player this season.

Meanwhile, Josh King (£6.5m) and Callum Wilson (£6.5m) started up front together for the third match in a row. Managers may struggle to choose between the two of them if they are planning transfers or a Free Hit for Blank Gameweek 33, especially now they are the same price. It was the Englishman who came closest to scoring for Bournemouth at Leicester, but his Norwegian colleague probably edges him on Fantasy value. In the last six home matches, King has better minutes per chance and minutes per chance created figures and is also on penalties for Bournemouth.

“Of course, it’s a big moment in the game, but we recovered from their early goal quite well. The boost of a goal might have changed the feeling on how we were playing but the second half was a huge frustration for us. You’d have thought we’d have built more pressure and have more of the ball. That’s tough for us and we have to do better.” – Eddie Howe

Those interested in budget goalkeeper Artur Boruc (£4.1m) may want to steer clear for a few weeks now. After a run of nine starts in a row, the former Southampton man was benched against Leicester. Asmir Begovic (£4.3m) reclaimed his place in the side for the first time since Gameweek 22.

Leicester City XI (4-1-4-1): Schmeichel; Chilwell, Evans, Morgan, R Pereira; Ndidi; H Barnes (N Mendy 72′), Maddison, Tielemans, D Gray (Ghezzal 89′); Vardy (Iheanacho 90′).

Bournemouth XI (4-4-2): Begović; Daniels (D Rico 56′), Aké, Mepham, Clyne; Fraser Lerma (Solanke 64′), Gosling, Brooks; Wilson, King (Stanislas 74′).

West Ham United 0-2 Everton

Goals: Kurt Zouma (£5.0m), Bernard (£5.9m)

Assists: Gylfi Sigurdsson (£7.3m), Seamus Coleman (£5.2m)

Fantasy managers will certainly want to investigate Everton options for their Blank Gameweek 33 match against Arsenal. West Ham were the latest side to suffer a 2-0 defeat the hands of the Toffees, who had dispatched Chelsea by the same score-line in Blank Gameweek 31. The potential for Marco Silva’s side to continue their run of form is shown best by the defensive statistics of their two most recent opponents in the last two Gameweeks. In that time, both West Ham and Chelsea are in the bottom four for most shots on target conceded.

Even though he did not register any attacking returns against West Ham, Dominic Calvert-Lewin (£5.4m) is looking in decent form ahead of Blank Gameweek 33. No player had more shots in the box than him at the London Stadium on Saturday night, and nobody registered more on target than him either. Furthermore, of the seven Fantasy assets who have had 10 shots in the box or more in their last four matches, Calvert-Lewin is the only one of those to play for a side outside the top six and is the only one below £9.5m too – suggesting the promise he has when facing Arsenal next week. After all, the Gunners are still without a clean sheet away from home in the league this season.

“It is his best season until now, when you look at the goals he has scored. There are more games to play, more good things for him to do. He is a player we believe in. He has the talent to achieve what I have told him is possible: he is already an important player for us and can be a really important player for us in the future. He is fast enough and strong when he is attacking behind. And when the game comes from wide, he is really strong with his head in the box. Of course, he has many things to improve – and he has the quality to improve.” – Marco Silva

Gylfi Sigurdsson (£7.3m) secured his fourth assist of the season thanks to his role in set pieces. It was exceptionally poor defending from West Ham as Kurt Zouma (£5.0m) was able to guide a header into the top corner via the turf below.

Bernard‘s (£5.9m) goal was just his second for Everton and was hard for him to miss. Seamus Coleman (£5.2m) had ploughed through West Ham’s left flank largely unchallenged and put it on a plate for the Brazilian who was unmarked inside the six-yard box. Richarlison (£6.5m) was deployed on the right of midfield and, despite having three shots on goal, had an expected goals (xG) score of just 0.16.

Interestingly, defensive returns appear to be on the up for Everton too. The Toffees now have four clean sheets in their last five Premier League matches. Also, across their last two, they are third-best for fewest big chances conceded as well as recording shut-outs in both.

However, Everton’s chances against Arsenal could be affected by recent news surrounding Jordan Pickford (£4.9m). The England number one goalkeeper was filmed in a fracas outside a pub in Sunderland this week and his club have now revealed that they are looking into the incident.

In contrast to their visitors, West Ham were truly terrible against Everton. Not one of their players had more than one shot on goal and they recorded the joint-lowest xG team score of Double Gameweek 32 so far. Ahead of a trip to Chelsea in Blank Gameweek 33, Manuel Pellegrini described his side’s latest performance as the worst of the season.

“Not only the worst home performance, the worst performance of the year away or at home. We have lost before a lot of games but not playing the way we did today without creating chances and conceding so many chances.” – Manuel Pellegrini

Still owned by 12.7% ahead of Blank Gameweek 33, Felipe Anderson (£7.1m) missed the visit of Everton with an ankle problem and is now a doubt for the trip to Chelsea. Mark Noble (£4.8m) remained on the bench after missing training for personal reasons in the week.

“Felipe had a pain in his ankle on Friday, the day before the game, and that’s why he couldn’t play. I hope that during the week he will be ready on Tuesday or Wednesday. Also, I think Mark Noble is important for the team and for personal reasons he couldn’t play. The same as I said with Marko, it’s not the matter of one name. It’s the matter of the team to understand why we cannot have this kind of performance if we want to try to fight for a spot in Europe.” – Manuel Pellegrini

Marko Arnautovic (£6.8m) started for the second match in a row but once again added little to proceedings. He was deployed in a front two alongside Lucas Pérez (£6.2m) who was replaced by Javier ‘Chicharito’ Hernandez (£6.1m). When Arnautovic was brought off for Grady Diangana (£4.5m) in the 67th minute he was booed from the field by the home fans.

“The fans boo when they are not happy with the performance of the team. This case it was Marko as the two changes were at half-time so they couldn’t do it. I think we cannot believe the performance was one player as the team played the way they did today. Marko Arnautovic was not guilty why we lose the game.” – Manuel Pellegrini

There are still questions over Arnautovic’s fitness when he was substituted and Pellegrini was unable to provide much of a satisfactory answer.

“Marko was playing with some pain in his knee. He received a injury in the same knee for Austria so maybe he was not 100 per cent.” – Manuel Pellegrini

Injuries have been a real issue for West Ham this season. Football.London revealed that just four first-team players had stayed fit for the entirety of the 2018/19 campaign, with Ryan Fredericks (£4.5m) ruled out for the visit of Everton.

“He’s not had a lot of luck since he joined us and this was another blow but he took a knock and that ruled him out.” – Manuel Pellegrini

West Ham United XI (4-4-2): Fabianski; Cresswell, Ogbonna, Diop, Zabaleta; Lanzini, Obiang (Antonio 45′), Rice, Snodgrass; L Pérez (Chicharito 45′), Arnautović (Diangana 67′).

Everton XI (4-2-3-1): Pickford; Digne, Zouma, Keane, Coleman; A Gomes, Gueye; Bernard, Sigurdsson (T Davies 85′), Richarlison (Walcott 90′); Calvert-Lewin (Tosun 88′).